Most of the reviews I've written seem to agree with the balance of opinion of other reviewers, but this certainly isn't the case with the Lancashire Manor. I have to admit to a good degree of uncertainty when I booked because so many other reviewers had few good things to say, but I wonder if they were staying at the same hotel as me! My opinion is that this hotel is OUTSTANDING.

The service on arrival and throughout my stay was exemplary: friendly, customer-focused and responsive. The restaurant was equally impressive, and the meal was tasty and well-served. Okay, it's not fine dining, but that isn't what it sets out to be. What they serve is good hotel food, and is very good value for money.

The hotel has had a complete makeover recently and the rooms are very modern and well appointed. Views - well it's just outside Wigan so you can see views of, er, Wigan. You can't see the Med, but then you can't from most British hotels... The hotel's grounds are nicely kept and there's plenty of parking.

I'd thoroughly recommend this hotel. If all the British hotels I stayed in had this level of customer service we'd all be happy. I know you're probably reading this and thinking I'm a lone voice, but give it a go - you won't be disappointed.

Stayed in the hotel during a business trip. The room was large and the bed was very comfortable. Had a great sleep. The restaurant was ok, but the food choice was very limited, especially for vegetarians like me.

Lancashire Manor looks like a beautiful venue for a wedding and it was one of our favourites in the area. The quality of the food is very important to us for our wedding so, having read some disturbing reviews on the food, we decided to dine here one evening.

Unfortunately to say, our experience was awful. I spoke to the duty manager and sent the review below to both the Wedding and Events Manager and Duty Manager, who informs me that the area manager has been made aware of my review and a meeting with the team has been arranged. I do hope they address these concerns as the restaurant service and quality of food does not match what seems to be a lovely setting.

This is the worst review I have written, unfortunately to say. I’m quite confident that staying in the hotel is comfortable and a positive experience, from exploring the rooms and venue and reading other reviews, but trust the other reviews and mine when we say the dining experience is appalling. I do hope it’s being addressed and quick.

We booked a table for three for a Wednesday evening. On arrival, there was clearly a wedding already on. Everyone looked like they were having a good time. Trying to not disturb the happy occasion, we entered via the side entrance leading to the bar. Walking past a few guests, we went over to the restaurant.

It was completely empty. I wandered around the restaurant area and there was no one to be seen. I can only assume that the staff were taking care of the wedding party, neglecting our booking at the restaurant.

I went over to the bar where a young lady was serving. I mentioned to her that we had booked a table but there was nobody at the restaurant, so she went to check leaving the bar unattended. A few guests were waiting at the bar while she was away, so I was feeling a little uncomfortable at this point. After a little while, we heard something in the restaurant so glanced over. The same bar member staff was setting up our table, and when she was done, she looked at us and called us over.

She gave us a menu each, and then asked if we’d like any drinks. I asked if she has any fresh orange juice, and she positively replies. So, we order three fresh orange juices and she walks away. We open our menus. Two are completely blank and only one with actual menu inserts.

When the waitress / bar staff returned, we mention this to her and she replies with something to the effect of, “Oh my, we’re so disorganised!” returning with two actual menus.

At this point, I drink my orange juice which is clearly made from concentrate. I did want fresh orange juice, but I was really thirsty.

The menu didn’t excite me greatly, but the three of us chose different options so we could sample a wide variety of foods here, bearing in mind what we might want to serve at the wedding.

Meanwhile, two other waitresses appeared in the restaurant and started setting up the other tables. We initially thought that there must be some other people dining in the restaurant, probably not the wedding party as they probably have evening food served. Noticing the plates of jam in the middle of each table, it was clear that they were setting up for breakfast.

We made our choices and ordered. I asked the young waitress, who was one of the waitresses setting up the breakfast tables, if the restaurant actually served any fresh orange juice because what I had wasn’t fresh. She said she would check, and to my utter surprise she came back holding two bottles of Britvic, clearly marked with “from concentrate”. She asked what I meant by fresh orange juice, and after explaining, I ordered some tap water.

I was looking forward to my starter of “Chicken liver champagne parfait”. I was a little shocked at the waitress saying “Pâté?” when arriving with our starters. I know it was a fancy description for pâté but it was only adding to the inconsistency of impression versus execution…

The restaurant and venue as a whole is elegant and show a lot of character. The staff and dining experience so far is, to say the least, haphazard. We didn't have any serviettes on our table, and with the lack of any staff, I went to find some myself.

Anyway, my starter was a huge slab of smooth pâté next to a delicate pile of toasted crostini’s and a pile of salad. I wondered why my starter was taking up so much of a plate that looks large enough to hold a main. The other starters were a helping of mussels and then garlic mushrooms served on bread and salad. Each starter was ok, nothing special and nothing that I couldn’t get at the supermarket. I usually really enjoy pâté at a restaurant, as I find they use wonderful combinations of flavours and it’s a bit different to what you can normally buy during grocery shopping. So this was quite a disappointment. The crostini’s looked slightly toasted, but were cold and seemed stale. I decided to have my pâté with the warm breads that were served. This was much nicer.

The mussels were in a creamy sauce. It was ok. Again, nothing special. The mussels seemed a little overcooked and there wasn’t much depth to the flavour of the sauce. The garlic mushrooms – large serving, very ordinary aside from being extremely buttery.

I didn’t finish my pâté as I wanted enough room for the mains and desserts. The mains we ordered were the Lamb Shank, which due to stock issues, was then changed to Salmon served with Hollandaise sauce, Steak served with chips and grilled tomato, and Chicken served fondant potato and greens. The heavy handed waitress plonked our plates onto the table in front of us.

Well, we sent the salmon and steak back and ended up sharing the chicken, which was mediocre. The salmon absolutely stunk, which should have told me that I shouldn’t even taste it, but I decided to have a small piece and had to spit it straight out. It was completely off. I don’t even want to know about the gloopy hollandaise sauce on top. The steak was so rubbery and hard, and not cooked medium at all as requested. It was too well done. The peppercorn sauce was disgusting. The sheer intensity of the peppercorns was extremely off-putting. I adore peppercorn sauce, and I’ve never detested it like this before.

We were offered to order other mains and so the waitress handed some menus to us. They were the same blank menus from earlier in the evening, and when we mentioned this to her, we watched her walk back over to the menu stand, place the blank menus at the very front, and take out two other menus for us. With only the out-of-stock lamb shank and a vegetarian option left to order, we ended up not ordering. Good job that my family actually finished their large portions of starters. I was hungry so ate some, not all, of my mediocre chicken which was not succulent and tender at all in the slightest.

You’d think that we would stop there and just leave, but I came with the intention of sampling a three course meal. So we ordered two desserts: sticky toffee pudding and chocolate fudge cake. Of course, we weren’t expecting anything spectacular. We didn’t get anything spectacular either. Two very ordinary desserts which, again, could have been bought at the supermarket. Actually, I could get better at the supermarket.

We had coffees and tea – also ordinary – but might have been the best part of our meal. We waited around for the waitress to settle our bill but only saw only guests of the wedding party moving back and forth from the rooms to other parts of Lancashire Manor.

I went round to the bar and asked if we could settle the bill, and the waitress had absolutely no hesitation in letting us leave without parting with any money. She apologised for the poor food and I thanked her for being friendly during the evening and for waiving the costs which no one would want to have paid.

The Lancashire Manor website states that they offer “a wide selection of freshly prepared dishes produced using local produce” and that “the Chef (and his culinary team) offer an extensive award winning menu from delightful dinners served in the restaurant”. They must have not updated their website as this is clearly a lie.

Needless to say, we are certainly not booking our wedding here. It looked like a fabulous venue and a wonderful place for guests to stay, but the food and service needs huge improvement and I only hope that the wedding party there on that evening were not served the same quality of food that we had. I’m confident that they would have had an enjoyable day if they did not need to eat.

Had a good trip, rooms exceeded expectation, we traveled this summer on a budget and this hotel really helped.