This Place has gone from a great place to stay to one I would not suggest anybody ever stay at again until the manager is replaced by someone who understands hospitality.
My friends and I have stayed here for the last 3 years.On the first year we could not fault it, indeed I recommended it to be used by the organisers of the event we were attending as one of their chosen hotels for the future. This was to change on the second year 2009 when we were greeted by the present manager, who had just taken up his position, with a tale of despair about the new owners having left him to run the place with no funds or staff.
He told us he had no chef, due to a serious injury, but he would try to get temporary cover.Because we had travelled 200 miles, we decided to put up with the best of a bad situation because we love the location and had fond memories from the previous year.A chef was located and things were ok. However on booking again this year we were told apparantly by the owner that everything had changed and we would be back to normal. Imagine our surprise to be greeted by the same man as the previous year with the same complaints about the owners and staff.
He tried to tell us that he had only been there for 7 weeks and used exactly the same story of being left without any money by the owner. the Chef had cut his hand very badly and therefore no meals could be served that evening. When we asked what we were supposed to do he became aggressive and even refused bar service. On asking to speak to the owner we were allowed one drink each and he said he was very busy and left us alone at the bar.
We tried to find alternative accommodation but because of 2 events in the area nothing was available.
On arriving back at the hotel after eating out we were told a chef had been located and we could get food from the following morning.
Our rooms which had been prebooked were the wrong ones and in one case had to be a twin rather than a double. Cobwebs were everywhere and no shower gel or soap was provided. Milk for the rooms was left in a basket by the door to the accommodation block and could have been there for days even weeks.No maid service was provided throughout the whole weekend and one questions whether the linen had been changed from previous guests. In one room there was screwed up paper rubbish under the bed. On questioning the manager all we got was an excuse that he was short staffed and made an offer to reduce the bill by £5 per night.
In all this chaos the only redeeming feature was the appearance in the morning of the so called injured chef. He had not been on duty the day of our arrival and knew nothing of his supposed injury. His breakfast was excellent, although cooked and served by himself without any help from a 'landlord' whose only contribution to the weekend was to serve at the bar prior to going out for the evening, leaving a young girl at the bar on her own and telling her to collect our room rental for the whole weekend.The poor girl was quite frightened and embarrassed by this but we paid her in full to prevent her any further stress. The chef, aided by his partner, served a really nice evening meal and another good breakfast the following morning, again on his own. The manager made a brief appearance without speaking and was nowhere to be found on our departure.
If you are going to this establishment in the near future I would advise that you check with the owner regarding the service, facilities and cleanliness before your arrival. Please be warned.

The bar was unexceptional and the rooms themselves quite pleasant. Everything else about this place was an unmitigated disaster, blamed by the landlord, who has apparently been in post for only 8 weeks, on his staff, but in reality clearly due to managerial incompetence. Instead of cups and saucers, the hospitality tray in our room was equipped with thick two handled soup bowls in plates. The milk in the cartons was curdled, with green mould growing on it. The bathroom had hand wash provided, but no soap, shower gel or shampoo. Many of the dishes offered for dinner were unavailable, and the waitress who took our orders had to keep disappearing to ask the chef (who at different times was said to be either new or just sacked) for details, though in truth he seemed to have little more idea than she did. It took about 40 minutes for the food to arrive. The four pasta dishes would have been passable if they had been more than tepid. The vegetarian butternut squash curry arrived some time after the other dishes, and turned out to be a chicken curry ("sorry - chef must have misread the label"). The liver and bacon was forgotten. When, after a forceful reminder, it arrived a quarter of an hour later, it consisted mainly of a huge lump of grey mashed potato, with a minuscule slice of liver. The garlic bread was a couple of slices of stale white loaf with no sign of ever having kept company with a garlic clove. When all this was drawn to the attention of the manager, we were treated to a long tirade about this being the worst day of his life, being let down by his stafff, and generally not having the resources to cope with running a large hotel. He was too busy to produce the bill, and delegated this task to the waitress while he retreated behind the bar to chat to the regulars. The waitress eventually produced an impressive leatherette folder which, when opened, contained only a tiny scrap of torn paper with "£62.21" written in it . We were told that an itemised bill could not be provided because the till had broken down.

We decided not to risk the full English breakfast included as part of the price of the rooms. The alternative "continental" breakfast consisted of two choices of cereal, and cold toast served with rancid butter and weak. Even this taxed the skills of the chef to the limit ("bear with me - I'm still finding my way around". A small quantity of orange juice in a smeary jug was produced after the meal. The grubby looking sugar in the sugar bowl had what looked suspiciously like a paw print in it, though the landlord reassured us that it was probably only finger marks from his children who liked to play with it.

When we came to pay the bill, the landlord spontaneously delivered another speech about how hard life was, but did not attempt to dispute that we had had a thoroughly unpleasant stay. He offered to reduce the rate for each of the rooms from £55 to £35, which would have mollified us a little had he not going on to say aggressively that if we thought that too small a gesture we could walk out without paying at all and "the law would take its course". This was ahat had happened with eight similarly dissatisfied customers the previous week.

This is a pub whose landlord's lack of management skills are matched only by his tenuous grasp of public relations and his lack of attention to the most basic of details. His parting comment was that he didn't expect us to want to return ever, but he would go on trying to turn the place round. We wish him no ill, but we saw no evidence that he would succeed, and we would certainly not recommend this pub to anyone as long as he is in charge.

It's small, it's quiet and frankly under patronised but it is clean, friendly, comfortable and welcoming.

I'd certainly stay there again.

Appears to have be managed on behalf of new owners. Service however needs to improve in most areas if the business is to be successful. Rooms were clean and tidy but only to an average standard. Select on menu was limited, service adequate only. The managers were welcoming, courteous, and attentive, but there is a need for improvement in most areas of the business if the Star is to be turned around, capture and retain passing trade.