54-58 Victoria Street, Newton Stewart DG8 6DB Scotland
Galloway Arms Hotel
55 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
We made our reservation through a well-known hotel-finding website, which we have used several times before. But this stay was a disappointing experience. In the first instance, we nearly didn't get a room at all. When we arrived, the Galloway Arms didn't have our reservation. The staff member had to fetch the owner/manager, who said this was the second instance of people turning up, saying they'd booked through the same organisation as us, but the company concerned hadn't forwarded the booking. Secondly, we thought we would be staying at a bona fide hotel, but I think it's fairer to say that this is a pub with rooms. The staff we encountered in the bar and restaurant were charming and very helpful, but the accommodation can best be described as 'tired'. On the journey to the room in which we stayed, we encountered a very odd smell, which was present for the 48 hours we were in residence. I think this might have been a smell of damp, but I can't be sure. The room in which we stayed had been given a partial up-date, with a new sofa and a wall-mounted TV, but the hotel inspector would have had a fit if she'd have checked in for the night. Paper was peeling off one of the walls, the back was coming away from the wardrobe and the bed had seen better days. But it was the bathroom which I found most grating. The shower doors were not of the most modern design, meaning that there were lots of nooks and crannies that were full of black stuff and there was also a pinky/reddish mottled deposit in other areas. But the thing that bothered me most was that someone had broken the push-down button arrangement on top of the wc cistern, so flushing the loo involved sticking one's finger in the hole to push down a plastic plunger. I was concerned that this might break, meaning we'd have an unflushable loo, so I asked if we could have another room. The manager said he didn't have another room available, but he'd get the defective plunger attended to while we were out the next day. Unfortunately, this wasn't done and meanwhile, we also noticed that the shower tray leaked when we used it. The sliding door between the bathroom and bedroom areas looked 'home-made' - very heavy and hard to slide back and forth - with an industrial-looking, old-fashioned metal sliding system that didn't work very well. I had to sit on the loo sideways because f I tried to sit on it in the conventional way, my knees touched the wall opposite and I could see through a gap between the door. Because of this, I wasn't confident that the extractor fan was totally effective while I was making full use of the facilities, which was quite inhibiting. Having said that, while I couldn't totally recommend the rooms at the Galloway Arms with hand on heart, the food in the restaurant wasn't bad at all. Because there isn't a great deal of choice in Newton Stewart, on the second night of our stay, we decided to 'eat in'. We were happy with both the food and service, but can't comment on the beer (see other reviews), as we had a bottle of the house red - which was perfectly acceptable. Breakfast was also good, with a wide choice of items available, including porridge and kippers, as well as the usual full fry-up. All in all, I'd say the restaurant has a reasonably-priced tariff, but I would suggest that the room rate of £79 for a double is a little steep, unless accommodation is up-graded to a much higher standard.
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Date of stay: September 2010
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Popped in for a late lunch a few weeks back and although the place has been done up a fair bit the service was not great. Menu is OK, but limited late afternoon and I had soup as it was either that or nachos. Soup was lukewarm, a pet hate for me when it comes to soup as it should always be piping hot. Prices are fine and the hotel itself as I said is lovely, but it comes up short when it comes to service and food available at that time of day.
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Date of stay: August 2014
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is the second year that I have stayed at a B&B up the road (Stables Guesthouse) and both times I have eaten each evening at the Galloway Arms. The staff are great, especially Craig, and the food was delicious, and cooked just the way I like it. Special mention goes to the ribeye steak, which I would recommend to anybody.
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Date of stay: July 2011
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I don't reall need to say too much other than to strongly second previous comments about the thirty year old decor and facilities. Cleanliness was superficial. How the Tourist Board thinks this 'hotel' is worth three stars is beyond me. Spend £400k on a refit and then maybe it will be deserved.
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Date of stay: July 2011
Value
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
this place bears no resemblance to the photos listed. It is foreboding, dirty and run down. my colleage and i joked when we first saw it that how typical it'd be if our company booked us into that dump! sure enough! they boast of how run down the place was when they took it over and imply that it is now better in some way? the bar and resturant yes, the rooms no. a new fresh duvet and small lcd tv do not make up for the terrible condition of the rooms. they also warn in the filthy guest brochure that newton stuart has "brown" tap water and this is normal. strangely the shop across the road, bar down the street and where we were working all day are not aflicted by "brown" water. i ran a bath (no shower) and couldn't see the bottom of the bath it was so dirty, not just brown water but enough black flakes of dirty to scoop up. rather than renovate half a dozen rooms properly it appears they choose to paper and paint all 18 on the same budget. at check in we agreed to pay cash on departure, to find the companys card was charged late the night before. i feel this goes some way to show the managements attitude towards guest satisfaction. it is the worst place i've ever stayed and wish i hadn't bothered.
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Date of stay: March 2011
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Trip type: Travelled on business
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Visited here a year ago, food was great, bar was buzzing. Anticipated a tasty meal, entered the bar which was like a ghost town, had to get a local to summon the barmaid....not a good start. Took a table in the corner, seat was loose and kept sliding about, indicated that the place is down on its uppers. Food? Poor. Such a disappointment. We gave this place a rave review last year, sad to say, I struggled to find anything good about the hotel this year. Wouldn't go back.
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Date of stay: October 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It must be the late 60s or early 70s when this level of bedroom decor/facilities was acceptable for the price paid! A long dingy corridor led to room 16 which had 2 metal bedframes, one of which creaked every time I moved on the mattress. The bedroom furniture looked home-made, the ceiling tiles were polystyrene, there was no smoke alarm, the brochures for visitors were out of date (one dating back to 2003 with the cover ripped off and feeling "gritty" to the touch), there was no hotel information, times for checking in/out menus etc, standard anywhere I have stayed both here and abroad. The bathroom had a metal stand for the wash basin with a cotton curtain covering it! the glass shelf above was at 45degree angle as the rawlplugs were loose, the toilet seat was gold and glittery, the flooring ingrained with years of dirt. The bath was an old enamel one with the enamel worn through a filthy plug and a shower fitting dating back to the early 70s over the bath. My husband commented on the bath to the owner and was told that the plumber who was meant to replace it had not turned up this week! As there were very few occupants in the place I could not see why this room needing so much repair work had been the one we were given. The whole place just looked as though another coat of garish. thickly applied paint was their remedy to "update" their rooms. We used the Dumfries and Galloway " Where to stay" brochure and this place had the same star ratings as other far superiorly appointed places so beware of photos and details. We were staying to assess where we could stay later in the year for a family holiday and drove round visiting other inns and hotels and requesting to see rooms in each one. The Galloway Arms was quite unique. We were fortunate to be able to take the time to "recky" the area and would have been devastated if we had booked this place for our main holiday.
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Date of stay: April 2011
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Â avoid unless you appreciate 60s decor and facilits
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stopped here yesterday for a Sunday lunch. The food was average quality but expensive for what it was. This property is under new ownership and was not impressive. The gents toilet was smelly and filthy and there was no seat on the toilet pan. The bar next door was extremely noisy and the whole place smelt of stale smoke (I think the barman was a heavy smoker). I will not be going back there.
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Date of stay: September 2018
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
A minging room with dirty, tatty decor and en suite, (smothering everything with febreeze does not make it clean or turn threadbare bedding into new bedding). You almost end up admiring their brass neck for charging top dollar.
Don't waste your money. In fact, I'd probably give south west Scotland a wide birth altogether; you won't be dissapointed.
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Date of stay: December 2013Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I stopped off for lunch today and this hotel was opposite where I parked my bike. I walked into what I presumed to be the dining room to find the place to be empty. There is a bell on the bar so I rang that and a friendly staff member came through. I asked about lunch and was given a menu. I chose the chicken burger (£9.45) and a can of Fanta (1.70). What arrived was nothing like a chicken burger. What I got was 2 pieces of, I presume, frozen bread crumbed chicken deep fried and stuck in a morning roll. Not even a proper burger bun. The chips were also cooked from frozen. The mayo was nice. Everything was hot which was a bonus. For the price I would have expected a proper burger made with fresh ingredients. I also went to the gents and it is a disgrace. It is dirty, broken tiles, corrosion on metal parts and no means of drying your hands. I had to go and ask for a towel. The outside of the building really needs painted and cleaned up.
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Date of stay: July 2019Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Newton Stewart area.
LOCATION
United KingdomScotlandDumfries and GallowayNewton Stewart
NUMBER OF ROOMS
13
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