Advocate Arms

Centrally located, well-maintained with friendly, efficient staff. Guests enjoyed the varied, freshly cooked breakfast and praised the comfortable, spacious rooms. Some found the breakfast add-on pricey.

We paid £170 bed & breakfast for 2 nights. The breakfast bit was good. The bed bit wasn’t… After being led up two flights of smelly, carpeted stairs, we entered room 9 and my heart sank. Not only was it a dark and gloomy room, but when I did my usual first-time-in-a-hotel-room checks (pillow-smelling and toilet-cleanliness), I was disappointed and disgusted to find somebody else’s urine on the toilet rim. My husband went down to tell reception, who suggested the yellow liquid was toilet cleaner. It wasn’t, and I know this because I could see little dried crystals in it and I also smelt it. It was definitely urine. Anyway, we were offered room 7 (also on the second floor) but we could not sleep in there as it smelt like it had had wet dogs drying in there. The overpowering musky, damp smell was unbearable. This time, I went down to reception and the lady informed me there were not any other rooms available. I explained that I didn’t want a room that had someone else’s urine on the toilet rim - and that it was definitely urine as I had smelt it- and as if by magic, room 3 was available. Room 3 was bigger, less smelly and less drab that rooms 9 and 7. The cleanliness of the toilet still left a lot to be desired – splashes of faeces at the back and ingrained dirt around the toilet lid fixings. Still, it was getting late and we'd travelled 2 hours, so with little other choice, we took the room and I cleaned the toilet with my make-up wipes. According to their website, the Advocate Arms’ “luxurious hotel rooms have been awarded 5 stars by the AA, offering the ultimate in comfort and relaxation”. This is incorrect as the rooms are not luxurious, and after conducting some online checks, I could not find 5 stars awarded to them by the AA or anyone else, for that matter. I think the Advocate Arms would benefit from learning how to deal with disgruntled customers. Customers who have to check out two rooms before they find a third one that is suitable for sleeping in are not happy customers – nobody wants to start their weekend away by feeling the need to examine the cleanliness of the bedroom and bathroom. We were not offered any compensation for the inconvenience - even a drink in the bar would have sufficed – to make up for the palaver we’d faced, and upon check-out, we were not asked about our stay. I would not return to the Advocate Arms.

Would NOT recommend this hotel. Booked after reading good reviews on other sites. The whole upstairs guest area is grubby with dirty carpets. We booked 3 rooms and all three had a problem, from the minor of no loo roll in one, broken hairdryer in another to the horror of dirty bedding with a dead bug and several dark hairs in the third which wasn’t discovered until bedtime so could not be rectified as there was no staff around. Other guests trying room doors at night and arguing and banging in rooms close by. The price of the breakfast was not included, took ages to be served after ordering and was barely warm when arrived.