Old Swan Hotel

Amazed to see this hotel so far down the Harrogate pecking order. Makes no sense, as this is arguably the best value and classiest hotel in town. Superb public spaces great bar and very good restaurant. Comfortable bedrooms well appointed but some have poor outlooks - avoid them. Lovely setting for this hotel, ideal location.

My wife and I stayed at The Old Swan for three pleasant days. The hotel is old, rambling, and full of character. It is centrally located and set back within extensive well maintained grounds. The public areas are all attractive. The clientele is varied from large business meetings through tours of seniors to individual tourists. Our room was clean and very comfortable. The water pressure was extraordinary filling a tub within a few minutes. A few quirks: The door knobs only lock with a central turn in the knob. If you forget to turn it, the door will be unlocked. There’s no chain. The hallway floors are creaky and there was a series of noisy fire doors. If the other occupants are careless it can be noisy. Our room had a dismal view of the interior spaces. There was no glass curtain so one needed to be dressed upon opening the curtain or be in view of the other windows. The breakfast room was lovely and the food excellent and ample: fruit, cereal, yogurt, eggs, haddock, pork, beans, ham, mushrooms, kippers, cheese, breads, muffins… Enough to last until dinner.

Don`t be put off staying in this hotel.(ALL WORK SEEMS TO HAVE FINISED) It`s in a great position and has luxurious rooms. Bathroom a little on the small size but no problem. Stayed for one night only would have loved to stayed longer but it was booked up. £80.00 for 2 people B&B was very good value for money, can`t wait to visit again soon. If it was good enough for Agatha Christie it`s good enough for us.

I stayed here over a weekend for one night. I can honestly say my stay could not have been more enjoyable. The Hotel has had a £5 million refurbishment and is apparantly vastly improved, although it still retains all of its 1920s charm and character. The rooms are very clean and spacious, with excellent bathrooms. The staff are attentive and very friendly - always eager to help. The food in the restaurant is out of this world - the type of cuisine you could pay a fortune for somewhere else. No complaints whatsoever - generally excellent!

Went to the Old Swan for Sunday lunch £13.99 today and was pretty disappointed. It took about 20 minutes to get a drink in the bar, the one barman was under a lot of pressure making coffees etc and when his colleague turned up he was asked to help by serving customers but decided to go off to collect cups instead. The meal was quite poor for the price, starter was Ok but the meat for the main course (turkey) seemed over cooked and gave the appearance of not being freshly carved. Plenty of veg and a not very exciting pudding. Very expensive for what it was although the dining room was nice and the staff friendly and attentive. I didn't enjoy it.

Stayed at the Swan over the weekend for one night. In the middle of refurbishment but no disruption to guests. Staff very friendly and efficient. The breakfast was served in the Wedgwood Room, fantastic setting and fantastic breakfast. Help yourself to as much as you like. Drinks a bit pricey in the bar, Lager: £3.55 Coffee £ 2.50. ( But served in a nice coffee pot etc) All in all a very good base to explore Harrogate etc. Got a good deal on laterooms[-] @ £69 for B&B for 2.

I recently stayed at the Old Swan hotel. The hotel is currently under a 'refurbishment period'. During this period the bar has been moved to another room in the hotel which has no atmosphere whatsoever. The lights are on full blast and there is no background music. They have only cheap versions of spirits (not smirnoff vodka) and the mixers are out of large 2 litre bottles. The restaurant in the hotel is elegantly furnished and the food was superb, the service very quick as we were the only ones dining, so again not much atmosphere. The breakfast is very good and the refurbishment, from what we could see, will be very beneficial to the hotel. The staff are very friendly and helpful at all times. We stayed in a refurbished room which was very nice apart from being on the small side. I did enjoy my stay at the hotel very much even though was on the quiet side!

If this place was an Old Folks Home it would be closed down by the Health Authorities. The en-suite bathroom was a joke. The floor fell away in places, the toilet pan had been replaced (circa 1960) and wasn't at right angles to the cistern ( circa 1901). The Hotel is currently enjoying a "£5million refurbishment". What a waste of money - a 136 Bedroom Hotel and they only spend £5million on refurbishment. Even the rats are moving out - well one of them obviously died on the way out close to our bedroom judging by the smell. We were booked for four nights but only stayed the first. We met other couples whose experiences had the ladies in tears. The staff were obviously demoralised and past caring with attitudes to match. There was a kitchen/pantry left open on our floor which was stuffed to the gunnels with dirty laundry and the official staff notices which "banned fraternising with the guests" had me in stitches were it not for the thoughts of how was I to get out of this place if there ever were a fire. The refurbishment is obviously financed by the bar prices which will blow your mind. A glass of wine in the restaurant is charged at £4 but in the Bar it becomes £5.20. The lemonade mixers are served from a flat bottle of Sainsbury's cheapest 1 litre. I wish I had read all the TripAdvisor reviews before - they are all accurate. An apalling establishment obviously owned and run by amatuers.

This review describes how the Old Swan was in September 2005. A multi-million pound refurbishment is underway, due to be completed in early 2006, which should bring the hotel back up to standard. I think your views of the hotel will depend on the rate you paid for it. I stayed on a Sunday night when single rooms were available for £39 and twins/doubles for £69. At those kind of prices, it was okay - although I still think the new Travelodge in the centre of Harrogate would be better value. At normal rates, the Old Swan is very poor value for money in its unrefurbished state. The hotel is intrinsically good and some of the criticisms have been over the top. When it's been refurbished, I expect it will be lovely. The worst problems were with the rooms. In my room the wallpaper was indeed peeling a bit and the ceiling was in bad condition too. More seriously, the window was jammed slightly open. It was not a particularly cold night and I was able to stay warm under the blankets, but in colder weather it would have been unpleasant. My room was overlooking the garden and it was blissfully quiet. The bathroom was dated, but otherwise okay. The corridors looked dreadful, but you don't spend much time in the corridors. The public areas were still in good condition, so the problems wouldn't really be visible to a casual visitor. It's a posh Harrogate hotel and this shows in the way that breakfast is waitress service (which makes it slow) and that the bar doesn't sell crisps or nuts (eating bar snacks is evidently regarded as unrefined). On the positive side, the staff were friendly and helpful.

Booked into this hotel for a night for our wedding anniversary, cheekily asking for a nice room over the internet! On arrival had been upgraded to the Agatha suite (where Agatha Christie was in hidingin the 1920's!). It was very old fashioned and quaint, mabe could do with updating - depending on your taste, but it was clean and quiet and really enjoyable! The staff were friendly and helpful and the breakfast room was a real grand old piece of architecture. Was pleasantly surprised with a cooked vegetarian breakfast and my husband enjoyed the traditional "Full English". Overall, great location, great price, great get-away...can't wait to come back!