Great Western Hotel

Stayed at Great Western for one night. Positives were manager & staff were very helpful & The sea view was nice . Negatives were Parking is very limited , Hotel was old & creaky but is about to be renovated. Bathrooms need an upgrade. Basically the hotel was fine for one night but the worst part was the area. Newquay seems to have degenerated into a Bucks & Hens night venue and unfortunately we saw some pretty disgusting behaviour up and down the main street and around the hotel. During our morning walk we noticed the streets littered with rubbish and other unmentionable stuff. I wouldn't recommend this area for families or anyone wanting a quiet stay. It is a shame as Newquay could be such a pretty stopover town on the coast.

Postivies ...Hotel has a great view over the beach and it is worth paying the £6 extra to upgrade to a sea view room. I can see how the ones at the front of the hotel would be noisy. Hotel is nearly all non smoking, fairly clean, rooms are a reasonable size , bathroom was clean and hot water always when you needed it. The breakfast is great, Buffett style - all you can eat. Staff at breakfast quick and friendly. We stayed mid week and it was very quiet. Negatives - Hotel is set in a not particularly nice area of Newquay surrounded by the ruins of another hotel, a horrible club and amusement arcades. The Hotel itself has a fantastic view of the bay beneath it but does not really make best use of this. The bar area is vast but not very inviting and the restaurant needs a bit of work. We found the 'window' for dinner of 6:30 to 7:15 a bit restrictive and the choices on the menu uninspiring. The staff seemed to need to know well in advance if you wanted to eat that evening despite being less than a quarter full so we did not bother. One night we got a cab to Padstow for dinner. Get the hotel to phone Sue, who will charge about 1/2 what the normal cabbies do. Another night we ate in la Luna, an excellent Italian restaurant just a couple of hundred yards up the road. Parking is limited - never a problem when we stayed but it would be if it was busier. Generally the hotel has seen better days and needs a complete redecorate though there were loads of builders around the place when we stayed so maybe this is going on now. For £30 a night including breakfast you cant expect a whole lot more. Its good value for money Its about 18 years since I last visited Newquay and the place has really gone downhill. Its now full of horrible looking bars and clubs and 'amusement' arcades and whoever has been on the planning committe of the local council over the last few years needs shooting. Many of the hotels seem to be closing down and being converted into places for the surfers and clubbers but some have just been allowed to crumble away or be vandalised, or both. Fortunately some of the places that I remember around Newquay have retained their character and remain beautiful places. Padstow, St Ives and Boscastle to name three.

The Hotel was generally run down and tatty. Our room overlooked the main road and we were kept awake by the loud drunken behaviour of people on the main road until the early hours of the morning. This was made worse by the Hotel floodlights shining into the room until 2 am.

My boyfriend and I booked this hotel because of the central location, and great value for money, booking through a late deals website. We arrived one hour before our allocated check in time of 2.30pm and were checked in straight away by a very friendly receptionist (may have been a manager we think?). Once directed to our room, we got lost a couple of times through the mazy corridors but not something I'd particularly moan about as most hotels are the same. One thing that did annoy me though was the constant creaking the floorboards made with every step!!! I had rung up a week before our arrival date to book a sea view room (worth £6 per night), and we weren't disappointed! We had three windows looking straight out over the bay-absolutely stunning! The room otherwise was quite neat, though a little dusty-but not offputting, the bathroom a fine size for the two of us, with a bath and a shower. There were bunkbeds in the room but they didn't invade the space as they were situated in a little annex to one side. The walls though-how thin??? I think we didn't speak one word to each other throughout our stay that wasn't a whisper! We could hear everything from the room next door like they were in bed with us! We didn't use the bar or restaurant as we went out every night, but breakfast was served in a large room, but the tables were so close together we felt like we were eating at the same table as another couple. Food was ok, self service brekkies are always preferable, but as we came down towards the end of breakfast the first day, it was all a bit dried up. Fine for a hangover though. The pool was ok, we used it every day, though small and not room for more than two swimmers to do lengths at a time. Was a bit disappointed as the hotel advertises a jacuzzi, yet when we found it, it was boarded up with a huge plant stuck on top. There was no mention of this on the website, when we booked, on arrival, and not even a sign next to the jacuzzi itself. I myself work in a hotel, and I know we would have some very disgruntled guests if they were had to find out for themselves when facilities are out of order with no signage or note from the hotel management. Something to consider. One more thing-the ample parking advertised. Hmmm. A few spaces between the hotel and the road has been doubled by cars parking in front of each other. We didn't use our car while we were there but when we went to leave on the last day, we were blocked in by a car that luckily turned out to be a member of staffs. We couldn't help thinking, what if it had been another guests and they had gone down to the beach for the day? We would've been proper stuck! Other than my few niggles, we had a pleasant stay, the hotel is surrounded by restaurants and bars so we didn't have to stumble far to get back to our rooms of an evening, staff were friendly and quick to recommend places to eat/visit, and the location and price for what you get is second to none.

Had a very comfortable stay, noted an earlier comment that the rooms were a liitle chilly due to the sash windows, but only have to ask and can be supplied with a fan heater which solves the problem. Excellent central location, brilliant views from rooms over the mighty Atlantic, the staff very obliging and friendly, food not adventurous but lots of it and well presented. Nice big dining area and two large lounges to relax in if you want to escape from your room. I would say this is a very nice traditional older style hotel which offers very good value for money right on the beach and in the centre of Newquay, this is good coming from me as I am VERY fussy. Given the opportunity, will definitely stay there again

I really enjoyed my stay at the Great Western. We had booked a room with a sea view - and what I wonderful view it was of both Tolcarne Beach & Great Western Beach. It was glorious!! The hotel room was clean & comfortable, although not luxurious, but basic and quite old-fashioned decor. The hotel staff were great, very friendly, nothing was too much trouble for them. The breakfasts were good, but the food in general as per one of the previous comments was "school dinnerish". However, there are plenty of good eateries around in Newquay town. Although I must add that the food offered on the daily dinner menu was plentiful, and there was a good choice: choice of 3 different starters; 4 different choices of main course ( red meat; poultry;fish; vegetarian) and a very good sweet trolly Generally very good value for money.

My wife and I stayed from 28/05/05-06/06/05. The staff were very helpful and polite, no fault or complaints there, but the evening dinner was of poor quality. E.g. we suspect that the meat was delelivered to the hotel ready prepared and slicedand was generally tasteless. The bread rolls were served underdone and we could not obtain such a basic condiment as mustard. The hotel is admittedly old but surely this must not be used as an excuse for the creaking floorboards. No chance of any bedroom hopping in this hotel, every step is loudly signalled. Sometimes while in bed I thought that someone was in our room, but it was the creaking in the passage ways. Would we stay there again? definitely not! A.G. Robinson.

If you book a room with a sea view, the views are spectacular. The hotel offers great value for money. Built around 1930 the rooms are clean and comfortable but the hotel is slightly in need of some refurbishment but no complaints. The staff are great, food good but with a relatively small choice of meals. I would go back again.

excellent hotel and staff. and the food is outstanding. we had a very comfortable stay.

Rooms reasonably comfortable but a little cold during the day due to the fact that the sash windows were very ill fitting.The food was a touch school dinner-ish but adequate.Service throughout the hotel was lacking - reception was not very welcoming and the dining room staff were rather harassed. The overall impression was that we were conveyer belt residents who had to do what they wanted us to do when they wanted us to do it - they even started to clear out our room before we vacated even though we were well within the vacation deadline!