Bail House

Very interesting hotel - and very old. Doesn’t have a reception as such so you’re free to wander and admire the old wooden beams! Lovely warm rooms, very atmospheric and full of character. Set in the historic part of Lincoln ‘at the top of the hill’ close to cathedral and the castle with many old pubs and restaurants very near by. A great destination for a holiday.

This rather unusual building has good and bad points. You are pre-warned that parking is restricted and costs £10 per day, but there are also public car parks (£9.50 for 24 hours) within 400 yards. The location is excellent for exploring the top end of Lincoln with its Cathedral, Castle and several good restaurants. Checking in was difficult as the reception is unstaffed; the staff being located in a totally separate building. I received a phone call at 3.30 pm, just 30 min before earliest check in, to ask for full payment for our 2 day stay before ever seeing the room. We had already paid a deposit so I said I would pay when I arrived and had seen the room (4.30 pm). On arrival I phoned and was again asked to pay up. I reluctantly agreed. Entry was made using 2 separate door codes and the key for the room was on a desk in an envelope in the communal kitchen / sitting room. The room (5) was not the one I had paid for. I paid £170 for a room with en-suite and a view; our key was for a ground floor room on a noisy cobbled street and the bathroom was across a corridor. Following a phone call, a young staff member was sent across; he had little idea about what had gone wrong and showed us to a rather interesting room (10) with a view of some roof tops. The shower was a very weird looking contraption in the corner of the bedroom, not screened off, but, happily, there was separate room with a loo and a bath. The room was interesting in that it had a high vaulted ceiling with original beams. Some were a bit low and I did bang my head a few times. The wiring and plumbing was full of character, in keeping, I suppose, with the room. Standard tea and coffee making facilities were available in the room. On the whole, I liked the location. I liked the room more than my wife did. I was not keen on the fact that they tried to palm me off with a cheap room and sent a junior member of staff across to sort things out as best he could. I would have complained at the time but we were there to enjoy ourselves, so I let it pass. If you book this place, make sure you get a written quote including the description of the room and if possible, don't be pressured, as I was, into paying before being satisfied with your room.

This 14th century building is very charming and has an excellent location for exploring Lincoln. I booked a four poster room with private bathroom. Good points: characterful room, comfy bed, plentiful tea/coffee facilities, beautiful old building, lovely communal lounge, plenty of hot water, clean bathroom, robes provided, location superb, local parking at £9.50 for 24 hrs reasonable. Points for improvement: the “private bathroom” - which I was assured on booking, AND when I phoned to check, was “next door to the room” - was actually up two flights of stairs, around a corner, and across a landing that had other rooms on it. Didn’t feel very private! Nothing to stop others using the unlocked bathroom, so couldn’t leave any personal hygiene products in there, and had to do the semi-clad run for nighttime wees! Thought I’d grown out of meeting people on the landing in my nightwear 😅. Also would have liked to have been able to open the window as it was stiflingly hot, but couldn’t get the window open. People have mentioned about the lack of staff on site, but it didn’t bother us. We managed the check-in perfectly well, and were happy to see to ourselves. Such a privilege to stay in this gorgeous old building; a couple of tweaks/ slightly more honest info on booking would enhance the stay. I see it’s for sale and I think it would make the most stunning family townhouse home!

Just had a lovly peaceful stay at Bail house ,we had 2 rooms which was a great surprise, very clean and quiet ,fantastic big bath and we slept very well ,would loved to had stayed longer. It was just a few minutes walk to the castle and cathedral and a stones throw away from some very cute shops and cafés and we found the tastiest lemon ice cream 🍦

Lovely Building but rooms in need of redecortation. Dripping tap in bathroom, cold water tap came out hot, sash window rope broken so we had to prop open, bed linen was clean, but matress sagging in the middle, smelt a little musty maybe due to high beams and dust ? Nice to have coffee/tea making facitiles in the room, condiment tray, cups were nice & clean. Self check in good but we had to call for assistance with directions & couldnt use TV in first room, a helpful receptionsit moved us to another. Also parking if you need it. Overall ok for a short stay but photos of place could do with updating they are from a few years ago.

I booked this hotel a while ago and didn’t look at any reviews on tripadvisor until two days before we were due to travel. My heart sank- the reviews were awful and I was really concerned about where we were going to be staying. However, all I can say is that our experience of the hotel was very different to the vast majority of previous reviewers. We found it to be a charming, characterful place. Its location couldn’t have been better for exploring Lincoln. Our rooms were delightful, comfortable and clean. We had a four poster bed that was so comfy and looked great. There was plenty of storage and the decor was in keeping with the style and age of the building. Previous reviews have mentioned difficulties accessing the property. We did not have any issues at all. We were sent the details and the self check in was fine. Some reviews have said there are no staff available. We meet a very friendly and helpful member of staff on our arrival and also saw the housekeeping staff in the morning. Yes some aspects of the room were a little tired- particularly the bathroom. We had two rooms booked and in both the bathrooms could do with a bit of an upgrade but they were clean and functional. Our room did have a wobbly tap but it worked and wasn’t too much of an issue. Also our wardrobe had a broken drawer. There were lots of other drawers and storage so the broken drawer did not negatively affect our stay . The TV in our room didn’t work but again this did not bother us at all. Overall we had an enjoyable stay without the level of difficulties I had read about in other reviews. I agree that there are some maintenance issues which is a shame as they look like they could be easily addressed and when time and finances allow some upgrade of the bathrooms would also be beneficial. After reading such negative reviews we were very pleasantly surprised by the hotel and I would suggest taking some of the reviews with a pinch of salt as in our opinion they are unnecessarily harsh and could really put you off staying at what is actually a lovely little hotel. The hotel is not perfect but it’s an old building with bundles of character , it’s clean and comfortable and we thought the style and decor were charming. You also couldn’t get a better location for visiting historical Lincoln.