The Cross Keys

Ideal quiet position in town centre so easy to walk or use buses nearby.Very old building so stairs awkward (There could be a reminder on website when booking). Shower easy to use; ceiling above showing water damage stains. It was useful to have a stand for unpacking suitcase. Bed comfortable; bed linen crisp, clean and ironed. Lighting good; a welcome tray of teas, coffees, biscuits topped up daily. TV set on a slant on wall due to structure of building? Breakfasts good, portions generous; vegetarian options tasty; I would welcome some fruit and yoghurt choice too.

My partner and I stayed here last year and loved the place, so decided to rebook it again. Unfortunately, after staying this time we were extremely disappointed that it didn't live up to the standards of our previous stay. The room we stayed in (room 8) was advertised as a Deluxe King room, but unfortunately is much smaller than the Deluxe King room we stayed in last year, so much so that it feels quite unfair to charge the same price for both. The room itself was cold, and the aircon/heater unit had been deactivated. Also, the bedding from the previous night had been left on the floor, so had to be collected by the staff member upon entry. On the plus side, the bed was soft and comfortable, and the room was clean and nicely presented. We booked a meal in the restaurant, and was disappointed to see that there was only 1 chef working and 2 inattentive staff members serving the tables. This meant that despite the restaurant being basically empty, the food took a long time to come. My partner ordered the calf's liver, which was served as a big slab, and had not been prepared correctly so was full of tubes. It was cooked well, but unfortunately was practically inedible. I ordered the Pie of the day, which to be fair was delicious, but the seasonal veg left a little to be desired. The young female staff member who served us was very pleasant, however the young male who was also serving had no interpersonal skills whatsoever. Breakfast in the morning was very nicely prepared, however once again even though the restaurant was basically empty, the service was incredibly slow. Additionally, as the people on the other tables were leaving, the staff were happy to leave their dirty plates etc on the tables instead of clearing them away. I assume they all got cleared at the end of the breakfast service, but it came across as a lack of care from the staff. It is sad to see somewhere that we stayed and loved just a year ago be so disappointing, and so we will not rebook in the future.

We have very recently from our second stay at the Cross Keys hotel in Saffron Walden. Overall, our stay was ok, the hotel has some plus points but also some which are negative. On the credit side this ancient hotel is very attractive externally and has definitely has ‘old world’ charm. The hotel is extremely well located in the centre of Saffron Walden; this is the chief reason we returned to this hotel, since for our purposes a central location was important. The hotel does not have its own car park but there is a large public car park (Swan Meadows) about a 5- minute walk away that is reasonably priced and indeed is free between 6 pm and 8 am, hence parking is not really a problem here. The hotel dates back centuries and therefore unlike modern, purpose- built hotels the rooms are all different shapes and sizes and do not have air conditioning. I believe all bedrooms are upstairs and there is no lift hence the bedrooms are unavailable if one cannot climb stairs. Our room on this occasion was on the small side but was clean, adequately furnished and the bed was comfortable. The old - fashioned sash window could be opened quite easily to ventilate the room, but I suspect that in the depth of winter these single glazed windows might mean the room gets very cold. Unfortunately, two out of three of the bathroom lights were not working and although we reported the issue almost immediately upon arrival this problem was not rectified during our two- night stay, I was given to understand that the light bulbs were in some way unusual and not easily obtainable. Maybe the hotel needs to upgrade their lighting system to a more conventional one so that non-working bulbs can be placed more rapidly. On the negative side we found that the service at breakfast time was very slow indeed. This was also a problem that we encountered last year and were hoping there may have been some improvement since then, however, this was not the case. Fortunately, we were not in any hurry but if one’s time is short it might be better to obtain breakfast elsewhere. It would seem that the chief cause of such slow service is a lack of staff; whilst the staff members we encountered were pleasant enough we never met anyone who appeared to be in charge overall. It should be noted that no staff stay on site overnight (although one is given an emergency number to ring if you need help). In addition, after 10pm the only access to the hotel is via a fire escape staircase situated at the back of the hotel. On one evening we arrived back shortly after 10 pm to find the staircase lights were not on (which could lead to trips and falls) in addition, there were a couple of men hanging around near the bottom of the staircase. Although these men caused us no bother whatsoever, if I had been on my own I think I would have felt rather frightened at climbing up into the darkness with the possibility of being followed. So, for these reasons I do not recommend this hotel for lone travellers who