Name: Hardwick Arms Hotel
Address: 1 North End, Sedgefield
Telephone: 0800 031 8416

Very poor

Two long journeys either side...

Liked: Friendly staff, clean
Disliked: No hot water for the 8hrs we were here

Exceptional

Building site - Really bad...

Liked: Location was great and the cleaning lady was absolutely lovely
Disliked: First impressions BUILDING SITE ! surrounded by scaffolding. Room was advertised as having a view , solid brick wall 2 inches behind our only window was our view ! Our room Room 5 was tatty and dirty. Toilet was a Macerator system, very noisy ! Shower screen hanging off. Breakfast was an absolute disgrace. No menu , service was abominable, never had such an awful breakfast experience. One young guy was the waiter and chef . He said "We don't have a menu, I can do ya a full breakfast or an omelette if ya like. In the distance was a broken toaster and the cheapest supermarket loaf bread next to it , unopened. Really really bad . Internet never worked properly. Manager on reception was only seen once on our 2 night stay. He didn't like it when I said the Internet didn't work. Found him rude and unapproachable.

Not quite as good as...

Liked: Location goodCooked breakfast on Day 1 very good.Evening meal on Day 2 very goodFriendly staff
Disliked: Limited parking outside hotel.No food available on a Tuesday evening, starts on a Wednesday, fortunately plenty of pubs/restaurants close by.Room had no curtains, just blinds fitted between heavy sash secondary glazing. Difficult to lift the sashes (probably impossible for elderly people) and then work the blinds and there were three of these, all South facing over the High St, so it's not an option to not close them (Room 4).Floor in room and en-suite very creaky, suggest room carpet is lifted and floorboards re-nailed as a minimum.Bedroom Yale lock not good, won't lock down with internal switch or external key and door has to be slammed to latch at all.Breakfast juice non-existent on day 1, day 2 all juice cartons empty. No milk out for cereals and when provided in a jug, black dirt was floating in the milk.