Premier Inn Cockermouth

The Premier Plus room was excellent no complaints at all. The breakfast in the attached Brewers Fayre restaurant was good as you would expect at a Premier Inn… however the same cannot be said about dinner. service was poor (the restaurant was understaffed) the quality of the food was poor and the advertised Christmas menu ‘not available’ that night. The worst Brewers Fayre experience I have ever had!

Not well received. The duty manager was offhand and very unhelpful. He made us want to leave and return home. Not a nice man. On the other hand an assistant, Naiomh, was extremely helpful and polite. Cockermouth is a lovely town with a lot to do and explore and we enjoyed it. We stay regularly at Premier Inns and have had excellent experience up until this visit. We hope that this is a one off, but we won't go back again.

Rooms are of a good standard, and clean. Exterior looks drab on arrival. Wifi - paid for ultimate / included in room cost and kept dropping out. Restaurant lets the site down, evening meal was basic and small, breakfast was greasy and food not the best quality (blackpuding greasy and stuck together) not the greatest!

Stayed in a 'Plus' room, which was brilliant. Loads of free parking. About a 20 minute or so walk into town for the night scene. On checking in we were asked if we wanted breakfast but we weren't planning to and the pleasant person said if we changed our mind we could just go in the restaurant and pay then. Due to the bad weather we delayed our checkout time and decided to have breakfast. I'd checked the 'traffic light' poster in the hotel lift showing the busy times so we could avoid those. I even went in to check the timing situation about half an hour before we went to eat and nobody said anything about booking. When we went in to have breakfast we got a lecture from Heather about how busy it was going to be and how the reception staff shouldn't tell us that we could just turn up and how they had so many bookings and after she (finally) asked if we were staying here she said that she couldn't turn us away etc etc etc (yawn). She graciously allowed us to pay and after audaciously deciding to eat here and give Whitbread some of our hard earned cash, we sat down nervously awaiting the madding crowds which never materialised either whilst we were in there or when (out of curiosity) we peered through the windows from the outside a couple of times later. Anyway after the lecture she made everything ok (not) by saying something along the lines of 'but that's not your fault'. No it isn't! During the breakfast the coffee machine showed a display that said the beans had run out so I asked a member of staff and she opened the door of a lower cupboard on the leg of a lady who was queuing up, so she could get a bag of beans out - no meaningful apology was forthcoming and this member of staff had 'a face like thunder'. If we came back to Cockermouth we would stay but not eat in here. Someone on the management team needs to sort things out.

Stayed for 3 nights as base to explore the Lakes. Ideal location, plenty of parking, comfortable bed (although pillows a bit thin), and all very clean. Shower over bath is very good, warm, good pressure, although bath is quite high (shame not a walk-in shower). Good large TV and a small fridge in room to keep a few drinks cold. Very quiet location for good night's sleep. Parking signs when we arrived did cause confusion and concern as said that guests had to pay daily car park charge (which seemed ridiculous given out of town location on a by-pass), but reception clarified this no longer applies. Very friendly and welcoming reception team.

Overall the hotel is ok, Conflicting signage about parking charges so have to check with the staff otherwise the fine is about £70 if you go by the signage on the car park. Air con kept going off after a period of time, lowest available setting was 19c, the windows aren't really windows more just a piece of glass so no chance of any fresh air. Rooms in the surrounding area of hotel had a lot of movement during the night. The smoke alarm/detector has a blue flashing light which is noticeable at night when room is dark. My evening meal when ordering my food and drink I got the wrong drink I said to bar staff I'd order something different and he just look through me so I just had the wrong drink. The plate the food was served on was cold so had to rush dinner as it becomes cold quickly. Once the dinner plate was cleared I waited for my dessert which I'd ordered at the same time as the main to make it easier. However after almost 25 minutes I had to chase it and then it was about another 10 minutes to actually get it. Breakfast was just as much of a challenge when I arrived just after 6.30 there was about 8 people in eating a cooked breakfast. So was shocked when the young lad told me there's no Continental as they've not bothered to get it out yet!