My wife and I stayed at the Edgeware Premier Inn for the night as I had an early appointment at a nearby hospital the next morning. We chose Premier Inn because we thought they had a good reputation. How wrong we were! It was decidedly underwhelming from start to finish. After negotiating our way past a huge car transporter taking up much of the car park, we found what seemed to be the last available parking space. When we entered the reception we joined a queue of people patiently waiting to check in, and after waiting for ages a second member of staff arrived and said that if we had pre booked we could check in using the only one of three computer screens that was working. Except it didn’t, so back to square one. Once checked in, we booked a table in the restaurant for dinner and headed for the room. It was basic as expected, and very warm, the air conditioning was turned up to. 27… We tried to make ourselves a hot drink, but among the paltry supplies of two teabags and a couple of coffee sachets the was no decaf. After heading to the restaurant we waited to be seated. For some time. Once we eventually were seated we ordered some drinks, which took a very long time to arrive. After taking the order the waiter reappeared but started cleaning tables. A different waiter appeared and asked if we wanted to order some drinks, but when we told him that we’d already ordered some he didn’t seem very happy. Once we’d ordered our food the starter arrived fairly quickly. The food was OK if a little basic, but acceptable for a budget hotel. When we were eating our starters the main course arrived. The waiter seemed surprised, but rather than coming back later, just put it on the table. We ordered more drinks, and again they took ages to arrive. As we needed to leave early in the morning I tried to pay for our meal, but the waiter didn’t seem very patient and said I should ‘give him a minute please, mate’. In fact I was called ‘mate’ several times during our stay by the staff. The waiters were moaning about the kitchen and bar staff in front of several guests, which made even Fawlty Towers look far more professional. We asked for some decaf tea and coffee but after searching, the receptionist returned with a single sachet of coffee. Seriously? The room was clean, but the air conditioning didn’t seem to be working properly as the room was very stuffy. We turned it down to 17 and it switched itself off. The bed was comfy, but the quilt was very thick, and the sheet clearly didn’t fit the mattress as it escaped and took refuge in the middle of the bed during the night. I was actually relieved not to be trying the breakfast, and found the parking to be what I considered expensive at £15 for the night, with a small discount with a code supplied by the hotel. We couldn’t leave immediately as one of the many tradesmen staying had parked across the car park while he paid for his parking. So in summary, it’s a budget hotel, and you get what you pay for. The staf
48 Reviews