Review of the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate

For the first time I ended up on a solo short break due to N not wanting to come and the OH never coming away. Harrogate was my city of choice as it’s small enough to walk around, and near enough plenty of places on my to visit list en route and nearby.

I had Tesco clubcard vouchers to convert before the end of August, so I ended up paying less than half price for the hotel using my vouchers. A real bargain break.

The Old Swan Hotel is a historic hotel, fashionable during Victorian times thanks to the proximity of the Harrogate spa town’s sulphur waters. And in 1926, Agatha Christie stayed in the hotel as her haven during troublesome .

I love an old classic traditional hotel, and it was nice to stay in one that wasn’t a bit run down. The Old Swan is well looked after (the bits I saw anyway), and was very much an ‘old’ proper hotel where they look after their guests well.

Having missed the car parking sign the first time round, on entering again I headed left. The parking out the front can be tight in places when people with giant Range Rovers are parking opposite other large vehicles, but I avoided this by parking further round where there was only 1 row of cars. There is a larger car park around the back too. Parking is £12 a night and you pay on checking in, then have to put your parking permit in your car. The council check and issue fines, so there’s no avoiding paying if you come by car.

From seeing people checking in there is a real mix of people who stay. Couples, families, groups, and I also walked back from dinner in the town centre seeing a huge coach group arrive.

The welcome from reception was good and fast, having had plenty of online communication beforehand, and a chance to enter all my address and other detail digitally beforehand to speed up check in. A paper street map was produced when I asked, along with key places pointed out, and advice given when I asked about streets with plenty of restaurants.

There’s only one lift and it is a bit temperamental (good job I’m not nervous of them as when waiting with my suitcase, an older child was commentating on how dodgy the lift was.

Hotel bedroom at the Old Swan Hotel

I only booked a couple of weeks before going away. My room was tucked around a few corners, with no view, just overlooking other rooms of the hotel. With the building being located in quiet streets, there’s no traffic noise. But with the window open I could hear quite a lot – loud tv or music from another room, and what sounded like kitchen noise at times. 

Night two was the potential challenge night, as at reception on arrival it warned there was a wedding on the Saturday with a band. A little annoying you don’t get warnings on booking so you can decided whether to cancel or go ahead. I was probably more concerned about coming back late after a day out and being unable to park. When you pay so much for parking, you expect to be able to park when you’re staying in the hotel. It turned out not to be a problem at all. Parking wise or noise. I didn’t hear the wedding party from my room at all.

My room wasn’t massive, it was just a standard double room. Nothing particularly offensive, and the usual handy items inside the wardrobe like iron, trouser press, suitcase stand (why do hotels only ever have one of these? Do people really share suitcases?), hair dryer, fan. And also the usual kettle and refreshments (including hot chocolate which is rare). There were also a couple of water bottles for those who don’t like drinking good Yorkshire water.

The plug situation was fairly limited – only 2 spare and not one by the bed but I could use my watch for a wake up alarm anyway, so that was fine for me.  

I liked that they have a proper recycling/bin system although it was a bit revolting if you had food waste to just put in a bin part with no bag in. (with my work hat on it would be interesting to see how correctly guests get it!).

The desk chair worked fine with the desk. The tv was huge for a hotel tv, and worked normally unlike most hotel tvs. There was also a random comfy chair although it was a bit lonely without room for a table. But nice to use that to sit and watch tv with feet up on the bed rather than having to try and get comfy sitting upright on the bed to watch.

The bathroom was nice enough. The shower was over the bath which is fine for me. Only being one person in a room meant there was space on the top towel rail for my wash bag which would have had to go on the floor otherwise. 

The shower was nice and powerful, although it was very hot water. If I’d wanted a cold shower in the hot weather that didn’t seem to be possible.

There was a comedy moment when I had no tv signal one morning. I gave up, then found on returning to the room in the evening I still had no signal. Checked the cables in the back of the tv, all fine. Didn’t think to follow the aerial cable to the wall. Reception sent someone up and he straight away figured it out. It seems the curtains can sometimes catch the cable. And I wasn’t the only person with similar issues as there was someone at reception mentioning the same issue when I went down for breakfast the next day.

Breakfast at The Old Swan Hotel

Bizarrely there were different breakfast times each day of my stay. 7am start weekdays, 7.30 on Saturdays and 8 on Sundays. I think most places I’ve stayed have just had weekend times but the same on both days.

I had breakfast included in my costs which I prefer. I’m not a big full english breakfast eater, but I do like to see what’s available and pick and mix a bit.

On morning one I had greek yoghurt with berries. Delicious but I prefer it being self portioning yoghurt rather than pots as I don’t want a full pot (but yes I get it’s better for the hygiene side of things).

I had a mini cinnamon swirl which was nice enough. But apart from standard sized croissants, the mini pastry offering was very limited – just bunged a few in the bottom of the croissant basket.  (On morning 2 they were burnt, so think they might need to rethink those).

The toaster actually managed to toast white bread just right, but brown bread was coming out looking untoasted. I daren’t risk putting it in again and burning it, so stuck with white. There was also a loaf of seeded bread you could slice yourself if you wanted something nicer.

I ended up on morning one having scrambled eggs on toast, along with a rasher of bacon and a sausage.  The bacon was delicious, and nice to see it on the crispier side rather than most hotels which undercook the bacon. The sausages on the other hand, needed a bit more cooking, and weren’t that exciting. The eggs were fine, but I’ve had a lot creamier and tastier in other hotels. These were more like I’d make at home. Fine, but not like a treat.

On morning two I had cornflakes and a bowl of mixed fruit salad which was really nice – the fruit was all perfectly ripe. Then back to scrambled eggs on toast to set me up for the day.

My last morning breakfast was disappointing. I arrived half an hour in. There were no pastries at all while I was there. Only bog standard sliced bread. And the cooked breakfast bits were very slow being restocked. Twice I went by, and no eggs at all. I ended up just having cereal and toast, with juice. There had been a whole load of suitcases parked up outside the reception by the restaurant, so maybe a coachload had just decimated it. But surely they should have planned for that, and known when they’d be heading in and out of breakfast.

It’s definitely a hotel that doesn’t have many children staying (I’ve not seen any at breakfast in the time I’ve been staying, and only a couple of older children at other times). There’s no exciting more kiddy friendly offerings like pancakes or waffles, no porridge, and no trendy options like smashed avocado or Eggs Benedict etc.  Sometimes it’s nice to have other choices. But sticking with a basic buffet is easier all round than offering all the options.

Other facilities at the Old Swan Hotel

I didn’t make use of any of the other facilities at the Old Swan Hotel. There’s no spa, pool or gym which didn’t bother me.

I chose to eat out rather than in the hotel restaurant. The menu for the restaurant mostly looked a bit fussy for me, although I could have eaten in the bar lounge instead. But I prefer eating at a proper table, rather than sitting at awkward height chairs with a meal needing a knife and fork.

The bar was obviously very popular because whenever I came back afternoon or evening, there were always people sitting inside and out on the terrace or front lawn enjoying drinks.

You can have room service too, for which the charge is a very reasonable £3.50. I think that’s the cheapest I’ve ever seen such a charge.

The cleaners do a good job. I didn’t see any mess in corridors (other than when they’d put things outside with their trolleys to pick up), and my room and bathroom were immaculate.

Checking out

Checking out was simple and quick as I had no extras on my bill. Another friendly receptionist and I was soon on my way.

I really liked staying at the Old Swan Hotel. The location was excellent, everything was clean, the staff were polite and friendly. Yes the parking is expensive, but similar to other places in the town, and reliable for being able to park. I would definitely stay again.