The Bear Hotel by Greene King Inns

We booked for an early lunch 12.30 I ordered roast Pork, my husband Hunters Chicken. When our meals arrived, I was disappointed to say the least and said it looks very small! Waiter said it was a child’s portion and waiter who took the order must of tapped wrong key. He did offer to fetch another one but it would take at least 5 mins. I didn’t want to wait and then eat on my own. So ate the snack! We then waited for over 30 mins for dirty plates to be taken away and order puddings, this never happened. Paid bill, no apology.

This hotel is fantastic and the staff are even better. We booked a superior room at The Bear for 1 night 28/08/24 and we arrived 2 hours early at 11.45 and the lovely lady on reception Gemma told us our room was ready!! We were given our keys room 41 which turns out to be the bridal suite beautiful.All staff are so friendly and happy to help, this is so rare in hospitality nowadays and because of this we booked a 2nd night which was cheaper paying direct and a 20% off voucher for food. Brilliant well done all at The Bear.

I am desperately trying to be objective as I write this, but I cannot come up with a single positive thing to say. Greene King should be thoroughly ashamed of this shoddy, scruffy, dirty place that was formerly a beautiful old coaching inn. I visited the Bear, probably 30 years ago and fell in love with the old, quirky building and it's great position within the town. Little did I know how very disappointing, my return would be! We have spent two nights here, and it is without a doubt, the worst hotel I have ever stayed in for many reasons that I will explain. We checked in to room 17 and were immediately underwhelmed by its tiny dimensions, its dingy decor, and general feeing of drabness. This lack of ambience wasn't helped by the rubbish and at least 20 cigarette stubs right outside the door. What a greeting! The extractor in the shower room doesn't work, and the WiFi drops in and out far more regularly than anyone is on reception. God help anyone trying to work from here! On our first night, we chose to eat in the restaurant as the menu at least looked promising. Upon entering the restaurant, however and seeing the state of both it, and the waiting and bar staff, we decided to select simple items from the menu that a fool couldn't go wrong with. How wrong we were! I have never seen garlic breaded mushrooms dumped on a plate swimming with oil, with not even a sad lettuce leaf as some nod to garnish. They were inedible, and our main courses were just a small improvement on that, with cheap ingredients, poorly cooked and thrown together on a plate. Even our drinks had no ice because they had apparently run out. Not that anyone would think to nip to the Tesco or Morrisons that are both just around the corner. This would require some ingenuity and someone to actually care, when quite clearly, no one here does! Our first night's sleep didn't happen, because the guest in the room above us might aswell have been sharing with us. The floor boards are so incredibly creaky, that we heard every movement, step and turn in his or her bed. I fully accept that this is a very old building, but if you can't offer guests a decent, peaceful nights rest, then the ground floor rooms are quite obviously unfit for purpose. On to the pièce de résistance that was breakfast. Again the menu appears to be imaginative and attractive, but after our experience with dinner the night before, we opted to keep it very simple. We ordered scrambled eggs on sourdough and as I am vegetarian, I ordered plain avocado on toast. While we waited, I poured two undrinkable cups of barely lukewarm coffee that tasted like cheap instant that had been put into a thermos dispenser. When my plain avocado arrived, it had two poached eggs on it, and I politely explained that I had expressly asked for plain avocado. Two minutes later, the plate was returned to me containing a piece of toast that looked like someone had blown their nose on it. It was quite obviously the same plate,

The staff were very friendly and helpful, but the accommodation and grounds were in an abysmal state! The accessible room had water running down the light fixture, off the lightbulb and onto the bed, so we were moved to another room. It was nice that the 2nd room had direct access to the gardens, except they were sadly neglected, with weeds and stinging nettles close to the door, the chairs provided for sitting outside in sore need of pressure washing, or at least a good brushing off. I found the pillows lumpy and hard, though my husband felt his were okay. The plaster was blown around the window in the bathroom, which also was fitted with plain glass, although there was a blind. Unfortunately, my husband had raised the blind when he visited the bathroom before me and I didn’t notice until I was already sat down . No cleaners visited our room during our 2 night stay, so the bed was unmade when we got back to the room after a day out, our dirty cups were still there, and the tea and sugar had not been replenished. This hotel is also a wedding venue

Unfortunate experience. Overall cleanliness at the hotel was horrible. Originally, I checked-in to room 18. The bed wasn't made property, it looked as if someone tried and then laid on it after. There were several hair balls on the carpet (confident it hadn't been vacuumed), crumbs on the table and a bunch of white stains on the blanket. I probably could've gotten past all of that except then I saw the toilet was filthy. My colleagues convinced me to go to the desk and mention it, where they kindly gave me a new room. I really didn't think it could get worse, but it did. While the toilet was clean, the bathroom bin was full of female products from the previous guest, yes just as gross as you imagine but I moved the bin outside and moved on because I assumed that was all I could do at 10pm. However, upon getting into bed, I found a dirty sock in between my sheets. I wish I could give the hotel the benefit of the doubt here but there's no way that they changed the sheets between the prior guest and me which left me feeling absolutely disgusting. Of course, it was 5 mins to 11pm and I was informed at check-in the hotel is not staffed after 11 so I raced down stairs and luckily found the manager as she was walking out. I am very grateful she came and changed the sheets in my bedroom (and took out the bin) which allowed me to get some sleep. The staff overall was really nice and seemed to be doing what they could. The restaurant for dinner was really pleasant and the staff was really good. Breakfast definitely left something to be desired and would've skipped that if I'd known. One final note, the room I stayed in had direct access from outside, and the hotel room key was a simple metal key. While I am sure Hungerford is fairly safe, I wish I had the option for a deadbolt and extra lock from the inside for some extra security as that was a slight concern for me during my stay. I stayed June 17th-19th 2024.

A fantastic late lunch with wonderful friendly, helpful staff with Tito, Paula, Lesley & the team. The food was very very tasty, delicious & extremely enjoyable with plenty of options on the menu for all meals from breakfast, brunch, dinner or an evening meal with family or friends plus a great bar. The venue is very historic with a wonderful outside area & also by the river. Big thanks again for a fabulous meal keep being amazing M & J

We stay here regularly and the staff are great the food is great everything about the place is great! We would definitely recommend staying here, it’s our home away from home. The locals are fun, the atmosphere is amazing & we would not want to stay anywhere else!

We stayed for a single night B&B while visiting friends in Hungerford. Our room was nicely decorated and clean and the bed really comfortable. Breakfast offered great choices including healthy and interesting freshly cooked options - compared to some recent stays in other uk hotels The Bear really leads the way. Only drawback was the historic windows do not fully open and we stayed on a very hot night but the staff did find us a fan to use - acceptable but not ideal

Had stayed before so popped in for Sunday lunch. Had veggie Wellington which was nice however place shows its age an d needs some attention On our visit someones many jumper left on windowsill outside. Bar OK but tables not cleared very quick? Gents toilets need an upgrade. Sat outside after lunch and patio weedy and a tad unloved? We had stayed a few years ago and I think it needs a refurbishment Staff pleasant and food/drinks good though