WHY DID WE BOOK THE INNKEEPER'S LODGE St ALBANS? A.K.A THE COLNEY FOX VINTAGE INN
A slightly complicated set of factors this time - indeed this is the first hotel in which we have stayed south of Watford Gap in very many years. Living in Brighton and attending the Company Car in Action event at Millbrook, just south of Bedford, we usually set out from home at 5.30am in order to be there for gates open at 9.00am.
I owed myself a couple of days off work and, feeling a little under the weather, did not fancy a crack of dawn departure followed by the rush hour crawl around the M25.
Also, in an envelope, following our last, disastrous, Innkeeper's Lodge experience in Litchfield before Christmas, we had a complimentary "stay one night free" voucher.
Looking at the list of available Inkeeper's Lodges in the area, the choice was not a difficult one, a Toby Inn at Bedford, or the much more historic and attractive looking Vintage Inn at London Colney, just to the south of St Abans.
'Oh dear' I hear you cry; 'wasn't that Lodge at Lichfield also a Vintage Inn?' In a sense that had not crossed my mind - a pity in some respects, it should have done……
HOTEL DESCRIPTION / OUR PERCEPTION FROM HOTEL PUBLICITY
As is usual with Innkeeper's excellent website and paper Lodge Guide, the description does nothing to over-sell the Colney Fox. If anything, arriving there in the large, well lit and shady car park, the Inn made a better impression than we had expected having read the information before booking it on the 'net.
The information supplied describes the Lodges as a collection of individual hotels with varying facilities and décor. Whilst this one, at thirteen rooms, is probably the smallest one that we have stayed in, it had quite a lot in common, visually at least, with the Lichfield Lodge.
HAVE WE STAYED THERE PREVIOUSLY?
No we have not, although having stayed in many Innkeeper's Lodges all over the country it did not entirely feel like a new experience!
BOOKING PROCESS 7 / 10
Absolutely no problem with accessing the Innkeeper's Lodge site and making a reservation. Unfortunately, upon reaching our room it was quite obvious that the "requests box" either had not been read or is only there for show!
Following our last experience, I had specifically requested on the booking form a room that was NOT above the kitchen. We were allocated room 5 - directly above the kitchen door and overlooking the kitchen yard and bins at the back!
LOCATION 10 / 10
The Innkeeper's Lodge St Albans is superbly located barely a minutes drive from Junction 22 of the M25 to the north of London. My concern that it would be close enough to the motorway to hear the traffic noise proved totally unfounded too.
By any standards this is a very convenient location - only two miles from the historic centre of St Albans, yet located in a leafy residential area as you enter London Colney.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS 9 / 10
First impressions were all positive, attractive, well kept gardens surround the old pub and the car park is large and conveniently laid out. It is by all accounts a very popular "local" and rightly so.
As we entered the pub, approaching the check in desk, these very positive impressions remained, I even remarked to my wife that this was 'a different kettle of fish' when compared to the last Innkeeper's Lodge in which we set foot.
CHECKING IN 8 / 10
I handed my voucher to the manager - attached to it was some very "interesting" correspondence following that last stay. He actually kept my paperwork…..wonder if he read it, AFTER allocating us room 5 - over the kitchen!
He was polite, welcoming and briefed us on the facilities, the hours that meals were served here and how to operate the electronic swipe to gain entry to the Lodge without having to traipse through the bar. There was no awkwardness about accepting the voucher either - he did not request to swipe my credit card and this truly was a free nights' stay.
ON THE WAY TO THE ROOM i.e. how easy is it to find your way around? How accessible is if for less able persons? What condition are the public rooms and passageways in? 6 / 10
We are fully able bodied, but even so, with just an overnight bag and a suit carrier we struggled to negotiate the convoluted doors and corridors once arriving at the top of the stairs. The room was easy enough to find - simple room number directions being posted at the top of the stairs.
The general décor and condition of the stairs and corridor were acceptable, but a little tired looking. I had to note that an empty Pepsi tin, left presumably by a thoughtless guest, remained on the window sill at the top of the stairs throughout our stay, obviously the staff do not venture up stairs unless they have to.
THE ROOM 3 / 10
We have stayed in worse rooms…….which does not really excuse, or say very much for this one!
The bedroom was very small, you enter the room via a narrow corridor, shared to your right with a very compact hanging area for clothes - no wardrobe space here, just a curtain to pull across the hangers.
To the left is the door to the en-suite.
The king sized double bed had a navy blue valance sheet poking out incongruously underneath the mattress on one side only - and not for the length of the bed. Other basic equipment in the room amounted to a small table unit with a tiny television and a beverage tray adjacent and the useful little dressing table with a make up mirror on top. There was only the one chair, just as well as there was not room for a second anyway!
The beverage tray contained a small selection of hot drinks; tea, coffee and hot chocolate, two generously sized mugs to drink them from and two packets of biscuits - very fresh ones if the three ginger nuts that we shared were anything to go by!
Bedside tables were provided, along with lamps, but overall the lighting level in the room was so dim that I struggled to, and then gave up, planning my route for the following day on my very large scale map.
The general cleanliness of this room was certainly NOT what I would expect from a chain such as Innkeeper's Lodge, even more so paying £65.00 a night for it.
The wall mounted full length mirror was filthy, the ceiling light fitting thick with cobwebs - and again containing dead insects inside - and particularly disturbing some rather unpleasant unidentifiable stains on the wallpaper adjacent to the television.
The large, double glazed, sash window was wide open when we entered the room. It functioned perfectly and did not rattle, but the glass was so dirty as to be opaque, obviously it had taken several years to build up that amount of dirt. Someone really did not seem to care too much about this place.
There were also bare rawl plugs sticking out of the wall where, presumably a picture had either been removed or stolen…..
THE EN-SUITE 2 / 10
Oh yes, it gets grimmer……
……First thing that my eagle eye picked up on was some "interesting" red flaky residue in the hand basin - obviously it had not been washed following the last guest's departure. The mirror over it was just as stained and smeary as the one in the bedroom - again a simple lack of cleaning.
Do not expect to collect "freebies" from any Innkeeper's Lodge, although we cannot complain at the usual wall mounted supply of Dove toiletries. As always there is a reminder on the wall that if you have left behind toothbrush or female sanitary items, these are available - free of charge - upon request from the Check-In desk.
The en-suite contained a full size bath with a very efficient power shower over it, along with the toilet and hand basin. Regrettably a wallow in the bath was not an attractive proposition here, the grouting surrounding the bath was in very poor condition, mostly black in colour and elicited the comment - out loud "oh yuk" from me.
I showered and washed my hair, my wife chose not to do so - having been accosted by the ghastly plastic shower curtain - I realised that her decision had been a wise one indeed.
The floor of the en-suite was in a worse condition even than the tiling and grouting on the walls. Again black grouting, but this time, looking into the corners it just appeared to be a build up of dirt.
Even the toilet flush handle was thick with dirt where it had never been cleaned.
Neither very attractive, or hygienic, all in all.
DID WE GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP? 8 / 10
Against all expectations, having observed the lumps in the frankly knackered old bed - that before removing its cover - we slept very well here!
Maybe a long day in the fresh air (at Woburn Abbey) helped, but the bed proved much more comfortable than it looked. Do not expect to become too amorous with your partner though, the steel spring sticking up in the middle of it could cause a very embarrassing injury!
Even being over the kitchen the extractor fan was quiet and was turned off at about 11.00. The temperature, my "reviewometer" (yes, I now carry a room thermometer in our overnight bag!) read a steady 22deg.C throughout our stay, was tolerable, although the room felt a little stuffy and airless generally, partly thanks to the very well sealed door, there were no noises from outside in the corridor.
FACILITIES ON OFFER - No score here, different grades / prices of hotel understandably have different facilities.
Everything that we needed was here. This would be a superbly convenient place to set up a small meeting, there is a meeting room to hire, you need to contact the Lodge direct for the details.
The rooms all have swipe card telephones, although there was not a problem with mobile phone reception, so probably there would be no reason to use them. Innkeepers Lodge are always happy to promote their Wi-Fi access, yes it is available but do not expect it to be cheap.
BREAKFAST / OTHER MEALS, FOOD & DRINKS 8 / 10
One of several reasons for us choosing St Albans as a base was that we wanted to return to an excellent Italian restaurant, discovered earlier this year. That, unfortunately, meant that we did not have dinner in the Colney Fox.
Looking at the extensive menu - left in each room - I can only comment that for the food on offer, I thought that the prices were a little on the high side. Starters range from £2.95 for soup of the day to £6.95 for baked baby camembert. Main courses are from £6.45 for a Ceasar salad to £12.50 for a sirloin steak. Sweets are between £3.75 and £4.50.
Here in London Colney, if you do not want to take the car into St Albans you probably have little other choice of eating place.
The 8 points are awarded largely on the strength of our excellent breakfast experience. As with all other Innkeeper's Lodges, this is a self-serve continental buffet. However, the young lady server who was topping up the beverages and making sure that everyone was happy with their choice of items from the breakfast bar was an inspiration to waiting staff everywhere.
Unlike the housekeeping staff, she very obviously cared that her guests were satisfied, greeting everyone with a genuine smile……
……her presence here left us with a much more positive impression of this place than would otherwise have been the case.
OVERALL VALUE FOR MONEY 4 / 10
Innkeeper's Lodges have in the past gained consistently high scores from me on this point. That was until we sampled the "delights" of the Lichfield establishment last year. Regrettably I cannot forward £65.00, or £52.95 Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as being good value for money when both the room and, especially, en-suite are so tired and overdue for re-furbishment.
HOW LIKELY AM I / ARE WE, TO USE THIS HOTEL AGAIN?
Very unlikely indeed.
Except possibly top pop in for an early dinner on the way home from Millbrook. Worse, we are now extremely unlikely to book ANY Innkeeper's Lodge attached to a Vintage Inn.
Once bitten, twice shy, next year on the eve of Company Car in Action you will probably find us at the Bedford Lodge, a more modern Toby Carvery, offering rooms for £55.00 per night (£49.95 at the weekend).
RICHADA'S HOTEL RATING: 65 %
In order to put that score into some kind of perspective, here are my current hotel rankings - all reviewed and scored using identical criteria:
Ringhotel Friederikenhof - Lubeck - Germany - 92% Swallow Bower Hotel - Chadderton - 83% Grand Hotel, Torquay - 83% Innkeeper's Lodge, Chester Northeast - 83% Innkeeper's Lodge, Stockport - 83 % Innkeeper's Lodge, Hull - 81% Preston Swallow Hotel - Samlesbury, Lancashire - 74% Hotel Drei Schwanen - Hohenstein-Ernstthal - Germany - 72% Hotel Viktoria, Cologne - 70%
Innkeeper's Lodge, St Albans - 65%
Hotel Piast, Boleslawiec (Poland) - 64% Chadwick Hotel, St Annes - 63 % Innkeeper's Lodge, Lichfield - 39%
CONTACT DETAILS:
Innkeeper's Lodge, Colney Fox Vintage Inn, 1 Barnet Road London Colney Street St Albans AL2 1BL
Tel.: 0845 1126 058
9.07.08 UPDATE
I have today received a fullsome apology from Derek, the manager at the Colney Fox, for the condition of our room......we had not been the only ones to complain!
Innkeeper's Lodge are closing this Lodge down in August for a complete re-fit, a move that, in my opinion at least, is well overdue. The bad news is that once it re-opens, the Colney Fox will be charging £80.00 per night for the new rooms. At that price, one would certainly expect them to be immacculately clean and well kept.
As it is, this review reflects accurately our impressions of this particular Lodge at the time in which we stayed in it.
