The Black Bull Hotel

The member of staff checking us in was brusque and unwelcoming. The first thing she said was that there was no kitchen tonight. She didn’t say sorry or advise other places locally. She practically threw the key at us and told us to fill in the breakfast order form as soon as possible as she wanted to finish her shift. Her attitude made us think we wouldn’t be having a drink there either so we went to the Pennine Inn a few doors down where they had polite staff and decent food. The member of staff that provided breakfast was polite and pleasant. Our room (1) on the top floor was next to the airing cupboard and boiler tank so was stifling hot all night. We were the only guests staying there so have no idea why we were put in that room. We only stayed one night as we were doing the C2C. Wouldn’t stay there again even if desperate. I would advise the manager that it may be courteous to advise a potential guest in an email that the kitchen isn’t open when they are staying.

Impossible to contact from the time of our booking (Jan) until close to arrival

Overnight stay, check in seamless comfortable room can’t comment on the breakfast as had to leave early Can’t fault the staff and Full on Fran is a star 🌟 😁

Great stay for two night break on the coast to Coast trail. Staff was friendly and helpful. Friday nights are very loud with karaoke so be prepared! Food was good, but basic pub food. Breakfast had several choices and the avocado and poached egg was especially good. There's an awesome Indian restaurant called the mango tree just a few buildings down. Laundromat behind the Black Bull hotel which was very convenient. About 6 pounds to run the washer and one or two for the dryer. There's a tourist info place in the same area also and they have taxi information if you want to bypass the boggy part of the hike from Kirkby Steven to Keld. No buses on Sunday.

Just right for our needs, hiking the Coast to Coast. Could have done with a bit more breakfast but hey…..

Central location, but in need of updating and tidying up.

It was ok but I wouldn’t stay again, I went down for food at 7pm and they stopped serving not sure why it wasn’t busy. In the morning I didn’t know where to go for breakfast and the second morning I came down at 7:45 no one there apart from me.

This hotel was nice and clean with everything you could need for a night away. The only issue was that we were on the top room and the heating wasn’t working on our room. Once we came in the room was freezing this impacted my asthma the next day and we had to leave quickly in the morning. The room and service was great however.

Quite pricey for a small double room (bed up against the wall) with no breakfast, bed was comfortable room lovely and warm

Tired building

Very tired, dirty floor and walls no staff to accommodate in the morning of checkout and only person that works in morning didn’t speak English so not helpful when needing to ask questions

Check in was via the bar staff, and although there were only two of them, this was ok and we were taken to our rooms. I was in Room 1. I was disappointed to find no light bulbs in the reading lights over the bed. In the bathroom, the towel rail was loose on the wall, and only just held by two screws. It had a rail missing as well. Also, there was no toilet roll holder. In addition, for the double bed there was only one bedside table, but there would have been no room for one anyway. The cooked breakfast was fine, but I had to ask for marmalade/ jam to go on toast. In general, breakfast service was poor. And to check out, we had to search the property for someone to hand over the keys to. For the price I paid -£144 - I felt it was very bad value. The saving grace was the location, which was excellent.

Room ok. Wi-Fi needed signing up to Sky and giving name and address and date of birth and accepting ads, which was unacceptable. Filled in breakfast form and put 9am. This was our choice as breakfast was available until later. Came down at 9.20 to find 2 plates of cold cooked breakfast on table. No cereal or toast. Some stewed filter coffee. Only person there was a cleaner who said that she doesn’t speak English. Found chef in kitchen wearing dirty T shirt who said that he wasn’t paid to stay longer and put out food at 9. Left most of my food. No one there when we checked out. Seems like they have some serious staffing problems and would advise anyone else to avoid

Very tied property need updating

Worked well as an overnight stop for a wedding.

Very run down and old!!! Staff were lovely

Lady that checked us in was friendly but I spoke to a man on the phone before arrival to query parking and how we could get the key if we are attending a wedding - he was miserable and complained about how annoying it is that people stay for weddings and are out all day (I queried if it’s so annoying why there hasn’t been a solution implemented). The room was basic but it was comfortable and the location was lovely. Average stay overall, would stay again if attending another wedding in the area but wouldn’t go out of my way to stay here.

I couldn't answer many of the questions because, despite telling them we were going to arrive late and being told to call them so that they could tell us how to access the property, they failed to respond to multiple calls and an email. Consequently, we had to spend the night sleeping in our car! The fact that they were far more interested in getting our money than actually accommodating us is the thing that is so terrible.

Lovely bed, linen, pillows, very clean Only minor niggle was no bedside table or lamp

We were up for a wedding and The Black Bull Hotel was a convenient place to stay. The landlady was very friendly and bed comfortable. We were a bit chilly during an April cold snap and couldn't work out how to get the heating on. No breakfast at the moment but there are plenty of great cafes in Kirkby Stephen and we had a chance to explore the area before we left. Would defintley stay again.