Black Lion Hotel in Richmondshire

Great location, food good and staff. Hotel room was not clean. For a very old building we didn't expect perfection in the rooms and we weren't looking for it. What we did expect was for it to be clean. The bed had stained sheets on it, (which we had to change ourselves) the complimentary drinks tray had bits on it and the bed side stool needed to be wiped over before sitting on it. Not to mention the tea bag left in the drinks tray and the wrapper on the floor.

Friendly and helpful staff, however the health & safety and customer service fell far short of what should have been provided. I emailed the hotel 5 days ago and not had a response. Booking.com are now taking the case up.1) After dinner on Friday 1 April I spoke to the lady who had checked us in (working behind the bar that night) and told her where we had left our car (I mentioned it was “abandoned” in a parking space in the market square, and that we were concerned about the signs saying the market would take place the next day). The lady assured me it was safe to park there and gave me a parking card, circulated throughout Yorkshire, she set it to show “8pm”, told me to place it on the dashboard and said we could park there until 10am on Saturday 2 April. By 9:15am on the Saturday we had a parking ticket for £35.2) the room, while quaint, had windows in the bedroom and bathroom with windowsills at shin height, single glazing with just a screw lock to hold them shut. While we were bringing bags into the room my 7 year old immediately undid the lock in the bathroom, opened it wide and hung his head out over the cobbles below from 3-4 floors up, nothing to prevent him falling out. The bedroom window was the same, obviously we warned the children against going near the windows. No child locks in a family room?3) the room had a skylight window over my child’s bed with no blind. I used a travel blackout blind but as I pressed this onto the glass the window and it’s frame moved. I didn’t test it further but I doubt the window is secure.4) the tap in the bathroom sink was dripping hot water when we arrived (not a problem) indicating there was plenty of hot water. By 8am the next morning there was no hot water at all in either shower or sink. As there was no phone to call staff, my husband braved the cold shower. I’d had a terrible nights sleep (just noise from folk leaving pubs on the street outside) and couldn’t face the cold water so boiled a kettle to fill the sink, but the plug was not the right size and the sink emptied within 3-4 mins.5) not as serious but the quality of the kids meal on the Friday night was pretty poor - margarita pizza was a semi circle of hard baked biscuity base with lots of oily melted cheddar cheese on top. I’m guessing this is pre-packed industrially produced. It would cost the hotel pennies to make the dough themselves and use tomato passata and mozzarella.6) there was a bad smell of sewage from the toilet in the morning.7) at breakfast the service seemed a bit patchy and slow (cooked breakfast took about 25-30 mins to arrive) and we didn’t feel we could bring up the cold water or window safety issues. Waitress, Tara, took our payment for the previous nights dinner, it would have been good at that point if she had checked everything had been satisfactory.I complained about the parking ticket and the hot water to Tara on the Saturday after breakfast who took notes quickly and promised to pass it on, no response yet.

Stayed here for the night March 2022, it’s a lovely, traditional pub/hotel that’s about to be refurbished.Staff were great, attentive and chatty, breakfast was very nice.Look forward to returning after the work has been done, the rooms are in need of refurbishment but the bed I slept in was very comfy!

Room was very small (room 4) tucked up at the top of the pub and looked nothing like any photos on the website. The facilities were poor. The carpet was grubby and looked unhoovered. The paintwork was dirty and chipped. The shower cubicle was so small once in you couldn't turn round let alone bend down to pick up the shower gel! Water pressure was hit and miss. The hot water came hotter than a boiling kettle, the radiator in the bathroom prevented us sitting on the toilet properly - you had to sideways on. The radiator in the bedroom came apart and there was no heating on at all. The room was freezing. The windows were running with condensation as there was no extractor fan in the bathroom. And a strange fishy smell throughout our stay? Breakfast wasn't of a good quality, items missing on 1st day - no black pudding, cold toast, undercooked bacon (raw fat) and 2nd day I just asked for poached eggs on toast but the toast was that soggy from the egg water that I left it. The coffee was nice!The minute we entered the pub we were asked for payment upfront and had to pay for drinks and food as we went - found this strange that we couldn't put it on the room and pay on departure? The room was not serviced at all. Would have been nice to get a new towel as there was no heating and they stayed damp for 4 days.I do not recommend.

Ate our lunch here today opted for 2 course dinner any starter or main plus a sweet £12.95 great value we had chicken and mushroom pie with shortcrust pastry cooked perfect large chunks of chicken in a lovely sauce and garlic chicken breast with salad and chips also very tasty plus two crumble and custard delicious the staff were very professional and friendly thank you for a lovely experience

Lovely little place…food was EXCELLENT 👌🏻and reasonably priced. And it’s always a bonus when we find a dog friendly eatery 😀 Will definitely be visiting again next time we’re in Richmond 👍🏻

Spend my Christmas here. Great for lone travellers. Needs to update the decor but the stuff are the heart of the place. Very dog friendly. Will be back.

This weekend we used the Black Lion as a venue for my friends baby shower and had the bistro room upstairs all to ourselves. The staff were really helpful and nothing was too much to ask! Della especially was fantastic, going above and beyond to make sure we had everything we needed. We had some of the buffet options for food which were all lovely and they even catered for someone who needed dairy-free food options. Would definitely use the Black Lion again for an event like this.

We started here for the very first time last night and enjoyed every second of our stay. The breakfast was to die for and all staff were super friendly and very accommodating. Very close to all amenities. Will definitely return x

Popped in on a whim for some dinner. Added bonus they let the dog in. Food was superb, really great choice of menu. Puddings nice. All good sized servings. Staff helpful, happy and professional. Would definitely recommend for people to pop in!