The Ken Bridge Hotel

Great overnight stay at this friendly little hotel. Ignore the previous reviews and see for yourself as I was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness and hospitality received. Decent pub food in the bar/restaurant and good breakfast the next day. I had a nice, comfortable room overlooking the river which was spotlessly clean. The rooms are decorated in a traditional style which suits the age of the building etc but everywhere was clean and tidy. Would definitely stop over again if I was in the area.

Stayed here before and its a great location to stay when biking in the area. On arrival there was no problem booking in. We had already pre booked 5 of us to eat on the evening but this booking did not seem to be in the diary. Thankfully they could fit us in. Our room was really nice. Lovely and clean with very comfy beds! Very quiet and didnt hear any other guests. Food on the evening was nice. Every meal comes with ALOT of chips!! But everything was tasty. Breakfast was good. We had been asked to pre-order which we did and specified a time but still we had to wait half an hour from our time slot before our food came out. Thankfully we were not in a hurry but that was a bit strange! Only dealt with the female there. There was a lot going on at times and she seemed to be covering a lot of things. It would have been good if she had had more help - someone to clear the tables, take drink orders, deal with bookings coming in. She coped well but a helping hand would definitely make things run a bit more smoothly at front of house.

Six of us stayed here for two nights. Three of us arrived slightly early, and were greeted by a very pleasant lady who was very apologetic that the rooms were not ready yet which was fair enough. The the owner arrived and asked us what we wanted! We just asked if we could leave our luggage somewhere whilst we waited in the bar with a drink whilst the rooms were being prepared. He looked at us as if we were a bit simple and gave us a resounding 'NO'. So we duly returned later having looked for alternative accommodation which was impossible at this late stage. The rooms were basic but comfortable enough, and most importantly clean. We had dinner out, and on returning we asked the owner for some drinks at the bar. Once again he looked at us as if we were stupid and just dismissed us with a 'bar is closed'. The one saving grace about this place is that the lady manager was outstanding. She tried her best to make our stay comfortable and she had an excellent demeanour and worked like a slave. She was seemingly available 24/7 and did everything. Literally everything. The owner just seemed to want to make guests miserable. She does not deserve to be in a place like this - she would be better employed as a senior customer services manager in some 5 star establishment elsewhere. If she wasn't there, then I would say avoid. She is the one saving grace.

Visited this evening, brilliant location, good parking facilities. That's where it stops! Waited around to get served in the bar, eventually a lady appeared and whilst serving another customer shouted to us "are you checking in?" To which I replied No. The lady then said "what are you doing here then"!!! I eventually ordered our drinks and we carried them outside once in the daylight you could see all glasses were filthy one still had someone's lipstick around the top! The building is tired, the atmosphere was non existent and the staff not interested. Avoid and carry on to Dalry three miles further on, there are two good pubs to choose from there.

Based on reviews when we booked, this appeared to be a great place for an overnight stay as part of a cycling trip. How disappointing it turned out to be. Arriving cold & wet after a 50 mile cycle ride, we were met with general indifference & then mild irritation by the owner when we wanted to put our bikes under cover & dry our kit. Total ignorance & further irritation about removing the sparkler from the tap for a pint of real ale (a very simple task that members of CAMRA would understand & not expect to be challenged) gave more cause for concern. Meals were uninspiring & clearly from a mass-produced source. We were overcharged for 2 whiskeys that we didn't have. We had arranged for a taxi company to transport our luggage onto our next venue. On arrival there, we discovered that one item had been left at Ken Bridge. On phoning Ken Bridge to try & locate the item, we were told "yeah, we saw it after she'd gone" and yet no attempt had been made to contact us, or the taxi company to mitigate the situation. This venue has clearly seen better days and better customer service. It has the potential to be an absolute goldmine, in a beautiful part of the country which attracts outdoor enthusiasts. Given that we had spent about £750, we were very disappointed with our experience.

The hotel is in a pretty setting by a river. Sitting outside having a drink in the summer would be lovely. The rooms were clean, a bit overcrowded with furniture and reasonably comfortable. The bed linen was old and poor quality. However this hotel will not survive if the attitude of the owners does not change. We arrived soaking wet after a 50 mile cycle. There was no warm welcome, we were nonchalantly informed very pleasantly there were no drying facilities. No recognition that this might be difficult for us and effort to help. . There was no radiator on in the room to dry anything either. There was a surly response about storing our bikes which were eventually put in a shed. The evening meal was very poor- a huge range of everything from curries to fish and chips. Our group had a variety and they were all clearly microwaved ready meal type dishes ( including the chips ). Breakfast was adequate, the porridge and eggs were good, the coffee and tea were standing in jugs on a heated stand stewing and were not good. We were having our bags transferred by taxi and one was accidentally left behind. No-one in the hotel bothered to contact either us or the taxi to alert us which we were very unhappy about.