The City Hotel

Second-time staying here when I come to visit friends in Durham. This time I had a single room - small but nice and clean. Heating is on a timer and does not come on in the morning so I was very cold getting up and dressed unfortunately. I didn't experience much noise as the bar/city was quiet however... the drip, drip, drip of the tap in the bathroom drove me mad as a hatter. I tried wrapping a towel, plugging the plughole, using my own ear plugs (a pair is provided)... the dripping just drove me mad, I couldn't stop it and the more I faffed with the tap/plughole the worse it seemed to get. BUT tap-hysteria aside, the bed was warm and comfy and you do get a cute bowl of sweets and biscuits with the tea and coffee :-) Also, the staff are always the friendliest folk who always ask how your day has been. It's always such a warm welcome. No doubt, I will be back soon!

Great location HOWEVER, floor was extremely creaky as was the room above, single glazed sash windows let a LOT of main road and people noise in. A secondary glazing panel could be added. Earplugs were provided. Heating was on a timer so it was cold until it came on. Despite the great location I wouldn’t stay again due to the above points letting it down.

I like The City, I’ve visited fairly regularly for a few years now and I like the atmosphere and it’s done out nicely and the Prosecco is a good price. It has one big problem though - it keeps closing early. The last few times we’ve tried to go and it’s been closed or we’ve been told it’s last orders at 2200 because ‘there’s no one in’, even when we are sat there with our drinks. The barmaid tried one time to chuck us out early and our lift wasn’t there so we wouldn’t leave till our lift arrived but she still closed as soon as we left. Last night my friend and I wanted to go to The City and we walked past the window, we saw people inside having a drink. Oh good, we thought. They’re open. We scarcely got in the door (in fact we only got half through the door) and the barmaid said ‘we’re closed! There’s only 5 people in so it’s not worth staying open’ !!! So those 5 customers must have felt properly insulted - they’re not worth staying open for. This was at 2115 on a Thursday night on a bank holiday weekend. I am absolutely incensed at the stupidity of this policy. So the barmaid (who is not the owner btw) is turning away more custom because she can’t be bothered to take the money. If you keep closing early, no wonder you have no customers, people soon get fed up of turning up when you should be open and finding you closed, or enjoying a drink and being told you’re not worth keeping the pub open for. And FYI there were plenty of potential customers about - they were all next door in The Half Moon, they were full! They must love the barmaid at The City. I wonder does the boss know that this is now standard practice at The City? He’s probably wondering why his takings have dropped. Have a look in The Half Moon, they’re in there.