Brook Red Lion Hotel

Great location for town center but had to park in multi-storey bit of a walk with luggage. Amazing building. Staff grumpy. Key kept getting stuck in lock. Loo seat falling off and flush bottom off. Room right on high street noisy all night. Breakfast was good. Beds comfy.

The Red Lion Hotel in Colchester is a nice place to walk in and see, but not a great place to stay.
Positives - Tudor styling, quirky layout and cozy pub
Negatives - near a very loud nightclub, poor quality mattresses, bathrooms in a state and unable to make coffee (other than instant). Not much of a section in the pub.
Recommendation - don’t stay in the rooms along the street unless you are already going to stay out until 4am. Cooked breakfast is acceptable, but plan on coffee elsewhere unless you care for instant coffee. Otherwise, skip a stay here.

Dirtiest hotel We’ve ever stayed! We stayed there for a night and it was absolutely disgusting. We were on our way to Harwich and arrived late at night on a Saturday. Our 8 months baby is starting to crawl and when we realized she was chewing on some candy that was left on the floor. Then we realized that it was full of dirt, the floor wasn’t vacuumed, the curtains and floor were full of stains everywhere. The worst part is that we had to pay an extra 15 pounds for vacuuming because we brought our little dog. I would love that they have also vacuumed before our stay, not sure when exactly was the last time that the room was cleaned besides making the bed and changing the towels.

Besides that, the hotel is located in the middle of the party street and it was a Saturday. The lack of isolation on the windows made it SO hard to sleep until 4.30am there were people screaming and it looked like they were next to us. But the cherry on top after not sleeping the whole night in that disgusting room was to have a cold shower with no pressure.

Please avoid that place, they charge super high rates because it’s a historic building but they take no care of maintaining it or cleaning it.

I made a mistake with the booking, a wrong check in date, I made a new booking with them again for the correct date and I called them just 1 hour after the deadline for the cancellation of the wrong booking cause I really couldn't do it earlier. I tried many times but nobody answered the phone so I ended up reaching them out 2 hours after the deadline. I explained everything saying I booked again with them but they refused to refund the wrong booking saying I was too late. Very dissatisfied I still went to the hotel at the correct date.. I paid again 90 pounds so 180 pounds in total and this what I found out : no hot water in the bathroom and no water at all in the toilet. Never again. Such a pity though as the hotel is in an marvelous antique building.

Great location!!! No private car park but plenty of around town center. Staff very friendly and helpfull. Nice room with own bath 😍
Wi-fi free and very good signal quality.
Walking distance to main attractions.

Normally I'm picking up just on some weak points. Always giving a chance for improvement. Unfortunately this place deserved no second chance. Stay away is the verdict. We a had a corporate Christmas dinner. I was left with bitter feeling. Staff is really rude and unprofessional. Food is terrible. Nearly no choice of any drinks. No sparkling water for example. This place must me shot down and re opened under new management

Welcoming and Cosy. Staff were very nice and welcoming. If there's anything you need, do not be afraid/shy to ask, we were looking for a haunted room so they were quickly to change us to one of the "most haunted rooms" in the hotel. Ok, yes the place is old/antique, there's no sound proof windows so if you stay in one of the rooms that look out into the high street then it can be quite noisy, but we weren't really bothered about those things and it's to be expected when you stay in a old hotel, so people shouldn't really be complaining and leaving bad reviews based on the obvious. It's just like going to a Zoo/farm and then complain about the smell of the animals!
The Car park is in Osborne Street, a 5 min walk but it's only £4.95 for 24 hours so can't really complain. We also spent over an hour at the bar/restaurant talking to the gentleman working the night shift, it was lovely and refreshing to find such a down to Earth person. Overall it's a 5 out of 5, we really enjoyed our stay and thanks for having us.

Starf very helpful and friendly
Room spotless, very clean 100%
I can honestly say the building is amazing.
Outstanding white cotton bedding . Fresh towels daily . Tea,coffee, milk .
I highly recommend!!
Such a welcoming atmosphere
Thanku to all the hard work you do . Kind regards Mandy Piper