Booked our family in for Mothers Day lunch online. Received a confirmation by email from them and looked forward to our day out with Mum. Having driven the 80 miles picked up mum and arrived in Retford only to find that The Kings Park Hotel (The Old Police Station) doesn’t have a restaurant.
Jim Hickey
We booked 2 rooms here for one night. Parking is very close by and free until 10am.A pleasant check in was followed by quite a bizarre room.First impressions of our room was big enough for our needs with a very nice sized bathroom. We then noticed another door in the corner of our room, there was no lock on the door so we were confident that it wasn’t a connecting door to another room, assuming it to be maybe a storage cupboard or similar we tried to open it. It opened about 4 inches and then hit an obstruction on the other side. My wife went into the hallway to see what doors were next to ours and found an unmarked, unlocked door down the corridor from us. The mystery door gave way to a small unmade bed, a pile of clothes and sandals and a chest of drawers, which was what was obstructing our connecting door. From the basic look of the room we assume it was the reception man’s bedroom. Pretty freaked out we went back to our room where my wife used the loo, only to have the cold tap fall apart when she went to wash her hands. Not wanting to create a fuss we used the table from the room and some other objects to prop under the joining room door handle.As we were leaving for dinner that evening we mentioned to reception about the mystery door, the man in reception didn’t know that we’d found where the door went and told us not to worry and that the other side was locked so no one would be able to access our items. We’d propped the handle so felt comfortable enough. We also mentioned the tap and were told very matter of factly that it was broken by the last guests. No offer to get it fixed or apology.We asked about food in the hotel, but that unfortunately is no longer an option apart from breakfast.A nice meal in town and then back to the hotel. Settled down for the night and all pretty peaceful apart from hearing the snores of the reception guy next door ( maybe the door could be soundproofed as well as a lock fitted).Little things that could be improved - 2 plastic cups, seriously, how much would 2 glasses cost ?Breakfast - run out of a few items and didn’t really have many items in the first place. A lovely dining area though that should be used more.Our other family member had a pleasant stay in their room, but did comment on the urine on the underside of the toilet seat that hadn’t been cleaned when she went in. Room good though apart from that so just an oversight ? She also had 2 glass glasses.Overall an ok stay, we wouldn’t come back though if we found ourselves in the area again, which is a shame as we did get the impression that they’ve tried hard to make it as nice as possible there.Parking: 2 car parks within 50m. Free at night until 10am.
Stephen Brown
Comfortable. Friendly staff. Nice room.
Michael Longley
Very quirky but very different place it was chosen as a Christmas function and I would say it went down
Charley Dennett
Lovely place to visit with my family , very clean , staff are lovely and very attentive. Food is beautiful , recommend this place to friends and family and the public ?
JamesHwtt
Booked the venue for my birthday in October! I had initial reservations when they told me they no longer had kitchen staff and I needed to use outside caters. Following recent reviews, and a number of negative posts on Facebook, I rang to speak to the manager for reassurances. Gill answered informed me the manager had left. Based on this, I asked for my deposit back and was told it would take a week to process. Nearly a month later I’m still chasing payment of the deposit and keep getting fobbed off with excuses. Avoid at all costs.
Joasi23
What a shame this lovely quirky bar is so low in the reviews. The lady behind the bar was soooo lovely and friendly and explained why no food was available due to staff sickness. When we showed an interest in the building she was happy to chat and show us the facilities available for private events . Drinks were priced as expected and we all agreed we would return when next in Retford.
Michell T
We visited the venue for a family function, not been from retford ourselfs and living over an hour away I phoned the venue the day before the event to check they sold plain cider as I do not like fruit flavoured ones and due to intollarances can not drink lager. We arrived at 8pm and were told they had no plain cider only fruit flavoured ciders in bottles. They had no bitter and shortly after ran out of lager too. We tried a coke but it was served from a jug and was warm and flat. We were looking forward to the evening spending time with family and friends celebrating but unfortunately we left early due to the poor service from the venue not been able to provide any drinks we liked. Drinks were not cheap so after been charged £11.10 for a vodka and flat coke and a small bottle of cloudy lemonade I was surprised to witness management removing glasses from tables that still had drinks in along with the emptys they were collecting, people were dancing and out in the smoking area I'm sure were also surprised to return and find their drinks missing.
Roy W
We were invited to a family engagement party at this venue, to which everyone was really excited about and looking forward to, so much so that we booked a room for the overnight stay. We checked in to find the room less than desirable as dust and cobwebs present The night started well and everyone enjoying the function and festivities until approx 9:30 pm when the bar ran out of draught beer and cider, at this time we were forced to drink overpriced bottled beer or spirits. The coke and lemonade used as mixers for the spirits were poured from jugs and were flat, which spoiled the drinks entirely I really felt the disappointment of the host and hostess who were to say the least embarrassed about the whole situation, and could not apologise enough to their guests. The venue had no remorse when complaints were made and did not even give a discount for the more expensive drinks only to residents
Wendy H
WE WENT TO AN ENGAGEMENT PARTY, BY 9.00 THERE WAS NO DRAGHT CIDER, BITTER OR LAGER, BAR STAFF KNEW ABOUT THIS EARLIER THAT DAY, COKE WAS SERVED OUT OF A JUG WHICH WAS OPEN TO BACTERIA AND GOING FLAT AND TO TOP ALL OF THAT THE ROOMS WERE FILTHY THICK IN DUST
Rooms absolutely disgusting!! Full of thick dust!! If you touch the light shade the dust fell off onto the bed it is filthy! Do not stay here you will be disgusted at the cleanliness and poor management!
alisonr503
We have just hot back from a two day stay in retford. Eight of us stayed here as we had stayed before and were more than happy to go back. We were met by a lovely young man who booked us in and served us all weekend. When we got in the room all looked OK but the end of the hoover was left on the floor. Anyone can mislay something so I returned it to the desk downstairs. When I got into the bathroom yo have a shower inclosed the door and there was a pile of dust and cobwebs were it had obviously not been cleaned. There was a towel left on the back of the door that had been used by someone else! There was one sachet of coffee, two teabags and one small milk! The cleaners came In the second day and literally just tucked the sheets in, didn't put anything in the room to make a drink as you normally would expect, the cups were just left aswell. We came back to the bar about 10-45pm to have one last drink but were told we couldn't have one as there was a wedding in the other part of the hotel! There were No guests st the bar, in fact there was nobody to be seen. We only wanted one last drink but were told we would have to take it to our rooms! Which really wasn't acceptable. On arriving we were told we couldn't have cooked breakfast either as they didn't have a chef! If we had known all this we definitely wouldn't have booked again. The hotel has definitely gone downhill since our last visit. Its a good job they are not on four in a bed now as they would honestly Come last. They young man on reception and behind the bar is a credit to them polite and friendly but I'm sure he will eventually get fed up of the complaints. The last straw was when we went upto bed and we passed room one, the stench of marujana was terrible. We won't be going back and would advise anybody else to try somewhere else. Such a shame! Bad housekeeping and management. Xx
gordon harrow
The first server was great, the second one was not so. however the Bubble and Squeak consisted of bland jumbo “chip shop sausage “ cut in half on a modest portion of bubble and squeak, the accompanying onion gravel was very very saltyThat said the bacon burger was very good and both meals were hot.
Dean Wain
We had our wedding reception at the old police station and wow wow wow. Staff were amazin the food out of this world not one of our guests said anythin bad all said amazin. We even had the rooms and they were really nice and the breakfast was amazin. Thank you so much for making our day so special and we was glad to see the the bar staff joining in dancing.Once again thank you again for everythin and pls carry on the good work we all loved it and anyone else thinking about booking it webwould say its a no brainer
Mandy Bainbridge
Sat with friends whilst they waited for food which was a very long time. Meals not readily available before 6pm??? Food was cold when it arrived and they were the only ones in the restaurant.......
Booked our family in for Mothers Day lunch online. Received a confirmation by email from them and looked forward to our day out with Mum. Having driven the 80 miles picked up mum and arrived in Retford only to find that The Kings Park Hotel (The Old Police Station) doesn’t have a restaurant.
We booked 2 rooms here for one night. Parking is very close by and free until 10am.A pleasant check in was followed by quite a bizarre room.First impressions of our room was big enough for our needs with a very nice sized bathroom. We then noticed another door in the corner of our room, there was no lock on the door so we were confident that it wasn’t a connecting door to another room, assuming it to be maybe a storage cupboard or similar we tried to open it. It opened about 4 inches and then hit an obstruction on the other side. My wife went into the hallway to see what doors were next to ours and found an unmarked, unlocked door down the corridor from us. The mystery door gave way to a small unmade bed, a pile of clothes and sandals and a chest of drawers, which was what was obstructing our connecting door. From the basic look of the room we assume it was the reception man’s bedroom. Pretty freaked out we went back to our room where my wife used the loo, only to have the cold tap fall apart when she went to wash her hands. Not wanting to create a fuss we used the table from the room and some other objects to prop under the joining room door handle.As we were leaving for dinner that evening we mentioned to reception about the mystery door, the man in reception didn’t know that we’d found where the door went and told us not to worry and that the other side was locked so no one would be able to access our items. We’d propped the handle so felt comfortable enough. We also mentioned the tap and were told very matter of factly that it was broken by the last guests. No offer to get it fixed or apology.We asked about food in the hotel, but that unfortunately is no longer an option apart from breakfast.A nice meal in town and then back to the hotel. Settled down for the night and all pretty peaceful apart from hearing the snores of the reception guy next door ( maybe the door could be soundproofed as well as a lock fitted).Little things that could be improved - 2 plastic cups, seriously, how much would 2 glasses cost ?Breakfast - run out of a few items and didn’t really have many items in the first place. A lovely dining area though that should be used more.Our other family member had a pleasant stay in their room, but did comment on the urine on the underside of the toilet seat that hadn’t been cleaned when she went in. Room good though apart from that so just an oversight ? She also had 2 glass glasses.Overall an ok stay, we wouldn’t come back though if we found ourselves in the area again, which is a shame as we did get the impression that they’ve tried hard to make it as nice as possible there.Parking: 2 car parks within 50m. Free at night until 10am.
Comfortable. Friendly staff. Nice room.
Very quirky but very different place it was chosen as a Christmas function and I would say it went down
Lovely place to visit with my family , very clean , staff are lovely and very attentive. Food is beautiful , recommend this place to friends and family and the public ?
Booked the venue for my birthday in October! I had initial reservations when they told me they no longer had kitchen staff and I needed to use outside caters. Following recent reviews, and a number of negative posts on Facebook, I rang to speak to the manager for reassurances. Gill answered informed me the manager had left. Based on this, I asked for my deposit back and was told it would take a week to process. Nearly a month later I’m still chasing payment of the deposit and keep getting fobbed off with excuses. Avoid at all costs.
What a shame this lovely quirky bar is so low in the reviews. The lady behind the bar was soooo lovely and friendly and explained why no food was available due to staff sickness. When we showed an interest in the building she was happy to chat and show us the facilities available for private events . Drinks were priced as expected and we all agreed we would return when next in Retford.
We visited the venue for a family function, not been from retford ourselfs and living over an hour away I phoned the venue the day before the event to check they sold plain cider as I do not like fruit flavoured ones and due to intollarances can not drink lager. We arrived at 8pm and were told they had no plain cider only fruit flavoured ciders in bottles. They had no bitter and shortly after ran out of lager too. We tried a coke but it was served from a jug and was warm and flat. We were looking forward to the evening spending time with family and friends celebrating but unfortunately we left early due to the poor service from the venue not been able to provide any drinks we liked. Drinks were not cheap so after been charged £11.10 for a vodka and flat coke and a small bottle of cloudy lemonade I was surprised to witness management removing glasses from tables that still had drinks in along with the emptys they were collecting, people were dancing and out in the smoking area I'm sure were also surprised to return and find their drinks missing.
We were invited to a family engagement party at this venue, to which everyone was really excited about and looking forward to, so much so that we booked a room for the overnight stay. We checked in to find the room less than desirable as dust and cobwebs present The night started well and everyone enjoying the function and festivities until approx 9:30 pm when the bar ran out of draught beer and cider, at this time we were forced to drink overpriced bottled beer or spirits. The coke and lemonade used as mixers for the spirits were poured from jugs and were flat, which spoiled the drinks entirely I really felt the disappointment of the host and hostess who were to say the least embarrassed about the whole situation, and could not apologise enough to their guests. The venue had no remorse when complaints were made and did not even give a discount for the more expensive drinks only to residents
WE WENT TO AN ENGAGEMENT PARTY, BY 9.00 THERE WAS NO DRAGHT CIDER, BITTER OR LAGER, BAR STAFF KNEW ABOUT THIS EARLIER THAT DAY, COKE WAS SERVED OUT OF A JUG WHICH WAS OPEN TO BACTERIA AND GOING FLAT AND TO TOP ALL OF THAT THE ROOMS WERE FILTHY THICK IN DUST
Restaurantji Recommends
Rooms absolutely disgusting!! Full of thick dust!! If you touch the light shade the dust fell off onto the bed it is filthy! Do not stay here you will be disgusted at the cleanliness and poor management!
We have just hot back from a two day stay in retford. Eight of us stayed here as we had stayed before and were more than happy to go back. We were met by a lovely young man who booked us in and served us all weekend. When we got in the room all looked OK but the end of the hoover was left on the floor. Anyone can mislay something so I returned it to the desk downstairs. When I got into the bathroom yo have a shower inclosed the door and there was a pile of dust and cobwebs were it had obviously not been cleaned. There was a towel left on the back of the door that had been used by someone else! There was one sachet of coffee, two teabags and one small milk! The cleaners came In the second day and literally just tucked the sheets in, didn't put anything in the room to make a drink as you normally would expect, the cups were just left aswell. We came back to the bar about 10-45pm to have one last drink but were told we couldn't have one as there was a wedding in the other part of the hotel! There were No guests st the bar, in fact there was nobody to be seen. We only wanted one last drink but were told we would have to take it to our rooms! Which really wasn't acceptable. On arriving we were told we couldn't have cooked breakfast either as they didn't have a chef! If we had known all this we definitely wouldn't have booked again. The hotel has definitely gone downhill since our last visit. Its a good job they are not on four in a bed now as they would honestly Come last. They young man on reception and behind the bar is a credit to them polite and friendly but I'm sure he will eventually get fed up of the complaints. The last straw was when we went upto bed and we passed room one, the stench of marujana was terrible. We won't be going back and would advise anybody else to try somewhere else. Such a shame! Bad housekeeping and management. Xx
The first server was great, the second one was not so. however the Bubble and Squeak consisted of bland jumbo “chip shop sausage “ cut in half on a modest portion of bubble and squeak, the accompanying onion gravel was very very saltyThat said the bacon burger was very good and both meals were hot.
We had our wedding reception at the old police station and wow wow wow. Staff were amazin the food out of this world not one of our guests said anythin bad all said amazin. We even had the rooms and they were really nice and the breakfast was amazin. Thank you so much for making our day so special and we was glad to see the the bar staff joining in dancing.Once again thank you again for everythin and pls carry on the good work we all loved it and anyone else thinking about booking it webwould say its a no brainer
Sat with friends whilst they waited for food which was a very long time. Meals not readily available before 6pm??? Food was cold when it arrived and they were the only ones in the restaurant.......