The Castle Hotel

I stayed in the Castle Hotel for one Friday night to watch Neath RFC play my team. As the weather was sheeting with rain, I did not explore the town! The hotel is about 200 – 300 yards left out of the rail station — when I asked a taxi driver, he suggested it was easier to walk it (he didn’t know my feet).
The hotel is, frankly, tired in internal appearance. It’s not only where the Welsh Ruby Football Union was founded in 1881, but also the site of the local hunt apparently, and hunting scenes predominate in prints up the stairs — there is no lift to upper floors. These somehow reinforce the feeling of past glories.
Rooms number 14 onwards are on the second floor. My room, number 15, would have been fine had it not overlooked a disco (apparently it operates on 2 nights per week) which ran on until 1.30 a.m., issuing a regular pounding beat which closing both the wood-​frame sash windows and the inner metal-​framed double glazing could not block out. I was told by Reception that if she had booked me in, she would have booked me around the back where it was quieter, but clearly this had not occurred to the actual management. The wardrobe lacked one of its two handles, the reason becoming obvious when I tried to open the left-​hand door which stuck against the frame. This was a remediable fault, which I reported. The bathroom was spacious with a really good length bath — I am over 6 foot tall — and water flowed hot and freely. The thin cord to the bathroom mirror had lost its pull weight and some of the cord rendering it hard to spot — again a remediable fault, which I reported. The TV in the room carried Sky channels and appeared easy to use with a remote control. No mini-​bar, perhaps thankfully. The room comfort was otherwise acceptable and clean. Room cost was £67.50 for bed and breakfast (£56.25 plus VAT @ 20% £11.25).
Downstairs the catering consisted of a rather dreary dining room — brown furniture — and a bar/​lounge preceding it in which snacks could be had at your table. The range of lagers and beers — I’m not a beer drinker — seemed about adequate, only one Welsh beer on offer I noted. The only champagne available — my weakness — was in 75cl size, no half-​bottles being on offer. Cooking seemed British in style, with thick cut chips lacking in subtlety.
On the Saturday afternoon I stayed on to watch Wales beat Italy on the lounge television. Good result. The hotel was not the natural choice of rugby supporters wanting to watch the match in a bar, which was not heaving with folk as I expected — this may or may not please prospective hotel visitors.

I haven’t stayed overnight here, only used the restaurant several times when family members have come to visit. I wouldn’t have come here at all if there were better options (well, there are some great Indian restaurants in the area, especially The Plaza, but my in-​laws wanted British food) The restaurant is usually quiet, which is one good thing about it if you want to talk, but that’s the only good thing I can find to say about it. As the previous reviewer said, it could do with updating. You get to the restaurant by walking through a rather gloomy and seedy-​looking bar. The meals are overpriced for what you get and there are few vegetarian choices. I wish they sold good coffee as well. Despite being almost empty when we’ve been there, the service was slow.

You’d think that being in a small town near the beach, near adventure sports areas, near woodland, that there’d be at least one good hotel in the centre of town? Sadly, the Castle is not it, unless you’re over 50 and fancy a night out of dancing where you won’t get judged for being old or wearing dodgy leather jackets. The drinks are expensive, but I could let them off that, as it’s a hotel, if everything else were well run. Sadly, the last meal I had here was disappointing, and the place could do with a refurb.