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Ancient Gate House Hotel

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Traveller (185)
Room & Suite (103)
Dining (11)

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About

#4 of 4 hotels in Wells
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Value
When you come to the Ancient Gate House in the Cathedral city of Wells in Somerset, you'll feel at home as soon as you arrive.Whether you are staying in one of our recently decorated and beautiful bedrooms, or dining in one of our award winning restaurants your comfort and satisfaction are at the heart of everything we do.The Ancient Gatehouse is a family run hotel and restaurant offering a blend of friendly and professional attention in relaxed yet stylish surroundings situated facing the famous west front of Wells Cathedral and the Cathedral Green.
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Property amenities
Paid public parking nearby
Street parking
Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Wifi
Free breakfast
Restaurant
Baggage storage
Non-smoking hotel
Special diet menus
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Room features
Bottled water
Flatscreen TV
Bath / shower
Complimentary toiletries
Room types
Non-smoking rooms
Good to know
HOTEL CLASS
2.0 of 5 stars
HOTEL STYLE
Great View
Mid-range
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish, Italian, Romanian
305Reviews8Q+A100Room tips

Reviews
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Tracy B wrote a review Feb 2024
Swindon, United Kingdom83 contributions14 helpful votes
Lovely hotel in good location, would have preferred room at back of hotel, very noisy at front with Dustbin men at 6am and not much privacy with big window, no nets and tea making facilities in bay of window. Lush Breakfast. Not for hard of walking or disabled with steep narrow stairs
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Date of stay: February 2024
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip: Not for hard of walking- disabled
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Michael L wrote a review Dec 2023
9 contributions7 helpful votes
Had to stay in Wells one night for business. The location is central and great for sightseeing. The staff was very friendly and the restaurant was great. But. The rooms... Oh my... The rooms are not good at all. As others have mentioned, the stairs to the rooms are extreme. I was booked into a room that is - aparantly - part of the escape route. So, on the door there is a "break glass in case of fire"-thing that will allow anyone access to the room. Also, the lock could probably be opened with a rusty spoon as it was about as ancient as the rest of the hotel. So, 0 stars on "security". Ceilings are VERY low, so watch your head at all times. Bed was OLD, and lumpy. Now, two days later my back is still sore. A lot of noise from the street. Heating is turned up to max - probably to compensate for the windows that are not windproof at all... The final kicker was the lack of breakfast. At dinner we asked when breakfast was served, at which point we were told that they had opted to not serve breakfast. No staff after the restaurant closed. No staff in the morning. So, not really a hotel - more like a bed & breakfast without breakfast...
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Date of stay: December 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled on business
Room Tip: Unless it is on your bucket-list to stay at this specific hotel, I would recomment that you skip...
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Libra_K1960 wrote a review Aug 2023
Farnham, United Kingdom281 contributions131 helpful votes
This ancient building definitely has its challenges, and I can see that it would be difficult if you have any mobility issues. Some of the decor is a little tired, but inserting mod cons and moving furniture in such an old building is very hard. We very much appreciated the wonderful view of the cathedral from our room. The mattress was a little soft for our taste. Breakfast was good (dinner in the restaurant was excellent).
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Date of stay: August 2023
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Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip: Pack your belongings in small bags that are easier to carry up tight spiral staircases!
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Sue wrote a review Jul 2023
27 contributions4 helpful votes
Quirky hotel. Great location for the cathedral and city centre. Staff very attentive and a lovely restaurant for an evening meal. Only downside is the rooms overlooking the street are very noisy with traffic. Had we known we would have asked for a room at the back which has views toward the Cathedral.
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Date of stay: July 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip: Ask for a room with a Cathedral view
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Peter V wrote a review Jun 2023
Amboise, France366 contributions152 helpful votes
This is a small hotel with very limited capacity, however, their single room, on the top floor, up a very steep staircase (be warned!) overlooking the Cathedral Close is a joy, and I was delighted to return after a gap of several years. The room has all one could wish including a comfortable chair in which to sit and admire the beautiful cathedral.
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Date of stay: June 2023Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Amanda wrote a review Jun 2023
Pocklington, United Kingdom38 contributions17 helpful votes
What an amazingly located hotel. The view from our bed was breathtaking ! The age of the building means it’s quirkiness is not for the less mobile. But that is very clear in the write up . The staff are brilliant . The room clean but dusty , but I wouldn’t expect anything less in a building this age . The history of it , makes for an exciting imaginative stay. The restaurant serves fabulous food ( I forgot to take any photos , it was so delicious ) but it was packed with diners , a good indication of its quality . The evening was great especially as the weather allowed us to sit outside and was a great start to our holiday . We will definitely be back. Sadly we were only staying for 1 night but will definitely be back to sample all its charms . A very memorable stay
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Date of stay: June 2023Trip type: Travelled with friends
Room Tip: Arrive after school pick up and before evensong !
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Mina Eaves wrote a review May 2023
Kewstoke, United Kingdom62 contributions31 helpful votes
We loved this hotel! It oozed charming old style character, both inside and out, which you'd expect for somewhere dating back to the 15th century. We were in room 12- not huge but met our requirements, including being on the first floor rather than higher due to husband's sore knee. Nice bathroom, shower (no bath) with soap, shower gel and shampoo, and spotless like the bedroom, bedding and towels. We had a gorgeous, comfortable (fairly soft mattress) half tester antique bed (with two posts, curtains and a canopy). The room included a hairdryer, kettle and tea/coffee making amenities plus a bottle of (free) drinking water. Service was friendly and the breakfast was good enough, chosing from a range of cold and cooked options including vegan ones (even last minute as no one had informed the chef of my request for a vegan breakdast apparently!). Special shout out for Neil (chef and service) as he was particularly friendly and helpful but then again, all the staff were nice and friendly. Small niggles- TV was very small and the room smelt of cooked fish from the restaurant below in spite of keeping the window open all night (maybe palatable for some but definitely not me). There's no hotel parking (not unusual for hotels in Wells tbf) but we managed to find a spot on Chamberlain Street nearby (available from 6pm to 8am and thereafter only 1 hour's stay allowed) and then moved to Union Street carpark on Saturday morning (up to 3 hours allowed). Overall though, this is a lovely, friendly place to stay and just a few minutes walk from the high street, fantastic market with lots of unusual arts, ornaments, all kinds of goods and food/ drink (held Wednesdays and Saturdays) surrounded by lots of small cafes, and the hotel backs onto the beautiful cathedral green. Our room was street-facing with views of the gorgeous, old, characterful hotels opposite. We would definitely return here.
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Date of stay: May 2023
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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ChapmanReviews wrote a review May 2023
Corby, United Kingdom342 contributions82 helpful votes
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WELLS Holiday (08/12-05-23) Looked amazing on booking.com and booked a 4 poster bed with big window and window seats for our wedding anniversary and a twin for my dad but on arrival we was shown to our room but when my dad who is 81 was shown his the stairs were so steep with only a copper pipe as a handrail there was no way he could get up them so we had to swap and it was hard getting up and down and we had a young dog. Good:- Location was great next to the cathedral but we was on the street side. Room was clean and dust free. The bathroom was great and the shower worked perfect. The staff were great and on arrival our cases were carried to our room and one woman gave us a great location to visit. Dog friendly. 'Hot Fuzz' filming location Bad:- No on site parking and it was a slog to find good near overnight parking. Stairs to second floor are so steep and hard to get to there dangerous and must be a health and safety concern. Carpets worn and ragged. Headboard was worn and torn. Windows were small and hard to close. Only radiator behind bed. Room very warm. Fan in room but very noisy. Blind pulley damaged and awkward to use. Carpets never hoovered. Only one small toilet roll a day. Some nights the enterence door locked early. Some dead flys on towls. Woke up every morning at 04:30-05:00 by bin men emptying bottle bins every morning. It was a good 4 night break but the stairs are that bad, I will post a photo, the room we booked was so much better but we never got to use it and my dad on leaving did say about it but the manager didn't care or want to listen and said "the stars are mentioned on the site" and just pushed the bill to us!!! Very unprofessional way to act, and only our room (we gave to my dad as he wasn't able to use the stairs) was on the site as the room we had was very average, you don't even get to go in tje gatehouse part of the building!!! A big letdown for a fantastic location.
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Date of stay: May 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip: If you can't walk up near vertical stairs you won't be getting in your room on the second...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Kittycats5767 wrote a review Jan 2023
Greater London, United Kingdom30 contributions67 helpful votes
We went for a meal in the restaurant on the first night it opened after the Christmas period. It is an Italian restaurant with what appears to have a fantastic chef who clearly puts love in to his food. Over the years we have been to many Italian restaurants and this is clearly the best one we have ever been to. The food was fresh and made from scratch. For what we had, we felt it was reasonably priced. The only sad thing was that we were going home the next day otherwise we would have spent every night in there.
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Date of stay: December 2022
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Curiosity280791 wrote a review Nov 2022
Lichfield, United Kingdom1 helpful vote
Avoid. The website is a work of fiction. incredibly steep narrow access to rooms. People in next room (you can hear every word) refused to stay. Window stuck open, directly above bed, inadequate blind meant room lit up by street lights all night. Wardrobe is a cupboard littered with stuff. No drawers, I tiny bedside table with poor lamp. heating either freezing or mad hot. Good reviews are for the Italian restaurant on the premises: you can smell the cooking even on the 2nd floor. The bed was comfy, breakfast nice, and the service is good, but we would not have stayed another night. £100 room only, we had breakfast.
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Date of stay: November 2022
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip: Stay somewhere else: the stairs are VERY steep, rooms noisy, ours had no storage.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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PRICE RANGE
£90 - £108 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
ancient gate hotel
LOCATION
United KingdomEnglandSomersetWells
NUMBER OF ROOMS
9
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect nightly room rates, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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ANCIENT GATE HOUSE HOTEL - Updated 2024 Reviews (Wells)

Frequently Asked Questions about Ancient Gate House Hotel
Which popular attractions are close to Ancient Gate House Hotel?
Nearby attractions include Vicar's Close (0.2 miles), Wells Cathedral (0.09 miles), and Wells Market Place (0.07 miles).
What are some of the property amenities at Ancient Gate House Hotel?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include free wifi, free breakfast, and an on-site restaurant.
What food & drink options are available at Ancient Gate House Hotel?
Guests can enjoy free breakfast and an on-site restaurant during their stay.
Is parking available at Ancient Gate House Hotel?
Yes, paid public parking nearby and street parking are available to guests.
What are some restaurants close to Ancient Gate House Hotel?
Conveniently located restaurants include The Olive Tree, Strangers with Coffee, and The Courtyard Restaurant.
Is Ancient Gate House Hotel located near the city centre?
Yes, it is 0.1 miles away from the centre of Wells.
Which languages are spoken by the staff at Ancient Gate House Hotel?
The staff speaks multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian.
Are there any historical sites close to Ancient Gate House Hotel?
Many travellers enjoy visiting Shepton Mallet Prison (4.7 miles), Wells Cathedral (0.09 miles), and The Bishop's Palace and Gardens (0.2 miles).