Alan, the proprietor, is very welcoming, helpful and always has a smile on his face, a good bloke whom we liked, but I feel he is let down a bit, by some things that can be resolved. But there are other things where it is very difficult to do anything.

Unfortunately the accommodation has some problems. We were in room 4, the attic room, which has steeply sloping ceilings. It is very difficult not to bang your head from time to time. Access to the room is by a very steep, very narrow and potentially hazardous spiral stair (not as quaint as it may sound). Because of the sloping ceiling the wardrobe is only half normal height therefore there is nowhere to hang longer garments. There are no chairs in the room nor a table therefore nowhere to sit comfortably. The room isn't very big. The TV is quite old (no remote control for example) and reception is poor, despite Alan having put in a replacement set top aerial which improved matters to some extent.

The bathroom, despite being described as en-suite, is in fact on the floor beneath down the aforementioned spiral stairs into a public corridor before gaining access to the locked bathroom, which admittedly is reserved for room 4. Not very convenient nor very private.

Breakfast tends to be a bit disorganised. In contrast to Alan's constant smile we never saw the chef smile once. Nor did he ever come back to the table to check whether everything was OK, whether we wanted more toast etc. There was no milk on the table, no marmalade available, sometimes no glasses for juice, sometimes no cereal bowls. And the toast was served on the same plate as the main course so absorbing some of the flavour which rather tainted the toast if you wanted to put jam on it.

The biscuits which were provided in the room were out of date, admittedly by only a few days, and they were replaced when this was pointed out. But in a better run establishment this, and the other matters mentioned, would be attended to without the need to point them out.

On the brighter side it is clean and the bed was comfortable. And it is convenient for the Cathedral Quarter of Lincoln. And it is reasonably priced.