What a lovely little place the Guy Fawkes B&B is! My husband and I stayed here for two days mid-January 2008, our aim being to do all of the "touristy" and "historical" things in York. You cannot beat this location - it is literally 10 metres across the lane to YorkMinster. The B&B is situated in this very very old building with only a rickety sign to indicate it's a hotel, but it simply adds to the charm. There is a charming downstairs breakfast area and bar with log fires and lovely exposed beams, very cosy and really got us into the historical charm of York.

We stayed in a large four-poster double room and it was just simply the most interesting room I've ever stayed in. Period furniture and painting, the floor was slanting (the building of course being very old) and a whole wall of windows with a view straight to the tower of the York Minster. We woke the next morning to the glorious peal of the bells.

Breakfast was cooked to order and simply marvellous - all authentic Yorkshire fair!

There were some things that were wrong with the property. It is a very old building, and has the little foibles that go with that, like slanting floors and creaking. The bathroom was very very small but adequate and the television from a different century. We didn't care about this because the charm of the property that more than made up for it.

If you are looking for a luxurious getaway, don't choose this place but if you are looking for a really interesting B&B in a historical place, with really good service and in a FANTASTIC location, then definitely this is the place.

My boyfriend and I stayed here for 1 night on the 23rd of dec 2007 and it was a fantastic stay!
the rooms were beutifully decorated, the only down side was that the bathroom was small and only had a shower and not a bath. although i can understand why, with such an old building it's difficult to squeeze en-suites into the space available.
It has been newly taken over in dec 2007 and the new owners seem really lovely. They have great plans to re-do all the bathrooms and the bar and restaurant area - so this should make it even better.
with beautiful panelled walls and 4 poster beds our rooms was great - very romantic - just the ticket as my boyfriend proposed to me that night!! and it was such a lovely place to stay for that special occasion.

I have stayed at the Guy Fawkes Hotel many times over the past couple of years and always thoroughly enjoyed my stay there. However, when I stayed recently it was the first time I have stayed since the new owners took over. Before, the hotel used to have a warm, friendly feel and as it was a family run hotel I used to feel very welcome. The hotel now in comparison just seems very disorganised, with lots of people/builders milling around the place and I didn't get the usual chat at breakfast with the lovely waitresses that I am used to.
On the note of breakfast the selection has been more than halved so not much to choose from! The cooked breakfasts were not as good either, and as the person mentioned before, no beans which is vital to a full english!
The rooms were fine, although I did find some things missing - some basic stuff like toilet roll and soap.
Overall, I am very dissappointed with what has happened to Guy Fawkes, I used to love staying there and would always book again when I left. However after my latest stay I did not book another stay and will not be in the future. A real shame.

The hotel website was "under reconstruction" and so, it would appear, was the hotel. We booked by phone with no problem. In fact we appear to have been staying there at the same time as "sashabluebradford" so it is interesting to compare our experiences- which do seem broadly similar.
The location of the hotel is absolutely excellent. It is less than 50 metres from the west nave of York Minster. But I'm glad we didn't arrive by car because I'm not sure where we would ever have been able to park. I shudder to think. We came by train, and the taxi fare is only 3 pounds from the station. If you were fit ( and it wasn't raining) you could walk it easily in a few minutes.

Like I said, the place was a bit chaotic because they "had the builders in" I also got the impression that this hotel had recently changed ownership. The staff were very friendly indeed. There were a couple of annoying little things like running out of coffee and toilet paper, and the place did seem generally disorganised. But really the staff couldn't have been more pleasant.

When you book a room overlooking the street- especially one with single glazing- you have to expect to be disturbed by noise. On both nights we stayed there, I was wakened at various times by drunken idiots outside. I was also fascinated to learn that the noisy binmen visit the front of this hotel- right outside the window- at 06.28 am. So there you are, lying in bed, less than 6 feet away from a bin lorry.

We stayed in one of the "four poster " rooms. It was called "King James the First". This room had quite a nice bathroom suite buitl into it, with a good quality shower.


The restaurant was closed, they do not provide evening meals at present. And there were builders working in the hallway. There was timber and sawdust all over the place. As I ate breakfast I was able to watch two builders walk past carrying a refridgerator. Perhaps they should really have closed the hotel during all this work.

But when I look back I did enjoy my stay at this hotel. The staff are extremely nice, and the location is superb. The place has loads of character. I quite liked the uneven floors, ceilings etc. I'd want a room at the back if I ever stayed there again though. I also normally expect a hotel to have a functioning restaurant.