I came here with eyes wide open. Reviews of the Britannia Adephi Hotel in Liverpool on TripAdvisor range from "Superb" to "Terrible" in equal measure, and I have stayed here with Lisa before.

The Adelphi is a Grand Hotel - as Grand Hotels used to be some 50 years ago. But very little has changed over those 50 years, so it's no longer what you would wish to find in one of today's Grand hotels. But what it does do is retain the history, and that probably suits the major clientelle, who seem to be people who may have come there in its oppulent days - or perhaps would have done so if they had been able to afford it. These days, it seems that they largely come in coach parties from across the north of England and from Scotland.

There are six floors of bedrooms, and my room is on the fifth. With a heavy rucksack containing 6 computers, and a roll-along back with five more, plus books, manuals to hand out, and a couple of changes of clothing, I felt disinclined to tackle the stairs. But one of the two lifts was out of order. Never mind - I squeezed into the one operational lift with a load of elderly Glaswegians who wanted to know if my bag contained a body as it was so heavy; I confirmed that it was my way of sneaking someone in so that we could get a room between us for a single rate, and we all laughed.


The bedroom is spacious - but the furniture is old and bulk and occupies a lot of the space, and the wallpaper is drab so you don't get the big space feeling. The TV is still a cathode ray tube with limited channels (and missing the on/off button so you have to poke at a little level inside the case). It does have a remote handset (and that works), but in terms of other access, there isn't any internet connectivity here. Not an issue for me as I'm using my mobile dongle, and perhaps a brilliant decision by the hotel owners and most of their customers probably don't want to be online, or carry their own connection like I do.


I booked a double room, so the bed is plenty wide for me, freshly changed, clean. It's not the Queen or King I might expect elsewhere, but is large enough and comfortable enough for me. You'll note agai, though, drab. That same wallpaper, and very limited lighting - in fact there are no ceiling lights at all, and I'm wondering if the hotel was built before the days of electicity and they've never added ceiling lights - just put in standards and lamps where once there would have been candles. Or perhaps the water stain on the ceiling hides darker secrets, and the lack of a ceiling light is specific to this room.


When we took over Well House Manor, we had chocolate bathroom furniture in one room, and avacado in another. And we had strongly decorated walls; we replaced them with white and plainer models, as well as moving bathrooms around to ensure we're totally en-suite. I think the Adephi is totally ensuite too, and probably was 50 years ago, but I think the bathroom suit and decoration dates from then, and dates the hotel. A bit worn - the shower to bath switch in my room lets me switch from "mostly shower" to "mostly bath" (always with a trickle from the showerhead) but I'm choosing to call that "quaint".


All older buildings can look grim on the inside, and inside the hollow square that forms the Adelphi is no exception. I'm not sure if cleaning the windows would help, or whether it would just make the grimness clearer. However ...


Underneath that central hollow area is the most magnificent ballroom, with glass over so much of the area and magnificnet chandalliers. These days, it's used as a reception and meeting area for the hotel - the hotel lounge - an dis of such magnificence that it gets heavy use.


So - if I were to be rating the Adelphi, would I go "Magnificent" or "Terrible". It's magnificent. I wonder at the grandeur, and I chuckle at the shortcomings. I'm sure I could be less positive if I had paid more (I got a very reasonable rate!), if I had been unable through lack of capacity to use the one working lift on the way up, or if I had suffered a number of things that TripAdvisor users had reported. But it's unlikely I would go "terrible"; the Adelphi is a magnificent piece of history, and it serves the type of people who want to stay there magnificently.
(written 2012-06-06, updated 2012-06-09)

 M401 - Well House Manor - Seeing how others do it
  [17] Differing tastes - (2004-08-17)
  [514] Crazy Day-sies - (2005-12-02)
  [619] If its Sunday, it must be the Norland - (2006-02-23)
  [693] The on line booking experience - (2006-04-21)
  [699] Extremes costs of getting on line - (2006-04-25)
  [714] Room for Octopuses - (2006-05-08)
  [736] New Tape Librarian - (2006-05-28)
  [966] CSL, KISS and RTFM - (2006-12-05)
  [1011] Well House Manor and Beechfield House, Hotels, Melksham - (2006-12-29)
  [1026] The Wheatsheaf 2, The Bell 0 - (2007-01-09)
  [1091] The Psyche is all wrong. - (2007-02-24)
  [1205] Arrival and Departure experiences - another hotel - (2007-05-26)
  [1287] Work and play at Well House Manor - Football and Shell Shortcuts - (2007-08-02)
  [1301] Plastic or China - (2007-08-12)
  [1333] Kasteel Elsloo - Michelin rated hotel. - (2007-09-05)
  [1347] Wireless Internet Access at hotels - an update and some pitfalls - (2007-09-12)
  [1354] Match the Bedroom to the Hotel - (2007-09-17)
  [1356] Crystal Ball - How long do I need to be online? - (2007-09-18)
  [1374] Maidenhead Coffee Challenge - (2007-10-02)
  [1406] Away or home - which do I prefer? - (2007-10-25)
  [1413] The little gestures that can really count - (2007-10-27)
  [1454] From Sunday to Monday, from Melksham to the Balkans - (2007-12-03)
  [1458] The wrong way to put up prices - (2007-12-05)
  [1525] Just one thing let the service down - but that is my memory - (2008-01-31)
  [1547] New bathing idea for hotels from Hotelympia - (2008-02-20)
  [1597] Comparing hotels - as a guest and from the proprietors view - (2008-04-01)
  [1672] The Composting Cone Challenge - (2008-06-10)
  [1758] Lindors Hotel, near St. Briavels, Wye Valley - (2008-08-18)
  [1915] Quietly putting prices up - (2008-12-02)
  [2007] Launch of Melksham Food and Drink Festival - (2009-01-24)
  [2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
  [2127] Call in the professionals! - (2009-04-12)
  [2308] A new place in pictures - (2009-07-28)
  [2311] Floor to ceiling - (2009-07-30)
  [2413] Sanity checking the price, and selling up to increase income - (2009-09-21)
  [2441] Not your cup of tea? - (2009-10-08)
  [2502] Monday night, Tuesday night - (2009-11-13)
  [2885] Twenty Questions - (2010-07-24)
  [2911] Feeding the Grockles - (2010-08-09)
  [3054] Longhope Hotel - (2010-11-16)
  [3333] Honesty and a friendly welcome goes a long way - (2011-06-25)
  [3368] Well House Manor hotel, Melksham - recommended to you by our customers - (2011-07-23)
  [3776] Some traps it's so easy to fall into in designing your web site - (2012-06-23)
  [3794] Should hotel staff sit on the toilet in the customer bedrooms? - (2012-07-02)
  [3900] The Xxxxx Guest House in Xxxxxxxxxxx - my stay reviewed - (2012-10-20)
  [3963] National TV - Melksham - 9th January 2013, Pre-alert. - (2012-12-27)
  [3970] Comparing four VERY different places to stay - (2013-01-11)
  [3975] Being an amateur hotel inspector helps me run a professional hotel - (2013-01-14)
  [4058] The highs and lows of customer service - Cheltenham - (2013-04-03)
  [4081] Pushing down the advertised price, pushing up the total price charged. - (2013-05-08)
  [4091] A reminder of why we opened Well House Manor for our customers - (2013-05-17)
  [4093] More things to make sure that we do NOT do ... - (2013-05-18)
  [4109] What might you find at a tiny bed and breakfast? - (2013-06-03)
  [4177] Setting and publishing your hours to suit your customer base - (2013-09-18)
  [4245] It always happens to me when I'm in Borehamwood! - (2014-03-06)
  [4255] Making a personal gain from a more expensive business hotel stay - (2014-04-02)
  [4321] Are administration / review charges on hotel guests acceptable? - (2014-11-20)
  [4348] Taking my life in my hands in Swansea - (2014-12-11)
  [4373] A long and disappointing evening - (2014-12-30)
  [4443] Seventh stay away this year - and it's still only February! - (2015-02-25)

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