The Saracens Head Hotel & Restaurant

A charming old style British Inn. Found them through Booking.com. Came to Southwell for the wedding of a friend and needed a place to stay. The hotel is located in the middle of Southwell. It has a beautiful old-style exterior and is very quaintly decorated on the inside. The room itself was also clean, tidy, spacious and nicely furnished. The staff including reception as well as the waiters during breakfast were friendly, helpful and lovely. An interesting tidbit about the place is that it’s been around since the 17th Century and Charles II, the English King sought refuge here. Overall I had a great experience here and should I ever be staying in Southwell again I will definitely be booking a room here!

The staff are so friendly & helpful, the hotel & car park are easy to find. Very quaint & pretty inside. The room i stayed in was quite small & there were no plugs near the mirror so doing my hair was a bit of a nightmare but bar that it was a lovely stay. The breakfast is really nice.

Very pleasant 3 day stay at the hotel over Easter. Very lovely historic building in the centre of Southwell. Comfortable, spacious room. Friendly and attentive staff. Excellent cooked breakfast. Other meals are a little limited, at the moment, because they are looking for a chef, but there are many good places to eat, close by in Southwell. Southwell itself is a very attractive, small town with some beautiful buildings in addition to the Minster. The workhouse (run by the National Trust) is a fascinating place to visit.

Good location, freshly prepared cooked to order breakfast. Rooms clean and comfortable. No food available in the evening which was not advised prior to the booking. Dog charge excessive - £20 per night per dog. Staff politeness and helpfulness was mixed. The morning breakfast staff were lovely and it’s a shame this was not mirrored across all areas.

Its location is perfect. It is next to the amazing Minster, Lord Byron's childhood home, good pubs and restaurants, and a superb wine- bar.| We were only able to book one of the simplest, cheapest rooms, but all was well. We appreciated the no-nonsense management of this hotel. It is like being in a friend's old-fashioned private home: the magazines are up-to-date, the many clocks strike on time; the sitting-rooms have comfy chairs.|Marvelous that the hotel has free parking-spaces round the back of it, as the streets of Southwell are narrow.| Truly warm staff, good classic English breakfast, and we were fortunate to be given an astonishing, guided tour of the most requested rooms. We must come again, booking well in advance, and bring friends. They, like us, will love Southwell and The Saracen's Head. | Anybody who has an interest in English history will be enchanted by this ancient coach-house.

The Saracens Head provided really excellent hospitality to me and my friends in a choir singing for the Minster's services last weekend. They worked with us to plan and prepare a very tasty evening meal for our large group, with choices for all, creating a lovely atmosphere for us in the restaurant. We all slept very well in our comfortable beds before enjoying a delicious breakfast which they kindly timed to ensure we could enjoy our Full English or Continental at a leisurely pace AND not be late for our morning rehearsal! All in all, the hotel's care made it a wonderfully memorable weekend for us all. Thank you Debby and colleagues.

This isn’t really a hotel review - it’s a declaration of love. Like the love of a great aunt that turns up for Christmas, has one too many sherries, attempts political correctness but gets it slightly wrong, and then falls asleep during the king’s speech; staying at the Saracen’s Head is a deeply eccentric and quintessentially English experience. Other than being one of the oldest and certainly most historic hotels in England (King Charles I sought refuge here in 1646), perhaps the most notable ‘feature’ is the current legendary proprietor. He’s a very active and hard-working octogenarian, with a certain unique approach to hospitality. There’s a touch of the famed Torquay hotelier about him or perhaps a sober Withnail - still tragically battling the forces of fate and circumstance, in the clipped Received Pronunciation of a different age: “I seem to be running a hotel by accident, oopsie daisy.”||Over the many years, as a frequent patron of the Saracen’s Head, I’ve come to always expect the unexpected. Just the simple act of checking-in can quite easily descend into a theatre of the absurd. I was once told: “There’s no hot water I’m afraid, army wash at the sink with a flannel and kettle, best I can offer.” I find my room and immediately run a bath - there’s plenty of hot water. Later, I pass-by reception and mention the hot water’s back on. “By Jove!” he says. “All fixed."||Arriving one summer, he announces, “I won’t put you in room 7, full of wasps. You’re in room 17.” On entering room 17, I’m greeted by a swarm of wasps. |Back down at reception I say, “There’s wasps in 17.” |“Yes, yes” he says. “Wasps in 17 you’re in room 7, oopsie daisy…”||For lovers of British farce, that end-of-the-pier style entertainment doesn’t stop there! I returned one evening to find a large handwritten note on the front door informing me - under NO circumstance - should I go to my room but instead, report to reception. “Ah yes,” he says. “Had to move your kit out earlier, honeymoon couple in your room now, mix up with booking, oopsie daisy…glad I caught you.”||When visiting Southwell, I wouldn’t stay anywhere else.

We stayed for Southwell races yesterday. We had a meal in the hotel Thursday evening, we had a chicken dish and a salmon one which were jice but the vegetables and potatoes were cold. The room was ok. The selection of fruit at breakfast was lovely but the hot breakfast wasnt good and our scrambled egg wasnt even cooked. The lady on reception was so loud and very indiscreet, a few people were complaining about her. The young men working the restaurant on the Thursday evening were very nice and helpful.

I stayed here for 3 nights this past weekend and did not like the accommodations. Toilets did not flush properly, the steward that cleans the room left garbage still in the cans and did not leave toilet paper when it was clearly needed. The shower curtain was filled with mildew, the room was hot and musty smelling and to get a cab in this town is nonexistent

The food at the Saracens head is very good. Reasonably priced and the surroundings are very pleasant.

I've only been for lunch a couple of times at the Saracens Head but I would recommend it to anyone travelling through Southwell. It has an absolutely charming interior and lots of different rooms to sit in and the food is really fantastic! It also varies away from traditional pub fare without being too experimental (I can never understand the Thai food in pubs thing that just doesn't make sense to me!). I had a delicious salad when I was there and some gorgeous pate and toast and it's a really peaceful environment. The Saracens Head is one of those pubs that has a history stretching back hundreds of years (King Charles stayed here on his way to be executed) and Southwell Minster is well worth a visit too. It's quite grown up and elegant in there so not ideal for kids though I doubt that they'd throw you out!