The Tan Hill Inn

Birthday celebration! The most wonderful overnight stay at Tan Hill. Cosy double bedroom overlooking rugged moorland. Friendly staff and great pub food classics. Open fires with gales blowing outside, felt safe and warm. There was a wedding celebration and we got invited into the barn for dancing into the wee hours. Thoroughly enjoyed hearty full English breakfast following morning. 5* stay.

My husband and I read the website and looked at some social media reviews and placed our trust in some well known media personalities whom raved about the Tan Hill Inn. We booked a superior suite as a treat for us en route to a trip further north. Following a 6hr drive, we were met with a Kurt welcome and were ‘told’ we had to wait for our room to be prepared. We bought a drink and duly waited. My first impressions of the entire place were not positive. It was dirty, untidy, unloved and not at all what I would call anyway acceptable. Once eventually inside the suite, it was a world away from what we had viewed on the website. I would understand some wear and tear, however there were damp patches in the bathroom which was also filthy with scum marks on the sink that clearly hadn’t been cleaned, a bin full of the previous guests unsanitary rubbish and the room had what looked like a melted and exposed electrical cable within the fireplace. On a positive note, the bed looked clean and was comfortable. We had to eat and so went for our pre-booked table. We waited an hour for food. The service was slow (I understand it was busy but the feeling I got from the staff was just a complete lack of care). The food was inedible as it was cold and so I sent it back. We went to bed hungry and exhausted. We had a group of loud drunk guys in the room adjacent to us who tried our door in the night several times (presumably drunk) and kept us awake until gone 3am. With no one to contact and being so isolated we felt trapped. We couldn’t wait to leave in the morning. We skipped breakfast and made a hasty retreat. Having read previous negative reviews I expect a sarcastic response, which to my mind sums up the managements’ complete lack of respect for paying customers.

The Tan Hill Inn is a super pub with comfortable rooms, real fires and excellent ales from the local Black Sheep brewery. If you’re in the area, or even down in Somerset as we are, it really is worth the drive for a pie and pint. And the views over the moors are breathtaking to boot.