Guests on TripAdvisor have given this Greater Manchester hotel a rating of just 1.5 out of five. But could it really be as bad as what these reviewers say?
06:00, 14 Sep 2025Updated 07:08, 14 Sep 2025
The Assheton Arms Hotel boasts an impressive sign outside its premises – but would this first appearance continue on the inside? (Image: MEN)
Finding a hotel in Greater Manchester should be a relatively easy task. But as we were scrolling through possible stays, one hotel stuck out possibly for all the wrong reasons.
This is the hotel in Greater Manchester which guests on TripAdvisor have described as the “absolute pits”, with some even suggesting that it would be better to “sleep in your car” rather than stay at the hotel.
With reviews such as these the Assheton Arms Hotel in Middleton has racked up an impressive 68 ‘terrible’ ratings on TripAdvisor – out of a total of 81 reviews – gaining just an overall score on the site of 1.5 out of five.
After scrolling through the stack of negative reviews left about the hotel online, with many specifically warning me against a stay there, it was fair to say that I did not have high expectations of what it had to offer.
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So, to put the hotel up to the test ourselves, we checked in to the Assheton Arms midweek to find out whether it really is as bad as previous guests say.
The Assheton Arms Hotel offers a range of room types including single, double, family, triple and quadruple rooms with a choice of either a shared or private bathroom. Checking in midweek we paid £35 for a double room with a shared bathroom, which appeared a lower price than many other hotels in the area.
A couple of tiles from the Assheton Arms Hotel’s sign had, or were, falling down (Image: MEN)
As I turned up at the Assheton Arms I was somewhat impressed by my first look of the building which, while not the Ritz, it appeared tidier than I had anticipated. A smart sign emblazoned with an impressive coat of arms highlighted to me that I had reached the correct destination as well as offering a slight sense of grandeur which again I had not expected after reading its reviews.
But as I moved around towards the front of the hotel this image began to quickly fall apart as I realised that a number of the tiles on the side of the building reading ‘Assheton Hotel’ had fallen down or become disloged.
Not a major issue of course, but it did begin to make me wonder whether the interior may possibly also be in need of some renovations.
I buzzed myself into the hotel lobby and was thrilled that check-in was a pretty quick process meaning that all that was now left to do was make my way up through the hotel’s stairway to find my room.
The corridor to my room at the Assheton Arms Hotel was lit, but still had a slightly gloomy feel (Image: MEN)
I was informed my room would be one of the first ones I would see and sure enough I was quick to find my room at the beginning of the corridor.
Now the moment of truth was finally here. Would a room at the Assheton Arms really be as horrid as TripAdvisor reviewers would have me believe?
Admittedly the room I was given was pretty small and very basic, with no wardrobe or chest of drawers to place any belongings in. But having paid just £35 for the room I had expected quite a simple set up, and despite the rooms simplicity I was glad to see it was generally pretty tidy.
While the furniture and decoration in the room was limited, I was given a bedside table, chair and TV. I was also thrilled to see a generous selection of teas and coffees had been laid out for me alongside a kettle and mugs which appeared to be quite clean.
But the thing that I was possibly most excited to find within the room was the bed which appeared to have pretty fresh and clean bedding. This was something I had feared I could not expect after reading what other guests had to say about the room, but thankfully the bed appeared to be one which I could relax in without too many concerns.
A double room at the Assheton Arms Hotel which appeared clean but very basic(Image: MEN)
However one thing within the room did raise some questions for me.
Though I was thrilled about my table of coffees and teas, I was left slightly confused about the singular toilet roll that had been left on the table, which I assumed was probably in the place of a box of tissues.
Generally I was quite surprised to find that the room hadn’t so far caused me too many concerns. It was only really when I looked up at the ceiling above my bed that I saw a decently sized area covered with spots of damp making me feel slightly uneasy
As I went to plug my phone into one of the rooms two plug sockets I was then also met with some concern as I realised there were some holes in the walls around the plugs sockets
I was thrilled to see a selection of tea and coffee sachets in my room – but was left unsure about the holes around the hotel’s plug sockets and the singular toilet roll beside (Image: MEN)
I checked out the shared bathroom, of which there were multiple within the hotel, and found them to be thankfully quite clean but possibly in need of some renovations, with a number of cracks in some of the bathroom tiles.
In terms of location the Assheton Arms Hotel does offer quite a central location if looking to stay in Middleton, with it being just across the road from Middleton Arena. While the hotel is located just off the roundabout, I was also pleased to find that there was not too much noise from outside that could be heard within the room.
Surprisingly I found there to be less issues with the Assheton Hotel than what I had expected from reading through TripAdvisor reviews. While there were undoubtedly some cleanliness issues with clear dampness in the rooms and a need for repairs due to the cracks in the walls of my room, the hotel didn’t necessarily appear to be, as one reviewer had called it, the “absolute pits”.
Of course there are clearly more luxurious stays but from what I saw the Assheton Arms offered a relatively clean room and a pretty comfortable bed, which was probably preferable to the option of sleeping in your car, as one reviewer had also suggested.
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