The Cross Keys

8.6

Excellent

134 Guest reviews

8.6

Excellent

134 Verified Reviews

Read all reviews

Cleanliness9.0/10

Service8.8/10

Comfort8.8/10

Condition8.8/10

Neighborhood9.6/10

Amenities8.2/10

Intermittent low level electronic hum for the first part of the night. Mattress too soft. Not sure I like having the toilet inside the room inside a cubicle without good ventilation.

Very historic place which dates back to the 1500's . The character of the property has been largely kept, this does include sloping floor in the bedroom.

Never again

No heating no food service at 20.30 but said 9 bar closed early so no drinks at 22.30 shocking rude bar staff (not interested bad attitude)

Very old historic building with lots of character. Room large, bed comfy, coffee machine and biscuits but no bottled water. Good shower, good breakfast included cooked to order. Staff friendly and helpful. WiFi rubbish, TV not great but was cool that it was hidden in the panelled wall. Short walk to paid parking. Overall a positive stay, would stay again.

Hotels.com

I'm sure it would have been a lovely stay if Hotels.com had actually booked the hotel for our weekend stay but when we arrived the cross keys hadn't received the booking from Hotels.com

Staff members excellent. Lighting in bathroom was poor 2 lights not working did report this. Cups in bedroom not changed or cleaned over 3 day stay. Food was good

Ideal quiet position in town centre so easy to walk or use buses nearby.Very old building so stairs awkward (There could be a reminder on website when booking). Shower easy to use; ceiling above showing water damage stains. It was useful to have a stand for unpacking suitcase. Bed comfortable; bed linen crisp, clean and ironed. Lighting good; a welcome tray of teas, coffees, biscuits topped up daily. TV set on a slant on wall due to structure of building? Breakfasts good, portions generous; vegetarian options tasty; I would welcome some fruit and yoghurt choice too.

Amazing Will be back again soon

Shame

Check in was poor, got ignored by staff gossiping, looked at me 5 times and decided ignoring me was the best so I stood there for about 5minutes. When a waitress already running around after clients saw me she came over and got someone to help me, she was helpful, manager came over and they had computer issues which apparently I wanted to know all about. Just very unprofessional. Room was adequate but small and not value , price is only for the old building. Room was adequate but bathroom wasn’t that clean. All toiletries were one use which isn’t green. Best experience was breakfast where young guy on duty was very good with all the guests.

We were allowed to leave our cases while went to music festival in towm. Staff were more than helpful. Breakfast was superior

Comfortable stay near the Fry Gallery

Friendly and helpful staff. Comfortable room and bed. Quiet night. The stylish roll top bath needed a stool for access by customers with old joints!

Highly recommended

Lovely room and ensuite - very clean comfortable and beautifully decorated. The staff were very helpful and friendly. The breakfast was delicious. I would definitely stay there again.

Your very best earplugs required

20 unanswered phone calls and 3 unanswered emails before my stay to sort out appropriate rooms. Unbelievably noisy superior room next to high street traffic. Moved to another noisy ( but not so noisy) and hot room. Had to request refund myself as it was not automatically forthcoming. A further 6 unanswered phone calls to do so and several emails. 10 days later sorted out by Wendy. Inadequate management

Good location

The location is excellent but remember there is no parking at the hotel and hard to drop off your bags in the car as narrow street right outside. Keep this in mind if you have a lot of luggage or disabled. Hotel and food great. Getting a coffee or drink when breakfast was busy proved hard and we had to ask 3 times and took longer than it took to eat breakfast. Over all a great location and so don’t be put off. Maybe have a filter coffee machine and then could top up yourself

Incredibly noisy Hopeless management

Excellent character and restaurant

Very unique and pleasant hotel/pub. Very comfortable and clean bed and bedding. Enjoyed the Sunday roast dinner specials. Breakfast was very good. Central location in a very walkable village. Transportation by local bus to Stansted airport was quick (about 1 hour), stop just down the street and cost was 2£ each. Great way to get to the airport, scenic drive in the countryside.

Noisey. For example

This is the place if you want to stay in an historic hotel. Expect it to be charming but also expect stairs and off site parking. But the staff is wonderful, the pub is a joy and the food very good. And the whole area is walkable. Just great.

The light switch for the bathroom was near the ceiling, out of reach for anyone under 5 feet 10. The light in the bath room went out whilst I was in the shower (several times). The TV did not work. The lavatory flush stopped working in the morning. We stayed only one night,having paid for two.

Strange checkin and no parking !

Checked in ok but felt slightly strange that I had to approach the bar staff to check in, when the pub was busy. Barman had to stop serving at the bar to give me keys and take me to the room. Felt a bit rushed . On the hotels.com website I was led to believe parking was available - however the staff said they didn’t know why it said that, and I had to pay for parking at the town car park 5 mins walk away. No real concerns, but please make this clearer. Breakfast is included as was very good .

Very old building, in keeping with the town itself. Friendly, efficient staff, nice room and cooked breakfast. Very easy to find, on main through road. Cheap parking nearby.

Great find, would highly recommend.

Characterful Pub & Rooms In Great Location

Our room (no.9) was in what I assume is a converted barn to the side at the back of the pub. An initial problem about it being mistakenly allocated to another couple was quickly & efficiently sorted out and free drinks offered. Though old the large room had been ingeniously converted including a spacious shower, stand alone bath and ,best of all on a hot July weekend , an air conditioner! The pub itself has lots of character & is ideally located in the centre of the town. The evening meal we had there was tasty & reasonably priced. Our only slight crumble was the very limited choice of cereals & the often near empty juice jugs at breakfast Staff were friendly & helpful. Finally a note of caution for the elderly or disabled ; the stairs to about half the bedrooms are up steep fire scape style staircases.

Lovely hotel with plenty of charm

Nice bedroom which was very clean and welcoming. Full English breakfast included. Right in the centre of town so parking can be a problem if you arrive before 4pm. 2 hours free street parking available after 6pm.

It was a great time and experience

Old style pub with rooms

Old style pub with rooms.

Nothing to fault other than the beer

Lucky to find a parking space near the hotel as double yellow lines all round the hotel and no car park. Couldn’t really fault anything other than small minor things not really worth mentioning. Food in the bar was good and as to be expected down south the hand pulled beer was flat, never had a decent pint south of Nottingham!!!

Mostly excellent. Spoiled by a. intermittent bleeping noise on first night b. poor breakfast service on second morning. One particularly good point - manager let us park on-site in summer outdoor dining area. This saved a lot of faff.

Stop over

Lovely room which was very quirky, staff friendly and helpful, breakfast was also spot on

My second stay and I'll be back!

A really comfortable, clean and pleasant 3-day stay. Service each day was with a smile. The breakfast is great, too. This is my second stay, a different room but just as lovely. Beautiful old building, made up so cozy. As to be expected due to being a pub downstairs, some noise at night but nothing major. Just worthy to consider when booking. Literally on the doorstep of all the shops, so convenient. I felt safe staying solo and will be coming again.

Nice hotel/inn with comfortable rooms

A lovely hotel/inn with quite small but very comfortable rooms. Service was a little slow, particularly at breakfast, but was delivered with a smile.

Very Enjoyable

Staff very friendly and helpful; clean and quiet and very good breakfast. Beautiful town with plenty to do.

Great pub atmosphere

Great little place to stay with a lovely pub atmosphere. Food and drink were bith excellent, as well as the breakfast, and the staff very friendly.

One night

Good but noisy air conditioning all night. Great breakfast

Cross Keys Hotel

A lovely hotel built in the mid 1500's with lots of character and a great central location to Saffron Walden. A pleasant and friendly atmosphere in the bar and restaurant made for a very pleasing stay. Highly recommend.

Very good hotel and location for the break we had. Location gives good access to the town and is also easy to get out and about in the neighbourhood.

Superb stay!

So happy we chose to stay at the Cross Keys! The staff couldn't have been more helpful, the food & atmosphere were excellent & our room was delightful & spotless. Extremely highly recommended!

Comfortable, convenient and with friendly staff. Would happily stay there again, though would have preferred it if the restaurant staff could have all masked, all the time

Quaint and classy

The Cross Keys is a beautiful little hotel. I've stayed there many times and am never disappointed. The breakfast of poached eggs and avocado on toast was perfect.

Excellent location , we booked a table for eight on the evening and the food and service superb , what let it down was the breakfast, we were told a cooked breakfast would be available at 8.30 which when we came down we were informed it was now nine , we had a slice of toast and cereal, very disappointing.

D

Beautiful building. Super friendly and efficient staff. On main road so some traffic noise during night

It was fine.

Staff were brilliant! Room was small and was difficult to get to one side of the bed. Food was nice in the restaurant but pricey. No onsite parking but public car park was safe and cheap.

Perfectly located and welcoming hotel

Very pleasant staff throughout stay. Rooms small but well appointed and great to have kettle plus Nespesso machine and plenty of refills. Good fan as weather warm Beautiful clean bed linen. Personal dislike of small guest amenities due to plastic waste but good quality and offering tooth brushes nice touch

2 night recommend

Ideal for a 2 night break to visit Audley End and Anglesey Abbey. Food in Restaurant froma small menu very goog

Overnight stop

Very friendly staff and a property with a great deal of history. Good sized and comfortable room. Food was also good and well priced. Only possible downside is if you are a light sleeper and have a room above the through road. We were there one night, en route south.

Loved it and would book again

A perfect location if you want to be in the hub of the town- restaurants, pubs and shops all right there on the door step. Staff welcome was friendly and the room was really lovely. The bathroom was especially gorgeous. Great instructions on entering the room and spot-on breakfast in room on arrival. Only downside is the roads are very busy m/noisy from around 6am so if you’re intending to have a relaxing lie-in I’d suggest taking earplugs or a noise app/fan! Really comfortable other than that and would definitely stay again.

Lovely hotel in quaint market town

Lovely hotel in a lovely market town. We wanted to try it out after seeing it on Four in a Bed a few years ago and it didn’t disappoint. We had a lovely room and the manageress was really helpful. Tasty breakfast. Would definitely recommend