Name: The Malt Shovel Inn
Address: Forest-of-Dean, Ruardean, Forest of Dean, Forest of Dean, Forest of Dean, GL17 9TW, United Kingdom
Rating: 7

Smoke-free property

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Gloucestershire Airport

Bristol Airport

The Malt Shovel Inn

Forest of Dean

AVOID AVOID AVOID !!
The place is a dump. Booked online to arrive and it was closed. The place looked abandoned and was one of the worst places I have ever seen. The windows were dirty and grimy and looking through the inside looked worse ! I wouldn’t have stayed if it had been open ! 
No idea how it is still being advertised……..
DO NOT BOOK HERE AS ITS TAKEN AGES TO GET MY MONEY BACK.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

A bizarre place which has so much potential. 

We booked in January for a wedding in June. £60 for bed and breakfast. 
Tried to ring a couple of days before, no working number. No email address. 

Eventually messaged in social media and received a response which was helpful and showed promise.

I have travelled across the world in some bargain / dreadful(but expected)  accomodation and I don't often criticise but sadly here I have too. 

Upon arrival(which was early and agreed through social media) there was no one available and I spent 15 minutes wandering the premises only to eventually find someone in what was perhaps the private flat adjoined to the inn. 

Escorted to the room, the whole place looked run down and in need of some real tlc. The room was a nice size but there was dust, dead moths and flies everywhere. 

A kettle, with tea and coffee but no milk.

I wasn't entirely confident the place had even been cleaned beforehand. The bed sheets and towels seemed clean but this was it. Shower worked well.

They asked what time we wanted breakfast and we said 0730. They agreed and we wandered around from 0730-0830 ish in-between getting ready to leave and there was no one in sight, eventually we left with no breakfast. 

The TV didn't work. It was a Saturday night with no bar, no lock for the door and left unsecured and the carpark was a scrapyard.

It is unfortunate because this has a lot of potential to be fantastic. 

Small plus that the gentleman that did eventually meet us on the Friday seemed lovely until he never showed for breakfast. 

Investment here and a bit of tlc would be incredible but sadly until then I would definitely not recommend.

So much potential, sadly none of it is reached. 

Title says it all. Couldn't get in touch with the inn cause they have no working contact number or email, this resulted in me being stranded outside after a 3hr drive with nobody to assist. I returned the next day and still couldn't check in cause the owner wasn't there, instead left my number with his wife, and never received a call. Save your money and go to a hotel that is actually a functioning business, not these guys.

No working contact information, avoid. Total scam.

On arrival the pub looks derelict, in poor general condition, car park was more of a scrap yard with broken kitchen appliances and general rubbish. Inside the pub was closed both days, and from the look of the place probably not functioning as a pub at all. The room was OK but needed alot of modernisation, shower didn't work but the shower head dripped continuously all night, carpets were thread bare, damp on the ceiling in bathroom and cobwebs! Tea and coffee facilities but no milk!! Breakfast was included but all on offer was packet cereals with no milk, half a loaf of bread and jam no butter!! How this place is allowed to advertise as a b&b is beyond me! Certainly read the reviews before entertaining staying here! The young lad who seemed to be in charge was helpful and friendly!!

The Malt shovel Inn Ruardean No Thanks!!

Booked for 4 nights, stayed for 1! Disgusting place, shouldn't be open as it's not functioning as a B&B, more a sort of part time doss house! Rubbish all over. Door to room wouldn't lock, just could be used open! Used Viagra packet in bedside drawer!  Wine and beer bottles   cigarette paper packets and other rubbish under the bed!  Dirty tissue on the floor!  Linen smelled and was crumpled and stained, not sure if it was clean even!   Room stunk of recent cigarette smoke!  No milk in room for tea/coffee, none available. Found a bottle in fridge in kitchen downstairs, dated January!  NO wifi as advertised!  NO breakfast, even though spoke to host when checked in,(had to wait over 30+ minutes to do that)! In fact, downstairs door was locked to so called breakfast area!  Found someone sitting in a dressing gown, said she couldn't help me , and he had gone to work!
Moved out that morning! Worst place I have ever stayed in!

Am trying to get a refund! Wish me luck!
Book here at your own risk! You have been warned!

Malt shovel Inn -  Avoid at all costs!

Should have stayed there on the 4th June2022, but the place was not like any of the photos on here. I take one look at the place and left and here are some of the photos I take before i left.The malt shovel is  never a 3 star it is a  Dirty stinking hole, and i do not know for the lift of me how you are  Promoting this place.

Did not stay

I read through the last few reviews and they are all so accurate.  'Oh dear, oh dear' and 'it could be a gem of a place.'  The are accurate right down to the broken bar billiards table lying by the stairs.

There are positives.  The young landlord is ever so friendly and helpful.  He directed us to a pub for food which was very good (even if the walk to it was challenging, but he did warn us).  The shower worked well and the water was hot.  It is roomy.  The bed linen was clean as were the towels.  And it is certainly quirky.
But... the breakfast was served cold and late, the dusting could have been better, the range of beer was - well I thought it a bit like the 'Cheese Shop' sketch from Monty Python.  And there was indeed  soap, milk sachets (if out of date) only they were in jars on a table on the landing - but I found them!  And did I mention the 40 minute wait for coffee for breakfast (the breakfast took a little longer).

Intriguing - but don't take your wife!  I wouldn't say don't go there but... well, it could be so much better.

I do hope things improver and the business thrives but it will take a lot of work and money.

Well...

How can I put this? 
So much promise, so little delivery 🙄 
The best I could say is "quirky": having or characterised by peculiar or unexpected traits or aspects.... 
The pub with no beer (just bottled Budweiser brought in by the case: I wonder if they actually have a licence) 👀 
The pub with no food 🙄 
The lack of any wifi (fella did type a private password for a different one, but that only worked in the bar area...and as above, there was no real reason to stay in the bar). 
The lack of working TV in the room. 
The invisible breakfast ("we need it at 8am" "okay, no problem" - then the entire place was the Mary Celeste, even by 8:25am). 
THAT was *really* annoying....it was cheap, but we did have breakfast included 😡 
We even looked in the kitchen ourselves - no food for us to cook! 

Slightly grubby feel about the room, although it had promise 

Friendly enough, but felt like a bunch of lads keeping the place as their private party house. 

SUCH a shame - the 'team' running this place need a bloody good kick up the backside - it could be lovely! Until then, I can only urge people to stay away. 

We mentioned our experience to two separate locals, and both were totally unsurprised: they knew it had changed hands a few times, & once been a decent place.   Needs to change hands again 🤷‍♂️

More reasons to stay away than go....

When you arrive you are greeted with a car park which looks like a scrapyard.  Then on entering the property there is a broken billiards table.  The room itself was in need of cleaning with cobwebs and dust and the furniture is worn and tired.  There was no soap in the bathroom and no hot water.  There was a TV on the wall but no socket nearby, so the plug just dangled down the wall.  There is no phone signal inside the rooms and the wifi is £8 per day.  There were some tea-making facilities in the room but no milk or spoons.  The place generally just looked run down and not cared for.  Friends staying in the next-door room had the same experience but also the lock on their door didn't work, so they couldn't lock their room.

We were asked when we would like breakfast and stated 07:30 as we had activities that required us to leave at 08:30.  At 07:30 the place was deserted.  Someone did arrive a short while later looking like they had just got out of bed.  They then disappeared for 10 - 15 minutes and came back with a bag of shopping. Obviously having been to the shop to buy the stuff for breakfast.  We left at 08:30 having not had any breakfast.

Run down B&B

Hard to know where to begin…
It’s not quirky it’s just poor.  It represents everything awful about the service and tourism industry that I thought we’d left behind in the seventies. The building is falling apart and the car park looks like an old scrapyard and the first thing greeting you inside is a smashed up billiards table and you wonder where to go. Eventually we found our way into the main bar and a member of staff took us upstairs to our room. Corridors are loaded with old nic-naks and carpets are worn and lights dim; oh well we’re here now so onto the room…
We had a family room which was a good size, allowed the dog and was cheap, towels and sheets were clean too; that’s the end of the good bits. Mattresses worn out, door doesn’t lock, no lights in bathroom, no shower curtain, broken wooden toilet seat, no tea or coffee (but oddly a kettle and some milks in a tray) draws fell off furniture. No food available on a Saturday night.
Also no one answers the phone or emails.
We laughed at how bad it was and tried  to mention  it to the person working there who seemed oblivious of all its shortcomings and the possibility of anything being wrong.
As others have mentioned it is just bizarre how or where the supposed 3 stars came from? 
We booked because it said it was pet friendly, it’s probably any animal friendly as no one really seems to care what happens here!
We say we survived and laughed a lot about it but it might not be so funny if someone genuinely booked this place for a holiday and thought they were getting anything like a 3-star hotel.

The Malt Shovel Inn

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