I frequently stay in Boston on business, but this was the first time staying here as my usual hotel was fully booked.

The hotel it self is right in the heart of the town, so very convenient for pubs and shops, and it is right by the river. Finding the parking was difficult, there appears to be no directions on the hotel website, and it was only through prior knowledge of the area I stumbled upon it (it's round the back by Kwik Save down a dead end road). The car park itself wasn't very secure at all, being in a quiet area with direct alley access from several pubs.

Checking in was quick and easy and pleasant, the hotel iself is a listed building, which I assume accounts for the lack of a lift. Carrying your bags upstairs isn't much fun, and made even less so when there was no offer of help with luggage.

My room was a reasonable size and pleasantly furnished with a modern style and an LCD TV. It is a nice touch to have free cookies and water, but a shame there is no ice machine anywhere - although the bar across the courtyard were happy to provide a glass of ice on request.

I had a nice view of the river from my room, with windows that opened fully, and although there wasn't air con, a fan was provided (and very much appreciated!). I did find however that leaving my windows open during the day resulted in my room being full of flies every night, but the breeze was great.

Yes, the hotel does suffer from noise issues - someone putting glass in recycyling bins at half past midnight being one of them, but it doesn't claim to be in a peaceful setting.

Room service menu is limited, but the food served was delicious and I can reccomend the Thai Green curry as being one of the best I have eaten outside Thailand. My desert wasn't what I ordered (and I was too tired to complain), but was nice anyway. It costs and extra £3.75 for room service though.

Breakfast was a bit of a dissapointment, it is served until 9am, but each day I arrived at 8.30 to find most of the tables had been laid for lunch and the fresh fruit platter was empty, along with most of the juices. I never did see cheese and meat as advertised.

The cooked breakfast was plentiful, although the sausages were very bland and best avoided.

Now for the down side.

On first getting into my room, the bin hadn't been emptied from the previous occupant, on the 2nd day my room still hadn't been made up by 2pm (very inconvenient when you want an afternoon siesta). When it was serviced, the tea tray wasn't replenished and the maid in fact left me with no spoon either. The bathroom wasn't cleaned at all, and on arrival there were hairs in the bath, again from the previous occupant. Having said that (and it's by no means an excuse), the maids are very young girls, so perhaps it is down to lack of training as to what is expected, rather than laziness.

Shame the bed was just a double and not a king, there was room for one, but despite being hard, it was comfortable and for once I didn't wake up with backache.

On coming back from an evening out I found reception to be deserted - there appeared to be no bell to ring either, so after 5 minutes waiting for someone to come back, I just stepped into the office and took my room key - very poor room security!

Would I stay here again? Yes, probably, but not if I wanted somewhwere quiet to relax.