Old Swan

494 reviews

• J

  juliew123

  BRENTWOOD, BOROUGH OF BRENTWOOD, ESSEX, ENGLAND · Couples · Aug 2026

  4/10

  Didn’t live up to expectations

  Hotel is in a lovely setting and location but the overall experience did not live up to that and needs someone to get things in better shape as I would sadly not recommend. We had a superior double room in the pub and it did not match up with the picture on their web site - suggests quite a spacious room with two arm chairs plus a desk and chair - we just had a desk and chair with no space for further seating. We did have a small outside area but really not inviting - sofa covered in leaves and dust and half a screen between us and our next door neighbours. According to the sheet of paper given on check in rooms are “refreshed” every day. For “refreshed” you should read water and toilet roll replenished, a perfunctory make of the bed (pillows not actually touched) and towels adjusted. No actual cleaning takes place - e.g. sink in bathroom became stained due to me washing my hands having applied foundation - no amount of us wiping or washing down removed it and that remained for the rest of our stay. Floor in bathroom is odd and had stains that look like toothpaste around the sink. One or two members of staff were friendly but in the main not. There doesn’t appear to be a bar open in the hotel until 5pm so one has to buy drinks at the pub and then cross the road with the drinks to sit at the hotel tables by the river. We bought pre dinner drinks from the hotel cocktail bar (advertised as “coming to life” at 5pm - ie opens at 5pm) and the barman was really unwelcoming. We ate at the pub on our first night (a Thursday) - inside was empty and only a couple of tables taken outside. Food itself was nice - burger and minted lamb pie - no real ambience though. We ate in the wildling restaurant on our last night when we hoped there might be more diners (hotel itself seemed relatively busy) and this was a real disappointment. Empty restaurant (can’t even recall any background music) which is perhaps a sign! Waiter said the menu is a small plates aimed at sharing - but only a small portion of the menu is small plates. He spoke highly of the chateaubriand which is what we chose but sorely disappointed. Steak was luke warm and cooked well beyond the medium rare we ordered and not very well seasoned. Bearnaise sauce is served cold so on a lukewarm steak, not great. We asked for mustard or horseradish but were told that they had neither. The waiter enquired how things were and we expressed our disappointment and to be fair he came back to tell us that the manager had removed the cost of the steak from our bill. Dessert was very good. Breakfast is served in the pub and was nice enough - not buffet style with all items from a menu.

• P

  p0rt0bell0

  SEATTLE, WASHINGTON · Couples · Aug 2026

  10/10

  Old Swan Pub was a great place for a drink.

  We stayed 2 nights ant Minster Mill. Our room was simple but comfortable. The grounds are nice with a rushing little river. We could see a couple of fish jumping, The Old Swan is across the road about a 2 minute walk from lodging. Imagine a scene from the movie “ The Holiday” that is what I thought when we came in for our happy hour or after dinner drinks. Very good place to try a Cotswolds gin, beer or hard cider. .

• F

  foodfanaticalie

  ENGLAND · Family · Jul 2026

  6/10

  Idyllic location. No attention to detail

  For example the room key!? Come on you can do better than that what a terrible first impression. The feature room by the river is ok - but no matches to light the fire (yes we did look in the tin and everywhere else!). Loads of leaves and debris in the patio area which needs a leaf blower running over it more regularly. And slightly more private dividers would be nice. Don’t bother with the ‘spa’, and if you do try to book they generally make it as difficult as they can for you, seems so that they can have an easy life with no spa guests!! Just tiny touches like new bins in the changing area or giving the shower head a clean or replaced in the clay room!? Lovely view of the builders screening frame which has been there a while - hurry up or screen it better!! All these boutique hotels popping up in the Cotswolds would give anything for this location and they’re working hard at being the best - seems everyone here has just given up!! Food was fine. Menus were dirty and tatty - would’ve cost nothing just to print a few fresh ones each day? Online menus are very enticing and yet not the current versions. Everything felt like it was hard work for the staff. I’d ask management to be really honest with themselves and go over every element of the property and identify easy wins and apply some care and attention to what their team are delivering because it’s far below par.

• S

  sallysU9579XG

  Family · Jul 2026

  10/10

  Mum and daughter time

  Lovely staff, room was lovely and clean had a lovely time.

• S

  S4088EWchrisw

  Couples · Jul 2026

  2/10

  Taken for a ride

  Review from last week, slightly edited. Attended an open air theatre performance. I shan't say what because the performance was great. The venue was terrible. The stage was on the "croquet lawn" which was so uneven as to be a danger. As a H&S officer for another organisation, I would not have passed this as safe ground for an event likely to attract the elderly and infirm. A good deal of the fun of open air theatre such as this is providing a nice, posh picnic. We were banned from bringing any food or beverage. Instead, we were forced to patronise their "barbecue". As this is a 4* venue with pretensions to fine dining, we hoped that would (at a price) provide an adequate alternative. On offer were hot dogs or beefburgers. These were a disgrace. How an establishment offering any form of fine dining - as the Old Swan and Minster Mill clearly do - could serve these travesties beggars belief. Our hot dogs consisted of a cheap, very mediocre sausage, barely cooked in an oven before being left to cool in a container. To serve, the unfortunate sausage was dumped on the grill for under 30 seconds (I timed it) and stuffed into a not-too-fresh bun that was sliced so deeply that it fell in half. We were left to add our choice of unappetising sauces or some sort of chutney, said to be caramelised onion. For this, we paid £9.00 apiece. Even a third-rate van at the side of the road would soon be out of business, serving such fare. We weren't allowed to bring our own water. This was on sale at £2.00 a bottle - and it was unpleasantly warm. When we paid for our two hot dogs and two bottles of water, the server announced, "twenty pounds". The credit card was charged £22. Despite enjoying the performance, we left with a sour taste. We felt that Brownsword Hotels took us for every penny they could get. They should be ashamed of themselves