The Bear Hotel

Beautiful location, warm, friendly and helpful staff. Great atmosphere and fantastic coffee with freshly cooked meals available. We would highly recommend and thank you to Amanda for taking great care of us! ☺️ I cannot comment on the hotel aspect as we have not stayed there in that capacity.

Called in without booking for Sunday lunch. Lots of tables available, we chose to sit in the conservatory as it was nice and bright. Waitress came over quickly and took our drink order, bought drink then took food order . We both chose roast beef, the option was for small or large size. Small cost £15 for one slice of beef so we went for large which was 2 slices and cost £20 each. I thought it was a bit steep to charge £5 for one slice more. Anyway meal came. It looked lovely a large plate with 2 slices of beef a carrot a parsnip and Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes. A side dish of cauliflower cheese, swede and cabbage alongside a gravy boat. Now for the taste. Now for £20 which I think is on the steep side it wasn't that brilliant. The beef was ok but not tender, took a bit of cutting, carrot nice. Parsnip nice. Yorkshire pudding excellent. Swede lovely, cauliflower cheese lovely, not enough though and cabbage hard. My preference I'm like it softer. The worse thing was the disappointing roast potatoes, quite hard in the centre and no crunch at all. The gravy however lovely. The staff were friendly, service was quick but I've had lots of better roast dinners for half the price. Would I go again, No.

The Bear Hotel in Wantage is historic – that’s obvious. However, the room furnishings are just as old. The bathroom in our room was simply terrible: cramped, worn-out, and impractical. It didn’t even have a single small shelf to place toiletries on. The twin room itself was also rather small and tatty. The window didn’t close properly, and the bathroom fan wasn’t working...Unfortunately, a major downside was the noise from a party taking place in the hotel restaurant’s inner patio directly beneath us. Until around 11 PM, we could clearly hear loud conversations and laughter. This was particularly frustrating as we had to leave for the airport early the next morning. As for the staff, we had the impression that the younger team members were exceptionally friendly, which unfortunately was not the case with some of the older ladies working during breakfast. One of them was particularly unfriendly – she didn’t even greet us with a simple “good morning,” which felt very disrespectful. It gave us the impression that perhaps her attitude was related to us being foreign guests. In contrast, she seemed noticeably more pleasant toward English-speaking visitors. We might be wrong, but the same situation with the same lady happened three times, until we eventually stopped saying good morning to her to avoid being ignored. Now, to highlight the positives: although the decor was dated, the rooms were spotlessly clean. The beds were very comfortable, and the housekeeping team was courteous and professional. We also have no complaints about the breakfast – it was delicious and clearly prepared with care. However, we do feel that the price is slightly high for the overall quality offered. While we understand the lack of hotel competition in Wantage, next time we’ll likely choose an Airbnb in town or Premiere Inn in Abingdon. Similar prices but we’d have more space, no late-night parties beneath our window, and – hopefully – consistently friendly service.

Thank you so much for your professionalism, attention and patience with our group of 15 people on Saturday. The food was wonderful as ever and we all had a good time. My father just rang me to ensure I had passed on our thanks!

Had a Christmas party here on Saturday for five of us and the food was lovely, unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for the hostile staff, felt very uncomfortable by a couple of comments made by staff. Felt very rushed even though they offered us an 8pm table only to be told after being given the desert menus, oh you don’t think your getting a desert do you the kitchen is closed this was at 9.02 but as long as we got our mains we should be happy. Which felt so rude and whilst we was waiting for them to take the bill could hear the same waitress say oh the back table just don’t want to leave, when they hadn’t even offered to take our payment at this point. Was such a shame as the food and bar area was lovely.