The Shelleys Hotel

Hotel

An historic, family run hotel. Welcoming and comfortable, with a very good breakfast offering. Less than 10 minutes drive from Glyndebourne if you're an Opera buff.

Stayed at The Shelleys Hotel for a couple of nights as I was seeing friends in Lewes. When I arrived the Manager took my case and took me up to my room to show me the amenities etc which I thought was a nice touch. All the staff that I met were friendly and helpful, and nothing seemed too much trouble for them. Unfortunately the Hotel does not have a lift, which could be a problem for some people. I am not sure if they have rooms on the ground floor. The room that I had was nice and spacious, with a large antique dresser, the bed was nice and comfy. The bathroom was big as well.  My only gripe is that the wardrobe was quite tall so I had trouble stretching up to reach the hangers. The Wi-Fi at the hotel was nice and fast, which is not the case in a lot of hotels I have stayed at. I will definitely be staying at The Shelleys again.

So disappointed. We were hoping to book our daughter's wedding reception at The Shelleys as according to their website, the hotel appeared exactly the type of venue we were seeking. However, having read the reviews, both here on Google and on TripAdvisor, we were shocked to learn how such a lovely old hotel has been seriously run down and neglected, with at least two references comparing the place to 'Faulty Towers'! Even more concerning are the negative replies from the manager to those reviews. Therefore, we certainly won't be entrusting our important family occasion to such an incompetent.

A terrible experience. The curtains in my room were broken leading to light shining in at 5am waking me up. At breakfast I was served the smallest piece of haddock ever. Raised these issues and was told the manager would contact me. I am still waiting to here. This hotel is to be avoided.

Traditional English hotel with comfortable spacious bedrooms and beds. The hotel is surrounded by a lovely garden, the staff was very helpful with helping out. Lewis is a nice village to stay. We loved our stay at the shelleys, would go back.

Myself and my partner stayed here for 2 nights as we were going to a wedding. The room was stunning and the views were amazing. The staff were very nice too. The breakfast was ok. I wouldn't say you get alot for the cost and think beans should be an option as normally you get then but they didn't offer any. We did have a issue however, we left the towels we used on the wet bathroom floor the morning after our first night so we could get fresh ones. That's what you normally do in hotel. We were at a wedding all day so got back late. In the morning went to shower and noticed towels were folded on radiator. However when we went to dry we noticed the towels were the same towels we put on the floor. We luckily had 1 hand towel left. We told reception on our departure and the male staff agreed it was disgusting and it was not good as they do change them. We got told to email them. We did and the reply we got was sorry it was a trainee and they didn't know. We accepted everyone has a first day but it's common sense not to pick up towels and replace them back on radiator. We haven't had response and tried 3 times. Think the fact that they think we should pay full price and accept it is out of order. We left feeling very angry.

We stayed in a spacious room in this historic and characterful hotel, which was fine for a night or two. Bathroom needed upgrading as it was not in good condition. Shower head looked very unpleasant, and it was quite dusty around the skirting boards. All the staff we spoke to were very friendly and efficient. The only disappointment was the breakfast as my poached eggs were very over cooked, on unbuttered bread. Continental selection not particularly appealing. Good to have car parking space though signage needed to direct people into the hotel reception, as it wasn’t obvious.

Visited here for my Nana's 90th birthday the staff were wonderful nothing was too much trouble the venue and the food was wonderful a thoughly enjoyable experience.

Nice hotel. Good reception rooms. Friendly staff. Will stay again.

Visited last year for a meeting and was greeted by a very rude receptionist who informed me that I could not use their car park (they had double booked the room where the meeting was supposed to take place. ) When I later made a complaint to the manager, he accused me of lying and said I had never visited! Very poor customer service, and it’s no surprise when the manager isn’t setting any kind of good example. Was considering this for my wedding reception but would not recommend.

Good location in the centre of town, comfortable room and friendly staff.

Very disappointed. Advertised Afternoon Tea but they could only offer tea in the room. Could not get an evening meal. The bar was not open during our stay. Breakfast staff were woefully short. So many guests they had to be accommodated in the bar — service was therefore extremely slow. On Nov 5th when they knew they would be full in Lewes not to have adequate staff and to not provide full facilities and still have the cheek to charge upwards of £200+ per room is disgraceful.

Didn't stay the night but we use on a regular basis for meetings and lunch. They are very accomodating and loads of space to chat, decent Wi-Fi and parking. When the weather is with you the back garden is a nice sun spot. Staff enthusiastic and keen to help out where they can.

Beautiful stunning hotel. We loved staying here and would most certainly stay again steven the manager is a sheer drlite wonderful sense of duty and really cares about the geusts the hotel is just like a huge country style house and each room seem to be decorated in different fabric and tones lovely period funitue and the bathrooms are well presented and above all clean with lots of instant hot water. Breakfast are delicious and plenty to choose from with nice coffee and good selections of juice ECT ECT. In all a lovely place to stay and extremely good value.

Lunchtime menu very disappointing for a vegetarian. Only one option and this was not pleasant. Website menu not true.

Had our wedding reception here and it was fantastic. The staff were attentive, the food excellent and the setting was perfect.

While walking East on the South Downs Way, we booked in late at The Shelleys on the advice of the man delivering our luggage from village to village. Could not have been happier with the hospitality and accommodations. Could do with a few more electrical outlets in our room, but only because we had a host of devices to charge up before heading back up the Downs. Highly recommend the breakfast!

Don't accidentally leave anything behind in the rooms — you won't get it back! The staff/cleaners will probably keep it for themselves and not email you back or respond when you inquire about it's whereabouts…

Couldn't recommend this beautiful quaint Hotel more. The Shelleys, certainly was looked after by the staff and enjoyed my morning tour and the stories where totally fascinating… will most definantly be booking myself in again. Highly recommend.

Great venue for celebration of any kind. Lovely staff beautiful rooms and amazing food.

Went just for a coffee and a drink in their nice large garden. Happy to serve people who aren't staying at the hotel.

Beautiful old building, clearly been remodeled over many lifetimes. Retaining original wood panelling (c1560) in our room. Enthusiastic and very helpful lady receptionist who loves her hotel and was a font of knowledge. Tables set with crisp linen; sheets and blankets on the beds and fluffy dressing gowns on request. Breakfast was simply superb: full English cooked to perfection, with the sausage and bacon of the highest quality. A quiet, genteel, intrinsically English hotel. Not for anyone who's looking for entertainment; perfect for quiet ease. Loved it! Thank you.

Had a lovely afternoon tea. Great old 1600s house. Very reasonable prices for afternoon tea and very civilised for large group meet ups.

Traditional but we'll presented rooms. Never had a hotel shower as powerful as this one. Very comfy and cosy.

Excellent breakfast and social spaces, room and bed were a little too small.

The stay at the hotel started badly — our car was scraped by a visitor in the car park who did not leave their details. The response of the receptionist was “I have been here 15 years and this has never happened before" and “we are not liable” – hardly great empathy or customer care. When asked if she could check the CCTV for images of the vehicle her response was “neither the duty manager nor myself know how to use it, we will have to call an Engineer on Monday. ” – my response of “what would you do if the police wanted to see it because of a serious assault? ”, led to nothing but a confused look. Unsurprisingly two days later we have heard nothing. Despite the tension we decided to go to the room in the hope that it would raise our mood – that was a wrong move. Despite paying a considerable amount for a ‘superior’ room and attempting to ignore the thread-bare landing carpets we were hugely disappointed Below is a list of the issues — Unfrosted glass in bathroom which faces onto high street – the blind was filthy and did not cover both windows. — Poor lighting in the room — Half of the plug sockets did not work. — No information about local amenities or Wi-Fi settings in the room. — Massive stain on the ceiling due to a leak and plaster coming away. — Noisy heating plumbing — No stationery in the room — An invoice could not be printed as they had run out of printer ink. — Wall fittings were loose.

Please do not organise any event here. If you complain or something is not up to your expectations you will be met with pure contempt. Lessons in customer service are needed for the management. Non management staff are fine, but they will try to put you off any confrontation with management, almost as if they know this is a problem.