No recommendations from me for Liverpool I'm afraid, never stayed anywhere even remotely convenient for the railway and my February 2011 place was a hostel!
Rollason Wood I am going to try an en-suite room next time, will give it another go.
I have visited two new places (well three, but the last one was a Travelodge) last week, and I have yet to do my TripAdvisor reviews, so for now these are RailUK exclusives!
29th July 2015 - Townhouse Bed and Breakfast, 153 Warwick Road, Carlisle
Approximately 10 minutes walk from Carlisle station, along Warwick Road. There are, I should add, a few other guesthouses and B&Bs too that are along this road but I had booked Townhouse. Actually not a bad place, the lady who was running it this evening was friendly which was a good start. The room is fairly modern which is quite welcome, up one flight of stairs and a couple more steps from there. They're not steeply graded steps thankfully. Comfortable bed, with a very good range of channels on the TV. Decent size kettle and a decent supply of tea and coffee, although I had brought my own supply of coffee on my trip anyway. The room was a very good size (I'm sure it was number 5 for the record), which also had a sink and even a supply of cotton buds on the shelf! An alarm clock is also provided, which was useful as I didn't have to keep using my phone for the time!
The biggest irritance here was the bathroom was shared and up more stairs. Access into it is a rather large step and two more steep wooden steps. The shower however is very good, and a bath is also available. Those steps could be very dangerous, in my eyes, if they get wet! I did discover afterwards en-suite rooms are also available, I must have missed that when I booked. As it wasn't super busy on my visit, the shared bathroom didn't cause any queues so no problem this time. It is also fairly modern, which helped a lot!
Breakfast was included, an extreme bonus, and freshly cooked to order. An order form is available upon check-in, to be done ideally by the morning, which suited me. The coffee wasn't too bad, and the food rather decent if the bacon slightly too cooked for me, but I am very difficult to please with that!
Overall, I was most satisfied with my stay and will be adding it to my list of ones to use again! For a cost of £35 I did well in my eyes, and I recommend it to others.
30th July 2015 - Kings Arms Hotel, Lancaster
I didn't believe Google Maps when it told me it was a 3 minute walk, which it wasn't as it didn't quite get the right place, but it took me just 5 minutes to get from my room (212) here back to Lancaster station's platform 4, impressive as that's uphill walking too!
Check in was ridiculously easy as it should be, and one of the few places I've ever stayed at that requests you leave your key at reception while going out, which does save losing it, something I often worry about to be honest. The stairs are easy enough to navigate, not always the case! A lift is available, which have two doors you have to manually open and close, right ancient idea but rather different! The room's a very decent size indeed, with a reasonable range of channels too on the TV. The bathroom's rather large indeed compared to some I've seen. Decent size kettle (very useful when you have a flask to fill up!) and a decent supply of tea and coffee. As with everywhere else I've been to though, the milk pots and sugar packets supply is never enough, so I always take my own sugar packets supply with me.
The bed, well not bad but I've had better. The decor does need a bit of modernising but it is still OK. The shower did a good job of getting me clean, and a bath is also an option here. The reception staff were very friendly and helpful too, Sharleen in particular.
Breakfast is served on the first floor, which confused me originally. I wanted cooked breakfast, and I then get told it was £9.95 for that, £4.95 for the continental breakfast as I had apparently booked a Room Only. Oh well, forget the cooked breakfast then, not paying nearly a tenner for bacon, sausages, hash browns (fried bread on the menu but not an option upon ordering!) and beans! £4.95 makes me think "That's it then, I'm having even more of a feed than I intended to!" and devour plenty. Upon telling reception, Sharleen checked and yes, I had booked bed and breakfast. I'll be checking my statements for that of course, if I do indeed get charged extra money I'll be contacting them.
Otherwise, bar the confusion over breakfast, I enjoyed my stay. I would have preferred more comfort in the bed but hey ho, it did OK. I will still use this place again, it's really close to the station! Highly recommended for sure, most convenient on a North West adventure, crispy1978 this place may be ideal for you?
For £39.56 (a Hotels.com 10% off voucher was used, hence the weird price) I did well in my eyes. As I had used a voucher I sadly don't get the stay on my Hotels.com Rewards account, but I have now gained my first free night to use at selected hotels after the Carlisle stay!
Travelodge in Warrington on 31st July, 5 minutes walk from the platforms at Warrington Central (4 if in a rush and get lucky with the pedestrian crossing!), along the path past the bus station. Ridiculously easy to get to, including from Bank Quay, which you turn left out of, at the crossroads at the top of the road, cross at the lights (Aldi is on the left, open until late too) onto Sankey Street. Leigh Street is your next turn off, which I'm sure was the first turn off to the left after the massive Town Hall (can't miss that with the huge gates!) which takes you past a NHS centre. Travelodge is at the top of this road. It took me 11 minutes from it to Bank Quay in the morning of my departure, which included a 2 minute stop to sort out a broken bag. Quite, I floored it later that morning and walked Central to Bank Quay via the above routes and did it in 12 minutes, so it shows you how easy this one was to find!
Only booked it as everywhere in Chester was outrageously priced, and I could still make it to Chester from Warrington (albeit with an early start) for the PSUL working over Halton Curve. For £31 it was a useful stop for a shower and charging stuff up, with easy access from the railway. Worth noting that on weekdays at least, services don't finish until after 2330 and yes, if you have a room on that side you do get a good view of trains passing (102 I THINK was one, I must admit I didn't memorise the number) BUT the noise will disturb you until the trains stop running.
Beds still the same nonsense everywhere now, but my twin bed room did gave me the choice of a bath or shower, the shower of course was used for a proper thorough de-rancification! If you're prepared for a bad sleep, then by all means book it. Oh, and while some Travelodges offer superior breakfast options this one doesn't, shame as I was looking forward to trying their bacon baguettes! Never mind, Virgin Trains got my money instead and I had a hellfire bacon bap off their shop instead, oh and for less money!
I know Travelodge and Premier Inn were not the intention for this thread, but it's worth mentioning above for the negative bits. Anyway this has taken ages to type up!