Verdene Guest House

We stayed at this place for the past three nights and it was quite UNsatisfactory in almost every respect. Trip Advisor ranked it #1 out of 22 B&Bs in Manchester and 151 reviewers on Trip Advisor gave it an average of 4 stars, therefore naturally we assumed it was a good choice. I don’t know how so many people could be so incredibly wrong…
The only positive aspects: our room was clean (although somewhat shabby), the mattress was comfortable and the owners’ daughter was friendly.
The NEGATIVES:
#1: The WiFi may as well have been non-​existent, since it was virtually IMPOSSIBLE to get any reception in our room. Consequently, we had to sit by the front door when we needed to use the WiFi. Not only was that totally unacceptable and not only was it quite cold by the door, but it was two long/​steep flights of stairs down-​and-​up each time.
#2: The lighting in the room was poor — and in particular, the light above the sink was a piece of junk. It seldom worked *at all* — and on the rare occasions when it worked, it clicked off after a minute or less.
#3: Every night, a loud/​intermittent noise was present for a few hours; it sounded like a machine and my husband is guessing it pertained to the hot water system. Regardless; it was really disruptive, and we couldn’t manage to fall asleep until the noise abated rather late each night.
#4: There was *no place* in the shower to put soap or shampoo (speaking of shampoo; they didn’t *provide* any [although I’d ascertained that in advance — but still…] — and re: the soap, the pieces were absolutely *miniscule*). While I’m on the subject of the shower: it was tiny.
#5: The toilet seat was loose.
#6: The key to our room was literally a skeleton key (absolutely pitiful in terms of security).
#7: Our room wasn’t cleaned on the second day.
#8: The breakfasts were *awful*, since all of the food was *processed* (except for the [poached only] eggs) — including the fact that the coffee was atrocious (it was *instant* coffee!).
#9: The female half of the owners (Doris) was UNfriendly.

The Verdene is located in a converted townhouse across from Whitworth Park, just off Oxford Road. The owners were very friendly and welcoming, eager to do whatever they could to make our stay more enjoyable. The rooms were very clean and the beds were comfortable enough. The bathroom was a bit small, including a small shower. While they offered a free full breakfast, including egg, I was surprised that everything else was vegetarian including the «sausage» and «bacon». From my point-​of-​view, that was a strike against it. When I’m staying at a B&B in England, I want a real full English breakfast.
Breakfast was served from 7:30 — 8:30 AM. On the morning of our departure we had to leave early so the owner offered to fix us an early breakfast, but we told her we didn’t want her to go to all of that trouble. So instead, the night before she gave each of us a tray loaded with breakfast items including juice, yogurt, fruit, breads, etc. Very kind of her!
But my only real complaint was that there was not enough hot water, period. In the morning three of us in three different rooms came down to breakfast after taking cold showers. There was minimal pressure and all of the water was cold. The two members of our group who took showers the night before said there’s were fine so it must have been the number of people using the hot water in the morning.
Overall, it was a nice place to stay — friendly & helpful owners, clean rooms. If they get a larger hot water heater I’d definitely stay there again. Otherwise, I’ll be looking for another place on my next visit.