My wife and I have just returned from a two night stay in Athlone. Whilst having by-passedAthlone many times enroute to Galway we had never stopped over before. We were very pleasantly surprised at the close proximity to Dublin on the M6, and even more pleasantly surprised when we got there. Athlone has a beautiful location on the River Shannon and with the fine weather this weekend we were even able to take a cruise on board The Viking Boat, recommended to us by our hostess, Maureen at Arch House B&B. We enjoyed the fantastic athmosphere and friendly people everywhere. A highlight of our visit was Sean’s Bar, the oldest pub in Ireland, we loved thelive music. We ate in a fabulous Thai Restaurant on our first evening and on the Saturday night we were lucky to get a table in the Olive Grove Restaurant overlooking the River Shannon, Fantastic setting and Food. Arch House B&B located in the centre of the town was a great choice. We parked our car on Friday night and walked everywhere thereafter. Our room was very comfortable, clean and cosy and breakfast each morning was beautiful. The staff were great. We felt very relaxed and never rushed. We didn’t check out until 1 o’clock on Sunday and yet no one was knocking on our door. Thank you to all in Arch House B&B and Apartments and to all we met in Athlone, our first visit but certainly not our last ….. Greg and Charlotte, Dublin 16.

We travelled as a group of 19 the this B&B for a family wedding( and neighbouring appartments) and i have to say i was sourly disappointed with the whole experience. What we saw of the new appartments were lovely!

Yes the rooms are nice and perfectly fine for putting your head down ( a few repairs needed) and the breakfasts are lovely i must point out the points i was let down by
- The car park was not large enough to cater for a full house
- Wifi advertised didnt exsist as staff didnt know code to access network
- we were only given one change of towels in a three night stay
- The heating was almost never on( we stayed over new years very very bad weather hit Ireland)
- There was no water every morning, once i questioned this i was informed that this was the 'councils fault' and that it had been happening a number of days, yet no one gave us a heads up. I had to travel to a family members appartment for a shower on the morning of the wedding (even though we were told the whole areas water was out - this wasnt true) no apology was offered and a member of staff said it MIGHT be back on in the afternoon - no good to us going to a wedding
- On the departure day we went to pay (agreed rate of €70, as published on the website) and were told it was actually €75 per night. when we asked to speak to the owner Maureen was no where to be found.

I must say Mohamed was very apologetic but the whole stay left a bad taste in my mouth. We left Athlone, cold from no heating or water and very let down.

Athlone is a great town!

We stayed here over the Chritmas peroid for one night as we were attending a wedding in the area. The B&B seemed fine when we checked in, we just dropped our bags and continued on to the wedding. The next morning when we came to have a shower their was no hot water, there was plenty of cold water though! I decided to go down to breakfast and ask the staff then about the water. When I told the staff member serving us that their was no hot water in our room, she proceeded to tell me that the B&B was having problems with hot water for the last four days!! I was told their would be hot water by 10 am. So we waited,no hot ater arrived. When we checked out, we mentioned our disappointment with not having hot water to the owner, Maureen. She simply said that it was not their fault that they did not have hot water that this problem arrose today. When I informed her that a staff member had told us that the B&B were experiencing difficulty with the hot water for the last four days, she replied that the staff member had not been working their for the last four days. We proceeded to ask for a discount for our stay. As we beieved we were entitled to it, she refused by saying that it was not their fault their was no hot water and offered for us the phone number of the local county council!
The B&B would have been fine if their was hot water, we would have even been happy if they had told us that their was problems with the water when we checked in. It was the attitude of the owners when we had complained- we were basicly told tough [--]. The owner proceeded to tell us that she had worked in hotels before and they would never give a discount for no hot water, we should have been happy that the room was clean and the breakfast hot!!
Dont stay here, the owners attitude was terrible. Their are plenty more decent places to stay in Athlone, if we had recieved a phone call explaining the situation with hot water we would have made other arrangements, do yourself a favour and make other arrangements!!

From the moment we walked in the door we were made to feel at home by the owner/hosts. Everything was sparkling clean, the room was spacious, no fuss and very clean. Bed was comfortable. Nothing was too much trouble.
It is in the centre of Athlone, a walk to restaurants and attractions. We could leave the car and walk.
Breakfast was delivered to us om piping hot plates, freshly cooked and with a smile.
We were there for two nights, the first we ate at the Olive Tree which had a special - two courses for £20. It was a nice meal and the wine was reasonably priced.
The second night we took advantage of a special running Monday to Friday at Top Deck. For £10 you could chose anything from the menu except the steaks. Excellent value and tasty food. Would highly recommend this B&B if you are going to Athlone.

All in all a good experience.