The Mill Hotel Sudbury

Stayed here in 2024 and loved it, then in 2026 and found it disappointing.
It’s less of a hotel and more of a glorified pub with rooms these days.

No room service, no ability to charge things to the room, no guest menu or light-bites type food for if (as I had) been travelling for some time and arrived late- even a travel lodge does this.

The throws on the bed smelled and clearly hadn’t been washed even though the bedding had been.

Limited plugs in the room-none near the bed.

More rooms than parking spaces made taking the car anywhere stressful as it wasn’t guaranteed we’d have somewhere to leave it when I got back.

The rooms and carpet felt tired, the bathroom door was dented and split at the bottom, there was paint missing from the skirts in the bathroom too.

Staff were patient and kind- I got the impression they knew things were a bit creaky but they did their best. Every time I passed reception they appeared to be handling another issue, so credit to them for doing the best they could.

Once I’d have given them a ten now I’d struggle to go beyond a five.
It’s not bad, it’s just not good either.

The room hadn't been properly sorted out when we arrived. It was clean enough, but the tea/coffee/milk hadn't been topped up (we had to ask for these), and bins not emptied. Minor issues in the grand scheme of things.

Parking a bit of a challenge , but the hotel was very busy

No air conditioning. One small fan on hottest day/night of the year. Would benefit from small air con units.
Good order was completely wrong. No bottled water in room.

The bedrooms are in desperate need of a refurb.

Layout

no lift and stairs steep

Bath tap not working for a bath = room 501

Shower was very low power. Noise from neighbouring rooms was high.

This is a very poorly run hotel - unlike it's sister hotel the George in Colchester which is superb.
Our room had not been properly cleaned - there was a dirty pair of the last guests socks left on the floor.
The breakfast was shocking, the staff were disorganized and lacked interest. There was an older waitress who was trying to do everything herself instead of instructing some of her younger colleagues who seemed oblivious to the fact that there were no cups, cereal bowls or plates - one of them kept yawning even though it was after 9am. The food kept running out as well - a buffet breakfast is not a difficult operation to manage and deliver. The biggest issue however was the large number of flies that plagued us as we eat. I would estimate 50-70 in the dinning area, a real health hazard. I raised this to be told there was nothing they could do about the flies.
We had a table at lunch too. That was no better, more flies than before and the food was cold, and overcooked - the number of flies seemed to have increased and on ever order, except dessert there were errors. I wished we could have found an alternative venue (but they were all booked) we will certainly never eat there again.

Everything about the property was great . Was abit surprised there was no water in the room and not a very good selection of teas no lemon or green tea .

The front door was full of cobwebs with loads of flys stuck.
In the room, there were many cobwebs in al corners, again with loads of flys stuck and spiders running about.
There were many flys flying around the room and in the bathroom. So although the bed and towels were very clean, the rest of the room didn't look as if it had been cleaned for a long time/

The were no towels in one of the rooms and the shower did. It function properly in the other. The kettle poured water out of the bottom over the floor and the electric base which would have been a problem if it were switched on. When iI went to ask for take out tea the staff in the restaurant were not at all
Helpful and watched me struggle to hold the paper cups not offering lids or approach me to help me at all. The lovely receptionist noticed and got two lids immediately.
The noise levels from other guests in the annexe was out of control as the noise of the doors slamming was so loud as they don’t have slow release closures so if you’re returning late and not aware any other guests would be woken up immediately