Royal Centrepoint Motel

What a difference from the website to reality. When we arrived we noticed that the connecting hotel had long closed down. It was a Sunday and no-one was at reception so we rang the number and waited, just like the sign said. Thirty five minutes later, our call was answered. We signed in and went up the most worn carpeted stairs I have ever seen, must be original from over 100 years ago. The room was very small but clean. The communal balcony had some of the live-in guests on it by mid afternoon, all drinking and swearing, even falling over. On the second day the lights went out, they remained that way for over 24 hours. The shower was cold, we were to run the water for 5 minutes or so before getting in, then it would warm up. The elderly owners were very friendly but they were fighting a losing battle with the old building and the street dust. A very nice continental breakfast was included in the price. The footpaths were being repaired and all night there were trucks, diggers, jackhammers, etc keeping us awake until 4am. Then all went quiet so we managed a couple of hours sleep. There were 2 large newish shopping malls in town, a good distraction and the old historic buildings that were looked after were superb. On the last morning we were at the bus station at 6am waiting for the 7.30am bus to get us out of town. We laugh about it now, but would not go back. (Date of experience: Sep, 2009 )