The Grand Hotel vs Toulson Court: How did Britain’s worst hotel chain and the world's best B&B compare

Scarborough holds many fond childhood memories of paddling in the sea, eating ice creams and going on donkey rides. Then onto the amusement arcades and completing the day with some chips on the seafront.

You can’t help but notice The Grand Hotel which looms over the South Bay, conveniently located next to the cliff lift.

The hotel has been a familiar landmark on the coastline since it was built in 1863. The Grand’s design includes four turrets representing each season, 12 floors for the months of the year, 52 chimneys for the weeks of the year and 365 bedrooms to represent the days.

It even used to have extra taps so guests could bathe in salt water as well as fresh water. During the Victorian times, The Grand was the largest hotel and the largest brick structure in Europe.

Sadly the history is where the majesty ends.

Its current owners Britannia Hotels have been rated the worst hotel chain for the past decade according to Which?

The iconic hotel may remain striking to this day, but on entering you soon realise The Grand has one of the most ironic names for those who have stayed here in recent years.

Despite the bad reviews many people continue to have weddings here due to the eye-catching staircase and Victorian features.

As you enter the architecture is certainly impressive, albeit the furnishings are extremely outdated.

I felt like I had gone back in time or I could be on a murder mystery tour.

While reviews had reported a long reception waiting time, probably when coaches visit as it’s just a small desk with two staff, we checked in straight away.

The woman was pleasant and friendly at the desk, she gave us our room key and instructed us up the two lifts to get to our room at the top of the hotel.

The hotel feels unloved but the reception area is large and striking. I was pleased I could smell bleach on the grand floor and I could see a cleaner busily tending to each area despite it feeling abandoned.

The further we ventured up inside the hotel however the worse the interior got and so did the lack of cleanliness. Rather than being like a vintage wine with dust on the bottle like the reception, the hotel felt more like milk which had gone out of date.

We walked down a long dark corridor to get to our room. I reassured my husband that I had paid for an upgrade to a room with a window as I get claustrophobic.

He joked, replying: “It’ll look onto a wall.”

I laughed but he wasn’t far from the truth.

We were in room 612, which I was glad about as the neighbouring room had its lock smashed off. At least we felt safe.

Our room was small, tucked inside the turret of the hotel. At first glance I was pleased to see a nicely made bed and a fairly clean toilet. On closer inspection however we noticed the wardrobe hanging off the wall, a broken towel rail ready to poke you in the bathroom and it was certainly a room without a view.

We peeked through the stained veil curtains to see the seagull poo-cladded windows and the view was that of the brick inside a turret, some empty bottles and cigarette ends.

The worst bit however was the bed, because when we moved the towels off it there were brown stains. Then when my husband went for his afternoon nap and I attempted to get comfy sitting up on the thin mattress to write on my laptop, he groaned on pulling back the cover as he had laid on damp, urine-soaked blankets. The cleaner had attempted to cover up the damp patch with a blanket under the sheet but the liquid and stench had soaked through.

The small double was just too small for us both to rest on one side.

So we packed our bags again and made our way down to reception with the smell of urine lingering on my husband’s clothes.

When explaining to the woman on reception she wasn’t surprised and very understanding. She upgraded us to the only available room, which would have cost us more had we booked it prior because it was in an executive suite.

Perhaps we were now going to be treated like royalty; after all Winston Churchill stayed here alongside other famous faces of the past.

Initially when I saw the hotel from the outside it does look like a rugged version of the Ritz.

The executive twin room with a sea view window however was a vast improvement from the first room. The original cost of £72 for bed and breakfast for a double room with a window would have cost £110 instead for the two clean single beds in the executive room with the same outdated furniture, yet a stunning view this time apart from the statement seagull droppings on every window.

Fortunately the toilet smelled of bleach and was lovely in comparison to our former room.

We would have been satisfied having this room originally with breakfast included.

That said The Grand is a bit like a budget airline where you pay for extras such as Wi-Fi at £7 per day. You can get half board or pay for dinner for around £17, and by the looks of queues it was a popular option although the aroma didn’t draw us in.

We had a comfortable night’s sleep as the beds were a little thicker than the first room.

By 7am the following day we were packed and ready to leave but we thought we had better try out the breakfast.

It was a simple buffet of basic hot fry-up, pots of porridge and toast with some tinned fruit.

I couldn’t bring myself to try any of the breakfast other than the sealed pots of porridge and the coffee, which was undrinkable, but I was pleased with some oats.

My husband did attempt a full English dished up on a side plate but he couldn’t stomach it other than the beans. Instead he opted for some beans on toast.

Check out was brisk, definitely no frills but we were relieved to go.

It’s such a shame as the building itself has so much potential and touches of bygone grandeur. Sadly it’s been left to wrack and ruin to house coach trips. It is modelled on catering for the masses rather than focusing on returning guests. This is very much a numbers game rather than a hospitality venue. It has potential but it would now take a lot of money to rescue this sinking ship.

Fortunately it’s just a hop over to the North Bay where you can find some of the best places to stay in the area and indeed in the world.

One of those is a modest bed and breakfast, which has achieved international acclaim.

One of Scarborough’s suburban side roads is bed and breakfast central with most fully booked all season.

From the outside it’s hard to tell the large terrace properties which house a range of guesthouses apart. The only differentiating factor is what other guests say about one of them online. It’s here where the modest Toulson Court Hotel stands out from the crowd with more than 2,000 five-star reviews.

For that reason it has been crowned the World’s Best B&B three years running according to TripAdvisor reviews. It is located a short distance from Peasholm Park, Scarborough Open Air Theatre and the North Bay.

The real secret to their success isn’t their homemade bunting outside or having a majestic interior, it’s quite the opposite. This place is the epitome of what everyone loves about Yorkshire - the friendly people, the hospitality, the big servings of homemade grub, the house-proud cleanliness, the family feel and all the little touches to make it a home from home.

There’s nothing pretentious about Toulson Court, which has continued to draw visitors globally to the seaside town, far from it.

The eight-bedroom home from home is run solely by husband and wife James and Angela Rusden, who decided to ditch their stressful careers in recruitment when James had a mental health breakdown.

He said: “I live with two brain aneurysms. I have regular panic attacks at the thought of dying any moment.

“We had started to foster and the plan was to move to the seaside and foster.

“But then we found a B&B we could buy mortgage-free.”

James says that he stays close to Angela and doesn’t go far from home on his own due to his anxiety.

“The good thing is most of our guests here are now regulars or they know our story so they understand if I make a mistake and I let Angela do the check ins.”

James, who chefs in the kitchen, started humming to get through his anxiety and this quickly turned into singing while cooking guests their home made breakfast each morning.

“Guests started calling me the singing chef on reviews and I realised I had to keep it up.”

So every morning from 7am, James starts cooking up breakfasts while belting out some tunes.

He said: “So many B&Bs don’t even provide breakfasts now but for me it’s not about cutting costs or making lots of money, it's about looking after our guests like they’re family, even if that means me being the entertainer.”

The whole experience makes you feel like you’re part of their family from arrival being greeted by Angela and offered a drink, to being shown to your cosy nicely decorated bedroom with an en-suite bathroom. Complete with all the extras such as face wipes, refreshments, a coffee machine, kettle and bottles of water.

Once you get to know the couple it’s hard to not love everything about this place from the homemade cake in reception to raising money for charity to all the small touches you know have been added with love.

We had booked last minute so we were in a small double room but that was super cosy and we slept well on the clean and luxurious bedding.

We woke early doors ready to whet our appetites with a hearty breakfast and we weren’t disappointed.

My fresh fruit salad was ready for me and we were served with a stunning filter coffee.

Then when it came to the hot stuff, Angela brought out four big slices of toast and pots of James’ homemade jams.

Then it came to breakfast, a locally sourced feast of bacon, sausages, beans, black puddings, hash browns, mushrooms and fried eggs. I had a vegetarian version.

James proudly served us with our big breakfasts as he sang his favourite songs.

It was delicious. We struggled to finish it but we did as we couldn’t fault it.

Sadly it was time to go so we checked out and we were presented with Toulson Court mugs and rock.

We left with full hearts and bellies.