The Royal Norfolk Hotel

Not bad. Usually when staying at budget hotels I tend to go for the newer types like Holiday Inn Express. My previous experience of older hotels, especially former grand dames like this has been pretty poor. I didn't book the hotel, which is how we ended up staying here, but I was pleasantly surprised and although the interior decoration isn't my cup of tea, everything else was fine.

The location is ideal as it's right in the heart of town as well as being next door to the beach.

Our room was clean, the bed very comfortable and I had a great night sleep.

We found the bathroom to be a fair size with decent water pressure for the shower, although I'm not a fan of showers over a bath.

Breakfast was good too. We both went for the full English with toast and left feeling satisfied. The coffee though was weak and it's a shame as everything else was nice.

The big question is, would I stay here again? The answer to that is yes and hopefully they read this and learn how to make proper coffee in time for my next visit.

Always hard to rate a hotel on a single one night visit but for me this place was fairly good, breakfast was a bit overcooked but the room was clean, staff very friendly and helpful and the building itself an amazing piece of history.
3 stars looks low to me but as it says it was A-Ok for the price it should be 4 but there is no distinction here on Yelp.

This hotel was taken over in 2010 by the Preston (Lancashire) based Alfa Coach holiday company and is now in their Leisureplex portfolio.
They are upgrading the rooms that had not been done by the former owner.
Mainly used for acomodating the holiday makers booking Alfa coach holidays whe in the main are in the 60 plus age group. The hotel also provides accomodation for independent travelers.
An excelent hotel we visited in September on an Alfa tour it was one of the best coach holdays we have had.

A once grand hotel which is now unfortunately becoming rather faded around the edges. The Royal Norfolk is a bit of a Bognor institution and it is sad to see it going to rack and ruin.


It has been owned most recently by the British arm of an American Christian cult, but is currently for sale. Hopefully it will be acquired by an individual or company with the money and foresight to return this great place to its heyday.


Having said that a lot of the bedrooms have been refurbished relatively recently and are comfiortable and more than adequate. The plumbing still shows signs of being poorly installed early in the twentieth century and again needs some money spending on it to sort it out.


As accommodation goes in Bognor, if you want neither holiday camp nor B&B/guesthouse, then the Royal Norfolk is the obvious choice. Let's just hope that futre refurbs tackle the remaining problems and restore this beauty to her former glory.