Set in the picturesque market town of St Ives, Cambridgeshire, The Golden Lion Hotel is a delightful 18th Century Coaching Inn steeped in charm and history. The hotel is a 30-minute drive from Cambridge. The property offers free WiFi in its public areas, a lively bar and restaurant.
The bright and airy bedrooms at The Golden Lion Hotel are complimented with a simple décor. Each room offers an en suite bathroom, tea and coffee facilities, a hairdryer and flat-screen TV with Freeview channels.
The hotel offers a full English breakfast each morning as well as varied menu of freshly prepared food for lunch and dinner. Local seasonal produce is used where possible. There is also a large selection of wines, spirits, draught beers and local real ales.
The Golden Lion hotel is a 40-minute drive away from Newmarket and Ely, with its magnificent cathedral and town. The hotel is close to the A14 making is easily accessible.
Score from 501 reviews
Exceptional
8.4/10
Rooms: 27
(Search)
Address: Market Hill, St Ives PE27 5AL 
(Map)
The Golden Lion Hotel - Photos
What people say
Room was fairly large,
bed was comfortable,
breakfast was good and arrived quickly,
cheap drinks at the bar.
Location is central to St. Ives.
We had to stay in St. Ives for a family party nearby, all round I was pleased with the place and even though there were a couple of niggling issues it wouldn't put me off staying there again.
The staff are very friendly and efficient. The breakfast was very good, hot and tasty. My room was very warm (this time) and had everything in it that I needed. The shower was powerful and hot.all reviews »
It is a great location and the room was clean, comfortable and tidy. The food in the bar was very good as was the service . Definately go back there again for a week end break.
Clean tidy well cared for new room with adequate facilities.
An easy come easy go establishment. Okay if you don't want to sleep/stay in your room before midnight!.
The staff were friendly and helpful. The location was excellent. Food in bar beautiful.
Would recommend The Golden Lion to friends. Hope to be back.
Easy check-in. Nice welcome. Shown to room. Friendly staff; everyone said hello, lots of (what seemed genuine) smiles. Location.
Very clean, comfortable rooms. Shower was excellent, Friendly staff and easy check-in. Great location for access to the town.
The staff were excellent, from the reception to the bar to the food service. Fantastic helpful staff all round. Great bed.
The staff are always very accomodating, excellent breakfast served at good times, very good food, general ambience.
The staff were all excellent and the room was very clean and comfortable. The jacuzzi bath was a nice touch!.
Very nice hotel, clean and comfortable, the staff are very good and helpful. The food was very nice.
Very friendly and professional staff, changin to a more quiet room - no problem, outstanding meals.
good location in town centre, nice modern interior and good food, friendly staff and good price.
Great location. Large comfortable room. Very clean. Good food with quick service.
The internal appearance of the room. The bar facilities, the large bath.
Staff were really friendly and helpful. The location was excellent.
Lovely room with big bathroom. Great staff very friendly.
Staff were helpful and the hotel is in a good position.
For the price paid, it was excellent value for money.
Clean friendly with well thought out modern rooms.
Clean and tidy. Very good breakfast service.
Comfortable
Good food
Easy going.
central location, good price.
Right in the centre of town.
NIce clean comfortable room.
Being in centre of the town.
Excellent Hotel.
Very central for walking round the town.Pleasant,helpful staff and a good breakfast.
Location, being the centre of St Ives is ideal. The bar downstairs is very popular.
The location was central of st ives, very busy at weekends, good atmosphere in bar.
Nice enough room clean comfortable well equipped.
Good location. Good bar. Pleasant hotel.
Good location, quiet room, nice shower.
the bar, the central location.
Lovely pub , fantastic food.
Attentive, helpful staff.
Convenience of location.
Clean room. Good breakfast. Central position. Pleasant staff. The loud disco didn't bother us but it might well deter others. It stops promptly at midnight.
Value for money.
Nothing.
The bed sheets smelled of PVA glue.
No parking of their own, have to pay and they don't offer tokens or anything which would be nice.
The bathroom radiator didn't work.
Hasnt got onsite parking although it is only a couple of minutes walk to a very large and cheap carpark.
The music speaker for the bar below was below my room it was louder in my room than it was downstairs. Staff were putting something away outside my room at 0030 hours and were very noisy and loudly spoken.
Fact that had to set the alarm for 0645 to get to the Car Park for 0700 to get a ticket.
Pillows were wafer thin.
A noisy night. No sleep until 3am from the customers going in and out of the front door, loud music from the bar area, people smoking underneath our window, until 12.30am. THEN general High Street noise by revelers, woken up by the street cleaners at 7am (Sunday morning!) Cooked breakfast not served until 9.00am (much too late).
No parking.
in some parts of the hotel it is quite noisy.
no parking which resulted in a parking fine on the Monday morning even though I had asked the hotel staff if it was Ok to park in the market and the parking meter said free until 8.00 am the following morning what it didnt say was there is a market on the Monday and the car park is closed!.
PILLOWS! Disgracefully thin. You would not have these in your own home so why force them onto paying guests?.
Room window with no net curtain been looked into by beer garden and smoking area. Smoke fumes blown into window. Fire alarm repeatedly sounded at 1am on Sunday morning.
Our room was above the kitchen and at the end of the night the smell of
cooking fat hit you as you entered the room. We didn't have any
windows open either. The noise from the the 3 large kitchen extractor
fans could be annoying but they were off by the time we went back to our
room at the end of the night.
Noise from late night revellers on high street late at night. I would ask for a room at the back if staying again.
Parking very difficult and bed extremely hard.
All good.
A bit noisy in the late evening.
no parking on site - had to walk to a long stay car park nearby.
Parking is a pain - I eventually parked outside Oliver's Lodge.
Radiator not on and it was a bit cold.
A bit noisy on Saturday nights.
Waking at 6.30a.m to walk to carpark and feed meter! Market Hill area reserved for Military celebration.
The heat in the corridor and the rooms was unbelievably hot! Even when I opened my room window I was greeted with the local supermarkets Air Conditioning, a constant drone all night. I know this is not the hotels fault but, if there was suitable cooling in the hotel.
No staff available at check out, rang bell several times. hairs in shower plug hole.
dated decor, expected more for the price.
Noise from the pub below made the room shake and reverberate. It must decide whether it wants to be a hotel or a night club. The noise finished at 11.30 which was a huge relief then the fire alarm went off at 1.20 am - three times. This coupled with a total lack of sound proofing between rooms and corridor made for a disturbed nights sleep.
Rooms need updating.
light shining in room from outside decking flood lights all night.
Also obvious carpet dirty near door - needs a shampoo!.
no car park, rooms very hot so you open the window and the market setting up wakes you at 6.00 am. If you get a parking spoace outside the hotel you must move it before 8.00 am or get a ticket.
Very dated room , and smelt a little damp.
Noise from street. Bathroom bin not emptied after previous guests vacated.
The room was small and too hot at night requiring all windows to be opened.
This also allowed more noise and smells in from the external terrace and smoking area below.
Excessive noise from neighbouring building refrigeration units, all day and all night. No parking. Drunks fighting, urinating and vomiting in the street below our window. At £90 per night B & B it is too expensive. We stayed at a much better hotel in Reigate for £65.
Though website said they have music in the bar - I wasn't prepared for the volume and was completely unable to sleep until well past midnight.
Unfortunately the mattress was one of the worst I've experienced & was really uncomfortable. Was difficult to sleep and woke up aching all over. Checked it & it certainly didn't appear to be a hotel grade mattress.
Breakfast not served till 9am on a Sunday. We had to be off by 7.30
View from hotel bedroom.
