The Kicking Dickey

My review is purely for the hotel/rooms, as I didn't eat there. I booked to stay overnight before an early flight from Stansted. I slept so little, that it was a complete waste of money. I'd have been better off staying at home and waking up at 2am. The negatives: - Extremely uncomfortable mattress, like another recent reviewer, I slept on top of the duvet. - My room with a single glazed window faced onto a yard, where the staff and kitchen (but not customers) were making noise until late. You won't be able to sleep until at least the pub closing time, as they have no respect for people sleeping just a short distance away. - Around midnight, a member of staff was throwing glass bottles into a bin, which woke me up after I managed to finally get to sleep. - Noise from some sort of extractor/air con unit in the yard outside the room woke me up multiple times after midnight, which came on at random times during night and was extremely noisy. Even with ear plugs, this noise continued to wake me up. - The bathroom extractor fan was noisy and you could hear next door's. - Sewerage smell in bathroom that made me feel sick each time I went in there. - All the silicone in the shower needs redoing; it was visibly mouldy. - You have to walk past kitchen extractor (chip oil smell) to reach room and for this reason, you can't leave the bedroom window open for any significant period of time, so the room was very hot. - No proper welcome from the staff, just told there's no breakfast. - The WiFi password on a sign in the room didn't work. - No hooks to hang a coat or chair to place them on the back of, just an old bar stool to sit on. The positives: - Location good for Stansted Airport. - Free car parking. - Generous tea and coffee tray, with a carton of Ribena juice.

Lovely friendly pub with clean basic accommodation. Would happily stay again. We stayed after a concert at Audley Park house Saffron Walden. Check in at 3pm onwards and check out by 10am. Staff were really helpful and communicated well before our trip.

This was "very good" in the context that we wanted a cheap, basic place to stay that was near Stanstead Airport for an early morning flight and this was just right. When we first arrived the car park was full as the pub was busy, but you can park in the road opposite and we then relocated to the pub car park later. The person at the bar was helpful and showed us our room. This was our second visit for the same reason and we had the same twin room. There is tea / coffee / fruit juices etc and whilst basic, it was comfortable and overall clean. Last time we stayed we highlighted that the shower needed a "deep clean" to sort out those hard to reach places that get a build up of mould (as all showers do), however it was disappointing that nothing had appeared to have been done to address this, which was a great shame that feedback to maintain the standards appears to be ignored.

I arranged a wake here on 28th May 2024. as well as ordering a Buffet and I also stayed the night. Food.....Fantastic and great portions Staff......Fantastic Alcohol.... Great prices Ambience.....Warm and welcoming My Room...great price In a converted barn-type building, en-suite well thought out design Spotlessly clean Very comfortable Nice TV Plenty of Tea and Coffee..sugar...milk and even a carton of fruit juice which I thought was a really nice touch. Two beer Gardens...games room Picturesque setting with good car parking and is close to Stanstead Airport. Very Popular with Locals. Family run and it really shows how much they care.

Perfect pre-flight accommodation. Warm, welcoming, homely and comforting food. Lovely room, just what I needed. The pub itself was welcoming and I enjoyed a few drinks and home cooked food with a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. I’m a solo, female traveller and felt really comfortable, safe and welcomed. Lovely chats with the locals and bar staff. Felt part of the family. Beautiful food. Way better than a big chain hotel. 10/10 recommend. Nice and warm too when it’s very cold outside. Hot shower! Lush! Thank you.!

We spent there one night as it's near Stansted airport (we used before Travelodge in the same village) and our flight was early morning. The lady who welcomed us was very nice and the food was OK (we ordered only spicy chips as we ate not long ago). Unfortunately the room was very poor - there was no place where to put our bag (we kept them on the floor), no chair where to put clothes only a small round stool. The bed near the window was very bad, I was not able to sleep there at all. On the plus side there were tea/coffee facilities and couple of small juice boxes. We kept the window open as it was hot but as it's near the kitchen there was constant noise from kitchen appliances or fan. We had problem with flushing toilet and we wrote to the pub from the airport about it but never got reply. We will not use it again.

A warm welcome from the staff. They found us a table even though it was bingo night and very busy. We had the scampi and the gammon & both were delicious. Generous portions and good value. Couldn't fault anything.Can't wait to go back on our next airport visit!

My first every visit here I was cycling around town & then decided to come here just after the saracens I had a Colchester brewery sweeney Todd there then came to kicking dickey to have a yardbird pale ale as it is one I have not had before and is very new to me which I enjoyed very much I do suggest you come here if you want a drink as it's more a drinking pub than dining if you fancy dining go to the lion and lamb in Canfield or the hunters meet in hatfield heath or the three horseshoes in spellbrook even that three horseshoes are GKs partner company chef and brewer Amazing service from the bar lady today won't let you down great service

Due to an early morning flight from Stanstead Airport, we wanted: Basic, good value, clean and safe accommodation that was very near to the Airport and the Kicking Dickey certainly ticked those boxes. We had a twin room, tea and Coffee and cold drinks were provided which was a nice touch. The person behind the bar whom we first met on arrival was very friendly and helpful and there was plenty of parking available. The room was basic, well maintained and overall clean. Although generally clean, the shower cubicle would benefit from a "deeper clean" to deal with those generally "hard to reach" but still visible areas that suffer with a build up of black mould (as all showers do) to help maintain the standard. Nevertheless we would certainly return again if faced with future early flights and recommend to others in similar situations.