Wheatley Arms, Ilkley

Just got back from here again we had a fantastic time. One of our friends retired who has been here before so it seemed only right that him and his wife came here to celebrate. His wife is Celiac and feels very safe here every single time. Special thanks to Jack for his humour and banter which made the evenings go too fast.

The hotel itself is lovely but my experience was less than ideal. I always inform hotels when I book that I am a medically diagnosed Coeliac and require gluten free options for breakfast. I have had no problems with this request for many years as gluten-free products are now so readily available. On our first morning I mentioned that I would need my breakfast to be gluten-free and ordered the ‘Full Yorkshire’, when it arrived the only difference between mine and my husbands was that I didn’t have a Hash Brown on my plate. I was concerned that I had Black Pudding, it’s possible to get gluten-free black pudding but this didn’t look like the ones I had had so I asked the server to check for me. Whilst she went to the kitchen to check I ate part of one of the sausages on my plate, I immediately knew there was something not right though as the texture was too dense. When she returned with the list of ingredients for the Black Pudding I said it wasn’t suitable as it contained Barley and requested she checked the sausages. I wasn’t surprised these weren’t gluten-free either but was very upset that I had eaten some. We had to change our plans for the day (which was my birthday) as I was really concerned I would become ill and need to be close to a bathroom, it absolutely ruined my day. I fully expected that they would have gone out of their way to ensure they had gluten-free sausages for the next morning but they didn’t, nor did they on our last morning. I left feeling very upset that I hadn’t been looked after very well at all, I was cross to see that they had Vegan sausages on the menu but not gluten-free, my diet is not a choice it’s a requirement to keep me healthy. For the sake of popping out and getting a packet of GF sausages my birthday and my holiday was ruined. We will not be returning even though we liked the room, the ambiance of the hotel and the area. I feel very let down. In response to the owners comment...My condition is not an allergy, it's an autoimmune condition that means my body can't tolerate gluten and reacts by damaging my internal organs. I appreciate that there were other gluten-free options on the menu and indeed made full use of this when we ate dinner on two of the three nights we stayed. Given that I was staying for 3 nights and you make a VERY big deal about how fabulous your breakfasts are a bit more effort to accommodate my needs would have been appreciated rather than just saying I could have picked alternatives. Once I told your staff my dietary needs it becomes your responsibility to ensure that food served to me is suitable if you don't then your are liable for criminal offences and potential civil action!