We arrived at the hotel on 29/07/24 for a 3 night stay and a packed itinerary, showing our new baby to family. At 1:30 AM when my wife woke up to feed our baby she, found herself surrounded by bedbugs. She woke me up and we began moving all our things into the bathroom and searching online about what to do. We were trapped, there was nowhere else to go and even if there was, we needed to decontaminate everything we brought with us. My wife and I stayed awake all night from that point, letting our baby sleep on a towel in the centre of the bed while we killed any bedbugs that we saw. A few had gotten onto the towel and had seemingly bitten her already by the time we squashed them (see photo), but we needed to leave her there to sleep. We called the number on the door in reception for the on-duty staff member but there was no answer. By the time half past 7 had rolled around, we went downstairs to grab a bite to eat and asked the cook to contact the manager. He seemed nonchalant about the issue and said that the manager would be down at 8:30. So we waited in the room again. At 8:30 I went back down the stairs to see if the manager was there. The cook said not yet and that he would send him up when he turned up. I asked what room he was in so that I could go and wake him up myself... the cook called him. Matt, the bar manager showed up and apologised, refunded our stay (still waiting on that) and offered us another room for the other two nights. The hotel is quite small and as we knew from all our resear ch, you should not go into another room that shares a ceiling, floor or walls with the infected room. This led us to believe that no room would be safe. Matt told me that this was the first time it had happened in two years and that the room that had been fully booked for weeks had no complaints so far... As you can see from the photos, the infestation had been there for a while, with shed exoskeletons and bedbugs all around the crevices of the room. Matt said that due to the incident 2 years ago, the council put them on a monthly steaming schedule for the rooms with a handheld steamer. This was the point that Matt's knowledge and all the research that we had been doing started to come into conflict. This lead us to believe that this had not been done properly or taken as seriously as these things should be. Matt repeatedly said that 'they don't tend to stray far from their food source'. Now, far is a relative word, but Matt was implying that they don't leave the bed. In fact, they live behind photo frames, in outlets, in the skirting board cracks and anywhere else they can. This is why you don't accept an adjoining room. As you can see from the photos they were not only in the bead frame, but up the walls on the other side of the room where our suitcase was, and there were dead ones on the floor in the bathroom. Because of the lack of complaints, Matt blamed it on cyclists that had been through recently, rather than realising that it was a more serious issue that had been going on for longer. He offered the handheld steamer when I said that we would need to completely decontaminate ourselves, our belongings and our dog. A while later (and after another prompting) Matt fetched the steamer and helped us decontaminate the larger items that couldn't be washed. We emptied all of our clothes into bin bags and I wiped all of our non-fabric personal belongings and put them in different bin bags. We showered, and also showered the dog (since there was no groomers available) but the shower water temperature was too all over the place to wash the baby. We carried our bin bags outside and put the non-fabrics in the car and took the clothes to the laundrette. Matt gave us £10 for the laundrette. It cost £27 for 3 washes and £10 to tumble dry on high heat for an hour. I also asked Matt for some compensation for our ruined trip - It would have made the ending of this review more favourable, as at least it would have implied that they acknowledged that they have a serious problem and are willing to make things right. All I asked is for money for fuel and our wasted time for a ruined trip that had to be cut short. Matt refused. I have now reported them to environmental health. It's a shame as during my Uni years it was a good place for a pint, but rest assured, I will NEVER step foot in that place again, and I advise you don't unless you want to risk bringing home bed bugs and ending up with a multi thousand pound problem. read more

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This place is a bit rundown. It's clean though (minus the shower curtain which looks like it should have been thrown out a long time ago) and the bed is comfortable. It's off the main road, but easily accessible to shops. There is a pub downstairs which was hoping until 10 p.m. so if you are light or early sleeper, forget about it. Breakfast service is slow because there is only one person working there. The server was friendly, but just overworked. The quality of food was also poor. read more

From the outside, The Menai looks like a little old lady in a woolly cardigan. When you go inside, turns out grandma's top to toe in leopard print and ready for a night on the tiles. What I'm trying to say is that the loud and proud inside doesn't match the stateliness of the old stone building. The heavy wooden doors and skirting has been painted bright red and I'm sure I remember equal qualities of bright yellow, purple and green splashed around the place. In fact, come to think of it, I couldn't get the film Cool Runnings out of my head the whole time I was there. There's a large bar downstairs with a beer garden that is only open until 9pm (I got the feeling that The Menai gets very busy at the weekend and noise may be an issue). The bar has a pool table, a large flat screen TV playing music videos and a pool table. The staff were very friendly and I got served very quickly. However, despite it being a Tuesday night in August, it was quite dead. But then, Bangor is a University town and the place would probably be buzzing with the arrival of the students in September. If the bar wasn't to your taste, you could try the Irish pub round the corner. My room (number 6) was small but clean. The bedspread was straight out of the 1980s; a jazzy pattern in rich, dark colours. The bed itself was small and a little uncomfortable; I got the feeling the furnishing had been done on a tight budget. I woke up once during the night, disturbed by loud leary voices in the corridor, but got back to sleep soon enough. On the plus side, there was a TV (terrestrial only), and a kettle with tea and coffee and biscuits. And the shower was powerful and the temperature easily controlled (if your shower at home is anything like mine (a trickle of scalding water), you'll realise how magic these two things are). In the bathroom, you get a little bar of Welsh soap, a combined shampoo and conditioner and some shower gel. Breakfast involved cobbling something together from what I could find on the table at the top of the dining room. There was a fridge with milk and orange juice, a 4 slice toaster with only 2 slices working, cereals, bread, jam, marmalade, apples, bananas, kiwi fruit and a couple of croissants. Oh, and some little foil wrapped butters that were kept in the fridge and were rock hard. I really fancied toast and marmite, or something savoury rather than sweet, but I was out of luck. It should be compulsory to offer Marmite at breakfast. As for location, well I knew the Menai Straights was out there somewhere, but I couldn't see it from my room or the beer garden! On the whole, it was OK. For £45 a night. read more

Lack of valid contact information leads me to believe that perhaps this hotel is on shaky grounds and could suddenly be shuttered ??? my advice - don't take your chances !! Arrived earlier than the 3pm allowed checkin time to find that there was no one at the hotel. Completely locked; no signs of life nor signs of any kind other than a phone number in the window of the bar. I asked several people to call the number for me and it went directly to voicemail; now feeling a bit panicked about being roomless for the night (esp since it had been raining all day). Tried again, straight to voicemail; phone number on website is disconnected. (Previously, I had tried to email the hotel using the address on their facebook page, which came back as undeliverable, so I was already a bit leery about this hotel, but the rate was nonrefundable so I had no choice but to hope for the best.) Finally found a local who had helped people with this hotel in the past who tried a number he had been given by the hotel. A human answered the phone and said someone would call back. At last, staff at the hotel was contacted. We were berated for arriving before the 3pm checkin time (Nowhere in the confirmation did it say that there was NO staffing outside of the checkin hours !) The next day, we needed to go out in the morning and return in the early afternoon, so we had to checkout by 10am. Fair enough - hotels have a place to stow your luggage. The Menai Hotel does have a space BUT - you are not allowed to pick up your luggage between the hours of 10am and 3pm !!! The hotel is locked tight and you will not be allowed a key to collect your stuff. Again, we were berated for arriving before 3pm the previous day and for wanting access to our belongings before 3pm !! So, if the hotel was a decent place to stay, you might overlook these rigid hours, since apparently the hotel does not cater to its guests - guests must cater to the hotel. But, the place is worn down and worn out. This room had apparently been renovated at one time, but is now sadly unmaintained. There were towel bars and a toilet paper holder, but without any bars to hold anything ! The bathroom now has a curtain closure instead of a door, which is fine, but it would have been nice if someone painted the jamb after ripping the doors off ! Lastly - a first for us - a hotel which doesn't provide soap ! Having visited 99 countries and staying in B&Bs, guesthouses, hotels, motels, etc, I have never had to bring my own soap. At a hostel, yes, but not at a hotel. When I asked, I was told that bookings.com had advised the Menai Hotel that since it's not in their contract to provide soap, they don't need to provide soap ! When I asked for an extra towel, the staff went in to their private quarters to retrieve one ! (And don't even ask if they provided shampoo !) My recommendation - there are other places to stay; based on how dodgy this operation is (esp with a lack of viable contact information), I would be very leery of making a reservation PERIOD. If you have to make a reservation here, make sure you have a backup plan in case you're left in the lurch by a sudden closure. read more

The Menai/Y Fenai is a great pub, somewhat hidden away in upper Bangor. The building had a total refurbishment a few years ago and is still looking in fine condition today. The space is airy; even during busy periods you never feel too crammed in. There is a choice of games available to play, arcade and pool and so on. A nice addition is the big screen often used for video games. There is a small outdoor area although be warned it fills up quickly during sunny periods. Certainly, worth a visit. read more

This is a spacious and modern bar with friendly staff and a strict Think 21 Policy. They serve most drinks and the prices are fairly reasonable but not the cheapest in Bangor. There's plenty to entertain with karaoke a good quality pool table as well as a pub quiz every Tuesday, among other things. The bar area takes up a very small amount of the premises and the rest is taken up by comfy chairs. There's a small car park outside and it's not far from bus stops or the University. The toilets are also spacious and cleaned thoroughly with no account of graffiti. I suggest coming here if you want drinks with friends and a fun time. read more