I booked to spend new years eve at the Old Black Lion with my partner. We had visited Hye in the summer and thoroughly enjoyed our meal there.
When New Year came we had a wonderful suprise,that my partner was in The Queen's New Year Honours List! She had been awarded an M.B.E.
The pubs owner, Dolan Leighton, really took care of us, and everyone else, making it a very special New Year.
The food was excellent, the staff coped with a very busy night, with ease.
The night went on for quite a long time with Dolan being an excellent host.
I was served breakfast the next morning, even though we had a bit of a lie in..........Dolan was already up and working hard.
Thank you for for making a special night even more special. nigel lynch.

We stayed at the Old Black Lion for one night on the 7th October ,We parked our car in their car park at the back The greeting we received was friendly and welcoming , and after checking in were shown to room number 2 which overlooked the front of the building . The room was large clean and well presented, there was also a small flat screen TV .The bathroom was also very clean with a corner shower ,toilet and washbasin. We had booked the dinner bed and breakfast package £135 for one night .On arrival we booked a table in the restaurant for Seven thirty .The restaurant was full but had a cosy atmosphere, and is very well presented .There is a large and varied choice on the menu, and also on the specials board .We had an excellent meal, I had rack of Welch lamb, and my wife had the Venison. All the food was hot and cooked very well with a wonderful taste, the service was good and the staff were very attentive . After our meal we spent the rest if the evening enjoying a drink in the bar .The Old Black Lion has a very friendly atmosphere, and we felt very much at home. Our breakfast was enjoyable and well cooked . We would have no hesitation on recommending The Old Black Lion .and will defiantly say there again .

We have just returned from a two night weekend stay at the Old Black Lion in Hay -on-Wye. We were there to attend a wedding. The hotel itself is a lovely old coaching inn and the bedrooms were quaint but very comfortable.The staff were very helpful and pleasant.
My only criticism was the quality of the food. We were a party of fourteen and they had also booked a table for another large party to celebrate a sixtieth wedding anniversary, plus there were quests at several other smaller tables and they seemed to have trouble coping with such a large number.The food was nicely presented but was cold. Also at breakfast the scrambled egg must have beened poured over the toast.(I wouldn't like to tell you what it looked like!!)
On the whole we enjoyed our stay - the only fault being the food and perhaps we were just unlucky that the restaurant was so full that night.

We came across the Old Black Lion on the internet when planning a last minute trip to Hay. It was the third place we tried to book into but we were glad that the other places had no availabilty. The staff were all very friendly and welcoming and the owner was a very welcoming lady who was very happy to chat to guests and make them feel welcome.

We were given room no.4 which we were more than happy with. As one review has already said, you may have trouble with this room if you're very tall as the toilet and sink are down some steps in the bathroom and there's not a lot of head room above the steps.

The building itself is really nice. It dates back to the 17th century and has many of the original features - hence the low ceiling in the bathroom. This all adds to giving the place an authentic feel.

The last thing to note is the breakfast which was very enoyable and also the bar meals which were very nice. I would thoroughly recommend staying here if you are visiting Hay. It may strike you as being a little expensive, but that's the going rate for Hay!