We booked this in a hurry without doing our normal trip advisor checks. A couple of days before, my wife read the reviews and panicked. Upon arrival to IOM we swung by to take a look and check the room, as we were fully prepared to book elsewhere and lose the money we had paid for two nights, based on some of the recent reviews.
The staff were accommodating of us checking the room, and apologetic about the state of the much mentioned stair carpet. They are very embarrassed by it, and have asked of the brewery / owners to replace it. The line from their management is that they want to refurb everywhere in the next year, so won't pay for the carpet before that.
The kitchen is on first floor, and during lunchtime the hallway is filled with the smells of pub food. This didn't continue into our room (Room 5), and the smell didn't return in the evening. We were pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness of the room, and so we stayed as planned.
Yes, it is tired, including the decor, the bedding, the TV, the twin beds pushed together, and other soft furnishings. The en-suite was large, the shower spacious, hot, and good pressure, and everything was clean. Compared to the look of the other hotels on the island, it looks on a par, everything on IOM is looking a little tired out of season.
Despite being above a pub, we didn't hear any noise from downstairs (and when we did go out on a Friday night, walking through the busy pub in full swing, we were surprised that we hadn't heard anything whilst getting ready to go out). The bus back from Douglas did cause some noise in the early hours, but out of the pubs control.
The hotel are hoping to have the refurb done in time for the TT 2014 by all accounts.