The main photograph in the new Leopold Hotel’s glossy brochure shows a vast, but unidentified, Victorian pile, with enough towers, turrets and fountains for a French chateau. Just one problem. It’s not the Leopold; it’s Sheffield Town Hall. Careless, that.

The Leopold is a bit further along the street, out of view. It describes itself as a “boutique hotel”, but its 76 bedrooms and 14 suites surely make it more warehouse than boutique.

It’s in a handsome former 1870s school that became offices in 1964. The hotel conversion has been stylishly done, creating a pleasant pedestrian square with benches engraved with the words and memories of former pupils. The corridors are lined with archive photos of teachers in academic gowns explaining the cathode ray tube to Welfare State lads with Brylcreemed hair and short trousers. It looks so very long ago.

We arrived early evening. The reception staff were friendly and helpful and, unusually, took us up to our room. Small and beige, it had a whiff of Fifties retro, a comfortable bed and an efficient bathroom, but not much character. The real drawback was the sheer end-wall 15 feet from the window, which obliterated any view there might have been and left the room rather gloomy.

We escaped to the bar, which had already been colonised by laptop-wielding business folk in corporate black who were bawling websites at each other. A reenactment evening based on The Office seemed to be getting under way, with a brilliant, though unconscious, impersonation of Ricky Gervais as the star turn.

The receptionist had said that many guests choose to eat here rather than the restaurant. This seemed odd, until we saw the restaurant. Stuck down a long corridor in the basement, it’s a design disaster: small, boxy, dreary décor, little natural light, no views, and cluttered with tiny tables. My first newspaper canteen (which closed for lunch from 12 to 1) had more atmosphere.

And the meal? Well, what a way to spend nearly £80. Apart from an overpeppered pea risotto, the food was bland and thin on the plate. Two dressed-up strips of pan-fried sea bass, smaller than fish fingers, cost £18, with dull steamed vegetables or uneventful salad costing extra. There are plenty of better value restaurants nearby.

Breakfast was unremarkable, with two-star kippers. The service veered between charmless and clueless. Must try harder.

Bottom line: Stephen McClarence paid £84 for a double room, plus £18.45 for breakfast.
Sampling the fare: Two-course dinner for two with coffee was £62.75, plus £15.50 for wine.
Best thing: The Ricky Gervais impersonation.
Worst thing: Restaurant.
Access all areas: Entrance and six bedrooms with wheelchair access.

Need to know:
Leopold Hotel, Leopold Square, Leopold Street, Sheffield S1 2JG
0114 252 4000
www.leopoldhotel.co.uk

Room: 5 out of 10.
Food: 4 out of 10.
Service: 4 out of 10.

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