Leasowe Castle?

victoriamarie

I came across Leasowe Castle (Wirral) whilst browsing wedding venues online and it seemed to fit the bill for what we wanted from a venue - old building (converted castle), not in the middle of a city or town centre, and it's also a hotel so guests can stay over. I emailed them for guide prices and it seems to fit well inside our budget. However, after checking reviews on a well-known hotel review site we are more than a bit suspicious. There are some bad reviews with photographic evidence of dirty rooms, yellowing/peeling wallpaper etc. On the other hand there are some excellent reviews - but on closer inspection we found that the majority of these came from accounts where this was the member's only review, and they were all rather similar in tone. My fianc! is convinced these reviews are fake and will not consider even visiting the venue to see for ourselves.
Has anyone here ever been to this venue at all whether it be a hotel stay, attending a wedding or viewing it as a prospective venue?

shellsuit

I've attended a wedding there, but to be honest I didn't notice anything that bad (maybe because we didn't get fed until the evening so I had a few too many drinks lol)

The bride of that wedding did say the food was crap (buffet finger food) and that there wasn't enough for all the guests, but I don't know how many she invited and how many they catered for.

Why don't you pop along and have a look for yourself before you rule it out?

sal-ad_daze

Firstly let me say I haven't been to a wedding at the Leasowe Castle for a long, long time but 'reports' I've had from others do talk of shabby decor, unprofessional staff (largely because they are so young) and mediocre food. However some people say they had a great time!
I do think the Hotel is shabby and in need of refurbishment but that's probably why it's not as expensive as some other venues such as Hillbark.
If you can, I'd pay them a visit they do wedding fayres regularly and I'm sure they'd accommodate you if you couldn't make those dates.
Everyone has differing tastes and opinions so I really think you should go look for yourself.

val_84

Hi,

We actually provisionally booked Leasowe Castle for our wedding last August. We changed it only because we found a venue in Liverpool that was closer for us and our guests and we fell in love with. I loved Leasowe and the people I dealt with were lovely. The rooms looked fine to me and my OH who can be quite picky. lol. I did take some pics on my mobile but then dropped it in the bath (dont ask) Ill see if I still have any of them and post them for you.

Val
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val_84

Found them....These were taken early last year....Feb or March I think.

http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j157/val_67/Leasowe%20Castle/

The 1st 2 were from the biggest room. They can split this into 2 depending on how many people you have. The other 3 are for the Star Chamber I think it was called, this was where we were looking at having the actual ceremony.
They're not great pics but they may help you a bit more. I would definitely go have a look at the venue and see what you both think, the grounds are lovely and they were having some work done late last year I think.

Val
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Gleeful

I went to a wedding at Briars Hall if you want to know what that was like!

val_84

We got married in Croxteth Hall. A gorgeous venue and the staff there were amazing! Would definitely recommend it. I think it cost us about £2500 in the end but it was worth it...Not very MSE but was still one of the cheapest we found.

Val
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val_84

Not at all, ask any questions you like....Im still not bored of talking about the wedding! lol. The £2500 (may have been closer to £2800) was for the 3 different rooms, We got married in the Study, Had the sit down meal in the Old Dining Room and the evening reception in the Library. We had exclusive use of the rooms for the whole day and as far as Im aware there was no other wedding there on the same day.
Do you know your numbers? Ive still got the brochere from them somewhere so can have a look at what I have see if can give you any idea on prices? Its last years prices obv but may give you a rough idea.
Croxteth Hall also recommended our caterers who were absolutly fantastic. Couldnt recomment them enough. We gave them our budget and they made sure they could do it for us.
If you need anything else let me know

Val
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Gleeful

victoria83 wrote: »

They are sending me a brochure out actually. What was your opinion of it?

Quite a nice venue but felt like we were crammed in, they had 2 weddings running that day. It's not spacious! Pillars in the way blocked the view of the top table from the back of the room as well, although I was lucky enough to be right in front of the top table, others were not so lucky.

val_84

So the brochere I got is prices for 01/04/2009 - 31/03/2010

Room hire charges are for hour and half session and include-
Seating arranged to your requirements
Room floral decorations
Music system to play own music (CDS only)
Photo opportunity on Main Staircase (couple and immediate family only)

Rooms - These are all £450
Old Dining Room (seats 120)
The Library (seats 90)
The Study (seats 50)
The School Room (seats 40)
Sir Richards Room (Seats 25)
The Ante Room (seats 20)

Old Dining Room

Wedding Breakfast - capacity 83 Evening Reception capacity 80

Full Day (11am - 5pm) £800
Evening Reception (7pm - 2am) £1200

The Library

Wedding Breakfast - cap 80 Evening Reception cap 150

Full Day £900
Evening £1300

All Rooms

Early Evening (5pm - 7pm) £80 an hour.

Hope this helps. It is definitely worth a look as the venue is beautiful.

With regards to catering they recommended a company called Eatons, who were just amazing.
We paid £33 a head for the 3 course meal but you can prob get it cheaper, if you give them your budget. We also paid £9 a head for the buffet for evening do. Food was gorgeous. They also arranged the tables as I asked them, did all the table decoration, One of them also acted as toast master for us, lent us there cakke stand. They were just fantastic.

The link below is our photos, some lovely ones of the venue if you want to have a look. Password is Smart



http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cgi-bin/directlink.cgi?event_id=93963

Hope this helps, any other questions give me a shout x

val_84

Not a problem. Anything else you need let me know!

Definitely give the caterers a call coz you can let them know your budget and theyll do what they can to fit in with it. Mike and Jim are really easy to talk to!

Val
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