Queen Camilla’s son has stayed at some of the grandest properties in the country and now he can compare them to a Wetherspoon’s hotel.

The budget pub chain has long been a drinking establishment of choice for millions of Brits, and in recent years the firm has expanded its number of hotels. There are currently 56 across the country.

Wetherspoon has just surpassed Premier Inn in a Which? ranking of chain hotels, with the consumer specialists now recommending it as a “great value” place to stay.

On the back of such a glowing reference, food critic Tom Parker Bowles – one of Queen Camilla’s two children – went to try one of the hotels for himself when he stayed at The Hatchet Inn in Newbury, Berkshire.

Despite admitting he is a “five star bore”, Tom said he was pleasantly surprised by what he received for just £58 per night.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he wrote warmly about a number of the features in his room, including a “sparkling clean” bathroom, decent-sized towels, a shower with good water pressure and strong Wi-Fi.

He says: “I’ve stayed in far worse places, for three times the price.”

It wasn’t a completely positive experience for Tom, though. He said the bed, which could be bigger, sits right above the entrance to the pub so he was trying to sleep while listening to the pub kicking out patrons at around 1am.

A few hours later, he was woken up to the sound of a very early-morning marketing meeting. He added that the shower floods if you stay in it for too long and the extractor fan sounds like an “angry chainsaw”.

He sums up by saying: “But for £58, it feels churlish to complain. Astonishing value, of course, made better by its proximity to the pub.” 

The vast majority of hotels sit above existing pubs owned by Britain’s biggest pub chain.

Tom remarked how punters in the pubs were drinking Worthington’s for £2 a pint and pitchers of the cocktail Pornstar Martini for less than £10. He commented: “Say what you like about Wetherspoons, you can’t beat those prices.

“God, I love a Wetherspoon’s, not in some trite, archly ironic way – rather for providing cheap beer, bottomless coffee, warmth and no-nonsense succour to great swathes of the British public.”

It comes after a couple told how they stayed at a Wetherspoon hotel and immediately noticed something unusual.

YouTube creators Ash and Kels, who have visited 65 countries around the world, had never previously lodged at one of the budget pub chain’s hotels.

In fact, Ash admitted that until recently, they were completely unaware that Wetherspoon even operated hotels throughout the country. This revelation prompted them to reserve a room at their nearest branch, The Wyndham Arms in Bridgend, Wales. When they arrived at the establishment, they noted the pub was “really busy” before collecting their keycard for the accommodation upstairs.

Leaving the lively atmosphere of the pub behind, the duo were pleasantly surprised by what they encountered. Ash remarked: “Straight away the noise of the pub has gone.”