Health Club and Spa at Hallmark Hotel Manchester 3.6 11 reviews

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Booked a spa day with afternoon tea - my daughter and I. we know the hotel: in fact my daughter had her (absolutely brilliant) hen party here last year.
When we arrived (Saturday at 11.15ish), the car park was quite busy as there was obviously a wedding taking place (the groom and others were having photos in the gardens) so we decided to try to park near the leisure club which as others have noted is in a separate building - we were shocked. On passing the building to the rear car park, the outside of the building is in an appalling state of repair. It is almost crumbling away!
The young lady who greeted us was very pleasant and gave us what we needed and showed us where to go for the ladies changing area - straight through the gym! The equipment was crammed in, close together and not at all inviting.
On to the changing rooms - they were filthy! My daughter dropped the padlock key on the floor and was horrified with what she could see under the bench in the changing room. They really do need a thorough cleaning.
So we went through to the pool. It was divided into 2 for childrens swimming lessons and there were a number of local lady leisure club members lane swimming in the other half. The sauna, steam room and jacuzzi were all occupied by what appeared to be single males of differing age but none of whom were averse to staring at any and every female. We both felt extremely uncomfortable. Incidentally, the pool area is very rundown and the saftey rail around the jacuzzi is pure rust. The photographs of the pool and jacuzzi are not consistent with the real thing.
We got in and got out - literally. We dressed and left the hotel, deciding to go to a local shopping centre until time for our afternoon tea.
Arriving back for our booked time of 2pm, we presented ourselves at the appropriate area inside the hotel. The waitress informed me that the area was extremely busy and she would see if she could "reserve a table" for us. I thought I had done that when I phoned the hotel weeks ago to book our timeslot! So, we went to freshen up in the ladies and when we returned, she told us she had managed to find us a table. It was at this point that we gatecrashed the wedding!
The wedding party was in between the ceremony and the wedding breakfast so everyone had congregated in the bar area. The bar itself was crammed full of dirty glasses. The waitress told us to just go to the bar and order our tea which we did. My daughter wanted to purchase a soft drink and it took 20 minutes to be served. Fortunately, the tea took as long to arrive.
During our afternoon tea, the wedding photographer was snapping away at the guests and presumably those that were not invited would be "airbrushed out" later!!
My daughter likes plain food. Fortunately for her, the sandwiches were quite suitable, the cakes and scones of a reasonable standard and the actual cup of tea was lovely. The experience however, was far from it.