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The Full Moon Backpackers Hostel is a character property. It was named the "Full Moon Hotel" in the mid-nineteenth century as its former title of "Full Moon Inn" was sounding old-fashioned. It was built in the early eighteenth century, around a large inn yard, with stables and coach-houses. That template remains, with buildings arranged around a large courtyard, although the horses are long gone.
The Location
The hostel is located on the northern side of the city centre, not far from the coach station and a shopping mall. You need to look for a three-story, pale green building with a pub in the front. Walk under the large, thin metal archway to the back of the courtyard and you will find the hostel reception in a smaller building. Check-in is any time between 3 and 11 p.m., but no later. (It seems they do hold your bags if you are early.) On arrival, they photocopy your ID and take a refundable key deposit. You make up your own bed with the sheets/pillow cases that they provide. These are old and bobbly but they are ok. There is a charge if you want towels.
The hostel is right by a busy junction. If you come by car, there is the choice of paying to park at the NCP next door or finding a back street to use.
Rooms and Bathrooms
There is a disabled-access twin room available on the ground floor with en suite. We stayed in a six-bed dorm room, which is not huge but has a decent amount of space in the centre of the room. Unusually for a hostel, the bunk beds are really strong and made of wood with a built-in ladder at the end. For once, they don't shake the person on the lower bed when someone is climbing up to the top. Unfortunately, the mattress is lumpy, which is presumably due to bed springs.
There is one light in the middle of the room (which takes time to really illuminate) and one switch by the door. There are no lockers in the room, so storage options are limited to a shelving unit. There are powerpoints located for use by the top and lower bunk. There is also a mirror and an unused fireplace. In fact you can look right up through the chimney and see the sky -- so perhaps this means rain could get in?
As we had booked a female dorm, we were surprised to be asked if a guy could move into the room for the night and didn't feel we could say no; this suggests the hostel is not entirely organised with its bookings or does not have empathy for its female guests.
The bathrooms are unisex. As the hostel describes itself as eco-friendly, the bathroom tap is motion controlled and cuts out whilst you are trying to clean your teeth. You could also end up showering in the dark, as the bathroom light likes to switch itself off after a few minutes. It's somewhat frustrating! The small showers have a private area in which to get changed, but it would be nice to have a hook or a shelf, too.
Common Spaces
The kitchen offers ovens, hobs, and a microwave. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of seating or crockery. Breakfast is not provided, but you can buy it at the pub next door during the week. The lounge is not vast and the TV is pretty small, but there is a nice, comfy sofa. There is a larger social room, which looks like it is used for meetings; it has a lot of tables and chairs and appears rather sterile. There are lockers located in the stairwell, but these are not big enough to hold a huge backpack.
The hostel is surrounded by bars and clubs and many of the windows look over the tables set up in the courtyard. These all provide you with social opportunities, but we understand they get very loud at weekends. The sounds of chatter and music do travel into the hostel, but we weren't unduly bothered by it. The hostel within itself does not create any noise besides the odd door slamming shut. There is a lot more atmosphere outside the hostel than inside. There are no fun activities offered at all within the hostel but on the plus side that means they are not pushing you to spend money on tours. There is a slow computer near the reception desk that is free to use and there's also also Wi-Fi.
Summary
This is a basic, adequate hostel for the money it costs. The best thing about it is the location, close to the shops but not too far to walk to the waterfront. We didn't have a negative experience regarding cleanliness, bugs, or excessive noise, although we understand these have bothered other guests. We would return for a couple of days, but not a couple of weeks. This hostel currently has artists painting their work onto the walls, so it looks as if the hostel owners are interested in making some improvements.
Response from the accommodation:
Dear Hostelz.com reviewer, Thanks for your review. In the time since your visit, The Full Moon Backpackers has undergone a hugely exciting project calling on artists from Bristol and all over the world to decorate the hostel and rooms, each bringing an entirely unique theme and style. In line with Bristol's rich artistic and cultural scene, you'll now find some fantastic artwork on display here whichever room you end up in! A huge refurbishment of the entire property also took place and we are now equipped with brand new spacious toilet and shower units, comfortable mattresses and an open plan Guest Kitchen/Common Room with widescreen HD TV, lots of seating and all the cooking equipment you could ask for. It's also worth remembering guests at The Full Moon Backpackers get free entry to our weekend events at The Full Moon Pub/Attic Bar. Recently voted by The Guardian as one of the Top 10 Best Clubs In The UK, you'll get the chance to experience a guaranteed great night out at a much loved Bristol venue hosting local and internationally recognised Bands/DJs every weekend. So we invite you to come back and see the changes :) Kind Regards, The Full Moon Team
Not great
Noisy and found what I think was a bed bug on my pillow. However, staff friendly and helpful. (My bed was the top bunk, in the far right corner of room F.)
Lovely!
I was skeptical about booking here because of negative reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised! The staff is very friendly (though not always extremely knowledgeable about the area but whatever), the rooms are clean, the shower and bathroom facilities clean, private, and in good working condition. They use a little fingerprint security system instead of a key, so no keeping up with keys, plus it feels very secure. The rooms are what you'd expect, no surprises there, but for 16 pounds a night (which is what we paid for the room) it's a bargain! Plus it's very eco friendly if that's your thing. Yes, the bar is overpriced. Don't go there, then. Pie minister (yum!) is right down the road, and there are plenty of bars within easy walking distance if that's what you're looking for.
Mot impressed for the price
i stayed at this hostel from the from the 15 to 19th november, it was good for its central location. The staff were very friendly and helpful but the hostel let them down. i was put in a room which was facing the nightclub so sleep was hard. the room also shook when people passed on the corridor -- guys, sort out the floorboards! the showers were a bit dodgy as the lights went out while having a shower, so be careful! the bar was downstairs was good but quite expensive. for the price they could have thrown in a bit of breakfast. all in all the staff were great and people were good in my room, but the hostel is a letdown.
Poor
for a premier uk city i thought this hostel was poor. privacy in the showers was minimal, no TV lounge as such so therefore no hub unless you wanted to part with more of your hard saved cash at the mercy of an expensive bar and overpriced food. for some reason the lights on the bedside lamps had their plugs on the wrong way round? lots of staff but did any of them do anything apart from hang around doing not much? the owner of full moon place must wake up and realise the potential of this place and the importance of this city. bristol is very laid back but certainly not horizontal. staff although complacent were very friendly. not much cleaning going on!
Address: 1 North Street, Stokes Croft, Bristol, Somerset, England
+50 Traveller
Digital Nomads
Groups (10+ people)
Party Hostel
Solo Traveller
Bedsheets
Lockers in Lobby
Lockers in Rooms
Luggage Storage
Safe Deposit Box
Wi-Fi in Lobby/Commons
Wi-Fi in Rooms
Breakfast
Dinner
Towels
24 Hour Security
Bar
Book Collection/Exchange
Cable TV
Clothes Dryer
Concierge/Info Desk
Credit Card Payments
Entirely Non-Smoking
Evening Entertainment
Food/Restaurant
Gameroom
Hair Dryers
Hot Showers
Kitchen
Laundry
Lounge Area
Movie Library/Rental
Nightclub
Outdoor Seating
Pool Table
Power Point/Sockets by Each Bed
Power Point/Sockets in Rooms
TV
Table Tennis
Wheelchair Accessible
Airport Pickup
Parking
Pet-Friendly
Service Animals
Genders: Males & Females
Max. Age: 75
Min. Age with Parent (dorms): 18
Min. Age with Parent (private room): 18
Min. Age without Parent: 18
Checkout: 11:00 (11 AM)
Curfew: No Curfew
Lockout: No
Maximum Stay: 1 month
Minimum Stay: 1 night
Open Dates: All Year
Reception Hours: 24 Hours
Size: Large (60-100 beds)
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