The Crown Tavern, Clerkenwell

I work near the crown and our office frequently visits this pub. I have stopped going there becuase of the service. It always takes ages for the food to arrive and the bar gets too busy which means long waits for a drink. i went back there yesterday for the first time in months because a colleague had his leaving lunch there. a collegue and mine ordered 10 mins later than the others and we had to wait over 40 minutes for the food to arrive. another colleague actually cancelled his order because it took too long and he had to return to work. when our food arrived the waiter told us that we could order a free drink from the bar as compensation for the long wait. we didn't ask for this. i went to the bar and explained to the guy behind the bar what his colleague had said. he then said in a kind of jokingly way that i cannot have a free drink. i ordered 2 anyway as i believed his was joking. he kept asking me to pay for it and i told him that i won't becuase it was offered to me in compensation for waiting long for the food. he then turned around and said that he is the bar manager and they don't do free drinks and i can pay for it or leave it. i left. i returned later that day to speak to him and to explain that because of his behaviour at lunchtime i am here to cancel a booking i made for a large group for pre-dinner xmas drinks. he still didn't apologise, but simply crossed us out from the his book and continued being annoyingly arrogant. i have never been treated like that before. i can't believe that this guy calls himself a manger. a manager should have the best interest for his pub to make money and keep the punters happy. they obviously don't care so why should i spend my hard earned money in this place. i will not go back after this very bad experience.

22 Nov 2008 12:45