The Wilton Arms, Radcliffe

Whatever has happened here? This used to be a great pub in the time honoured tradition of the great Joseph Holts brewery, which incidentally is still one of the best pub chains around, always reasonably priced, generally full of genuinely friendly and interesting people who have acquired the 'acquired' taste of the great Holts fare!

This is not to say that the clientelle are no longer friendly, far from it, but they all seem to be rather bemused if not disgruntled of late. Complaints from the punters ranged from slow service due to inadequate staffing (one even said he reached retirement age waiting to be served!), a lack of 'on hand' management, re-admittance for the terminally anti socially barred - generally a badly run establishment. This used to be a busy friendly pub. It was verging on empty during my midweek eve visit and it still taken 10 minutes to get served!

Admittedly the brewery trade has taken a beating of late during the recession with less people inclined to imbibe outside of their own front doors, all the more reason for the necessity of friendly and efficient management and staffing. Therefore if the Holts brewery (which is known for its competitive pricing and emphasis on friendly hostelry) can be likened to a racing stable, with each pub seen as a race horse - as it stands, the Wilton has to be seen as its worn out donkey! Sad really, if things don't change I can see this pub joining the ranks of the great boarded up very soon.

15 Mar 2010 00:26