The Green Man, Ingrave

I'm not sure if the current management are the same as some of the previous reviews but if not there is an alarmingly odd trend...

Having recently moved back to the area we were looking forward to having a nice local to pop to now and then but after experiencing their appalling and pretty bizarre customer service at the weekend, we can safely say we will not be returning.
The visit started off well, we had decided to go with friends for a late afternoon drink and having 5 young children between us, we were pleasantly surprised on how lovely the garden was but also remarked about how quiet it was for a Sat afternoon in July. We decided to stay a little longer so thought we would get the children their dinner here but as the weather was slightly chilly we asked if it was ok to eat inside which they were more than happy to accommodate. The kids meals themselves were fine, nothing spectacular but fine with large portions and all seemed well. The age range of the children were between 9mths and 3 and as can be expected was a fairly lively dinner time but not especially so and we were the only diners at the time.
Towards the end of the meal is where things turned sour - as we were finishing a lady which i can only assume was the landlady came in and asked to clear some plates as the tables we were using were fully booked for the evening. An unnecessary pressure but fair enough we thought and decided to finish our drinks outside. Our friends took the kids into the garden whilst my husband and I cleared up the tables. At this point the cheery woman came back in, stood for a minute then asked, 'is it just the children who have been eating' to which we replied 'yes but we have been drinking outside for the last couple of hours and had a couple of dishes ourselves - is there a problem?' The lady then said 'well i'm sorry but there's an awful lot of mess considering you just ordered kids meals, i wish i had known'. I pointed out that it was probably quite clear what we had ordered when we placed the order at the bar which they happily took the money for, and we had asked to sit inside which they had agreed was fine - but aside from that we were in the process of tidying anyway, to which she replied 'well just look at the mess i'm going to have to get the hoover out and everything'! I told the lady what a shame they had such an attitude given it was our local pub but not to worry as we certainly wouldn't be back again with such awful customer service as there were plenty of other more accommodating places and the woman replied ' i don't think any restaurant would be pleased to have you'!

Still reeling from the outrageous rudeness, we met our friends outside and in my haste left a set of keys on the table - soon after a surly looking man who we can only assume was the landlord came outside and grunted we had left keys. 'Don't worry, we won't be back' i called to him, to which he replied 'i am very glad to hear it, this is our home and we don't need people like you wrecking it'!

Now i appreciate toddlers are not the most tidy eaters but it honestly wasn't that bad and considering we had spent around �80 in an otherwise dead afternoon i think the attitude of the owners was outrageous and quite ridiculous - it all seemed to stem around the issue of having to get the hoover out, but saying no restaurant would be happy to have you just is downright rude.

We appreciate not all pubs are child friendly and would prefer to be adults only which is fine, but don't have a kids menu and if you don't want kids younger than a certain age then don't provide high chairs. Simple as that.

26 Jul 2011 02:19