The Mayfly, Chilbolton

I've been a visitor to this Pub for over 22 years - not frequent, only when I could afford it (!) - as my family and I love the location. The cold cuts with salad (even if you got charged extra for a heaped spoon - I always made sure mine was well heaped to compensate!) and they always had interesting well kept beers on tap. More importantly, I've always got a smile or joked with with whoever is behind the bar.
But after the last visit I'm not sure I'll be going back. It started with ordering a round, trying to start a conversation with the barman, joking about the name of the beer - this got a blank look. Then they've changed the food service such that if one in your party is having a hot dish and they others cold cuts then it gets very complicated indeed. They told us that the food will be brought out to our table after we�d ordered � OK so far. To do this they've hired a team of waitresses who bring the food out and although we'd ordered what salads we wanted we ended up with a bit of everything except the condiments - anyway how do you order a spoon full of mustard, pickles, mayo, etc? So, I took my plate back in to enquire about the reason for the new serving arrangements (while helping myself to mustard, pickles, mayo, etc) only to be shouted at by the 'manager' (I think she was) "D.O.H., D.O.H."! I think this meant Department of Health, but I'm not sure. Anyway, we ended up with dishes of food we didn't really want served by people who didn't really care and charged lots for the 'pleasure'! I don't mind the food being wrong, expensive or even the weird way of serving, but the attitude was inexcusable.
Well, I could go on about the high cost (�14) for one pint & 3 soft drinks & 4 packets of crisps we had when we first arrived - we didn't have anything more to drink after that - but I won't!
However, when paying the bill I was asked "was everything all right for you", I replied that I'd found the new serving system a bit confusing. I was told "well, things change and we just have to except them don't we"!
We we're made to feel like we were just an inconvenience - probably preferring if we'd paid our money and left without eating or drinking anything - by staff that, in my opinion, had been trained at the 'Basil Fawlty School of Catering'!
My recommendation is if you really want to visit this pub - fantastic location - stick to beer (which was a good pint of Goddards) and crisps, they can't get that wrong (can they?) just charge lots. I probably will visit it again in the hope it has been taken over, but not for awhile.
I think it�ll be a shame if it became a McDonald�s � although my kids will love it � but �one has to keep the rif-raf out�! :-)

18 Jun 2010 17:00