The Brunswick / B Lounge, Manchester

My experience in Manchester's The Brunswick yesterday was entirely negative. I will not be returning.

I was part of a small group of people from various magical societies who get together in Manchester every month to spend a pleasant Saturday afternoon discussing secret techniques amongst ourselves.

Soon after we arrived, had bought a round of drinks and ordered food, the manager came over and told us that we couldn't perform in there because he didn't have a performance licence. One of our party (a police officer) explained that we didn't intend to perform but simply to discuss techniques over a drink before moving on.

Surprisingly, the manager's tone quickly became increasingly aggressive. I explained that our limited time together would be wasted if we stayed, so if we couldn't discuss magic and demonstrate techniques even quietly between ourselves, and as no one had consumed anything we'd bought, could we have a refund? At first, the manager refused. I quoted relevant consumer protection law and he told us that we'd have to give all our drinks back for a refund. We were of course more than willing to comply. After all, technically the law was preventing him from supplying what we believed we had bought. No one was at fault on either side and we were happy to go somewhere else.

We took our purchases back to the bar and the person who had bought the round received a full refund. However, during the process of giving me my money back for a meal I'd ordered, the manager became increasingly abusive to me, accusing me of being aggressive and very unreasonable. In point of fact, I was deliberately being no such thing. The CCTV footage will show that I was in fact being reconciliatory and trying to explain that if those are the rules then that's fine by us and that it was just a shame we couldn't stay. Incredibly, this made him more angry and abusive. I do not expect to be talked to like that by anyone.

As soon as he handed over my money, I explained that word gets around about attitudes like that, and left. Indeed, news that the Brunswick is not the place to meet is spreading via reports of our meeting and people's stunned reactions to this manager's attitude.

All the other places we visited were entirely lovely, but The Brunswick lost more than just the custom of 6 people yesterday afternoon. I hope the establishment loses that manager before he does any more damage to it's image of being "stylish, relaxing and a cut above the rest..."

31 Aug 2008 14:35