The Six Bells, Billingshurst

Absolutely shocking service.

I have been visiting this pub for many years and always had a great experience - until the current people started running it....

Saturday night amidst the credit crunch - you would think businesses would be doing all they can to get punters in, wouldn't you? Not this place. We called up about 5pm to ask if they were doing food and the response was literally "We have disco. You can order food between 6 and 8pm". So we got there about 7.50pm. There were very few people there and, when we asked for the menu, the conversation went like this:

Bar woman (aggressive): We are not serving food
Us: We called earlier and you said you stopped orders at 8pm?
Bar woman: Yes, it is 5 mins to 8
Us: So it's not 8pm yet?
Bar woman: We stop at quarter to 8.
Us: But we called earlier to check, and you said 8pm?
Bar woman: I know
Us: So, as it is not yet 8pm, if we order quickly, can we get some food?
Bar woman (big sigh): OK
Us: Could we have the 4oz steak?
Bar woman (big sigh): I will check with chef
Bar woman (big sigh): Steak ran out at lunch time

I can't begin to explain how unwelcoming this woman was - no apologies, nothing. As time was ticking on, we decided we would go somewhere else rather than be rushed into buying meals she clearly didn't want us to eat. We ended up in a fantastic Indian restaurant in Billingshurst where they were very happy to serve us and where it was packed with customers (I wonder why...)

1 Feb 2009 23:01