The Waggon and Horses, Halesowen

Best pub ever.

Pub would be ruined if it were to be decorated

28 May 2012 22:49

The Plough, Coldharbour

Well, I'm a new user, and you might treat me with scepticism, but I went to the Plough on Saturday and it was great. A really nice pub with great customer services.

I jest.

I was recently driving through the Surrey Hills on a lovely warm weekend. I saw the sign for the Plough Inn which said that it was a microbrewery. Being a real ale enthusiast, I thought this was great. I'd stumbled across a little gem.

Then I walked into the pub. There was no one there at all. I had to wait for about 4 minutes until a lady (presumably the landlady) appeared from the kitchen.

I wasn't sure which ale to choose as none of the labels for the real ale had a description. After asking the landlady I had a pale ale.

It was not well kept beer. It was very still and flat. Not in the sense that it lacked carbonation, just that it was badly kept and had no body. It didn't taste nice either.

The drinks were not cheap, neither.

What really stuck out for me was the appalling customer service on display. Having to wait ages to be served in an empty pub was a novel experience, but it was the hostile attitude of the landlady that really put me off.

Whilst being served she started really moaning angrily about people coming in only to use the toilet.

I was hungry, but the food was quite highly priced and there was an overly formal dining area which seemed like a relic of decades gone past, rather than a either a good old traditional pub or something more contemporary. I decided against the food and sat in the beer garden. There were about 4 other people there. I think the emptiness of such a quaint pub in such an idyllic location, on a very busy hot day, spoke volumes.

All in all, I had high expectations of this pub and left very disappointed. I could get over the bad beer, if the service had been friendly, or even courteous.

I see from reading other people's comments that moaning about passers by using the toilet is a common theme. In response to that I would say this... These people are a captive market. They are probably put off by one or more of the following things:

- Having to wait ages to get served
- Highly priced food
- Hostile attitude to customers
- Ill conceived formal dining area. ( Do you really think Hill Walkers want to sit in a formal dining area?)

P.s. I love bathams.

28 May 2012 22:28