The Jolly Tanners, Staplefield

Three weeks later, we can smile about our New Year's family reunion lunch - but "dreadful" is the word that my partner still utters whenever "Jolly Tanners" or "Staplefield" is mentioned. The nine of us, five adults and four children, arrived at 1pm, as planned, and were told to go to the dining room. We were surprised; we've dined by the bar before. The dining room features on the pub's website though, for our benefit, the room was cleared and the table was positioned across the room, with one end backing onto the Ladies lavatory. After ordering our drinks, we had to return to the bar for menus. The barman apologised that we hadn't been given any. At 1.30pm, we went to look for someone to take our orders, and a fresh-faced waitress turned up, fairly promptly. At 2.20pm, the waitress returned to say that two dishes we'd ordered were not available. I asked why it'd taken so long to tell us but she looked embarrassed and we moved on. At 2.45pm, the food started to arrive but we had to return a cold Shepherd's Pie to the kitchen for re-heating. At 3.15pm, the landlord appeared, and he apologised. We suggested that he might like to provide the desserts on the house - he seemed to count the children, and wandered off. At 3.45pm, we went to look for someone to take the desserts order, and discovered that the young staff were preparing to leave. Very generously, one of them came to take our (the children's) order. At 4.30pm, the landlord summed the bill without a word of contrition or a cent of concession. This pub used to be an old haunt. It ain't any more.

24 Jan 2009 22:16