The John Logie Baird, Hastings

I actually work in this pub as a shift manager and i think i should make some sort of attempt to defend it's honour! Before other posters complain about the speed of service or the cleanliness of tables/bar/toilets etc they should at least attempt to understand the restrictions placed upon it's staff and the management in particular by our head office! We only able to utillise a specific amount of hours per week, which in busy periods works out to around 1 member of staff to around 60-100 customers, with staffing levels this low we are able to only have one person serving food, clearing plates/glasses for over 60 tables! whilst we would love to spend every minute of our 12hour+ shifts working the bar/floor; we have to run breaks, do paperwork, clean toilets, deal with rude and inconsiderate customers, and accept and put away deliveries. Inevitibly certain priorites get neglected despite our best efforts. Those people complaining about the quantity/quality of ale should perhaps remember that we offer a greater choice of ales than any other pub in town, including all of the old town pubs, some of which charge almost double our price for a pint. The staff work very hard for very little reward, we should not be compared to some little (supposedly 'real') public house, we are a completely different sort of business, one which our head office runs with two eyes on the bottom line! Posters that complain about the quality of service should attempt to run a bar, serve food and be polite to a bar full of customers each of whom is completely confident in their claim to be next to be served. As regards the physical state of the premises we have been pushing for a refurb/paint job for several years, but JDW would rather spend their on a new pub in Eastbourne whilst neglecting us. We are also required to let the day to day maintenance get to a certain level of disrepair before we can call a handyman, which unfortunately results in lots of small jobs going unrepaired. Those posters who complain about the class of customer frequenting the pub should perhaps observe the bare-chested, obnoxious, lout class who frequent many old town pubs such as the Nelson, Trader, Albion and several 'new town' pubs such as the Havelock, Yates and The Clarence. We are not unique in that respect. This sort of criticism smacks of 'pub snobbery' and I think that if the pub did not have JDW above the door then the reviews would be markedly higher! Those people who just can't abide JDW whould remember that without them many local brewers would have gone bust several years ago! What i think is most telling about those that repeatedly complain about JDW is the fact that many of them keep returning, knowing what to expect yet still complain; is it at all possible that these people care more about getting their sub �2 pint and the state of their wallets then about the quality of servce/beer which they proclaim to be so important?! If you want a pub which offers good value food, cheap beer, and a conversation enabling lack of music then pick JDW, if however you are a superciliousness member of the pub snob brigade and regard the mark of a good pub as the number of horse brasses abover the bar and the warmth of the (overly expensive) ale, then perhaps you should venture to another establishment.

17 May 2010 22:29