Selborne Arms, Selborne

Really sorry to have to do this but I feel if this is the way people make their 'complaints' about your pub then we should be given a chance to reply! I have repeatedly reported a couple of the comments for removal due to factual inaccuracy but to no avail, so this is the only comeback we have. I will only respond to the last five comments as others go back too far now. I have no problem with people making a complaint if they have had a bad experience but surely the pub should have a right to reply? So here goes...
With regards the comments of Sabiston on 2nd May, the chicken wings starter was �3.95 on the menu, not �5.95. This is a huge percentage increase that you have added on to the price and of course makes it seem unreasonable. We are by far one of the cheapest country pubs in the area for fresh, homemade, locally sourced food!
With regards Featherways of 23rd November, I am extremely sorry you were unhappy with your steak and kidney pie but the choice is new potatoes and vegetables or simply chips - this is very clear on the menu. The choice is not potatoes OR vegetables! As for the toilet, yes, one of the ladies toilets is an add on and uses a SaniFlo system which is unfortunately rather noisy. I can honestly say in 11 years we have had no complaints about this.
With regards Slickslinger of 7th December, we have been at the Selborne Arms for 11 years and have never allowed dogs in, sorry. Our predecessors stopped them from coming in due to the many fights they had in the main bar and we have not started it again. We do welcome dogs into the garden and provide dog bowls for them. We do not have flagstone floors. I am not sure where that comment comes from. As for not wanting the after work trade - we have tried in the past opening at 5pm and 5.30pm and were completely empty until about 6pm so we went back to opening at 6pm. We are open all day Saturday and Sunday. Also, I am very sorry there was not a beer that you fancied on at the time. We did have several winter beers, stouts and porters on over the winter but we do also get many of our regulars favourites, of which Swift One is most certainly one.
That also really leads on to Ladiesview of 6th February. With regards the beers, we have 3 regular beers on the bar - Ringwood Fortyniner, Suthwyk Old Dick and Courage Best. We also have two pumps that change in the winter and four in the summer. On these pumps we get one firkin of each ale so there is never the same one on for long. Therefore how this can be described as 'boring, lacks imagination and a flexible approach' is beyond me. I am sure our many local breweries whose beers feature regularly on our bar would love to know their beer is boring. As for the cold I apologise to everyone who has been in over the last winter or two. The heating could not cope with heating a building built in the 1600s in the extreme weather conditions we had. We have now had the whole system replaced and a new boiler fitted at great expense. It is certainly not and never has been that we 'could not be bothered' to heat the place properly as stated here.
I know the website says not to take comments too seriously but that is all very well for them to say. I have had many customers tell me that they have read them and they don't understand why the comments are bad when they have really enjoyed their visit, but people unfortunately do not as often go away and write a good comment as a bad one. Whatever is said here about our many awards, while we are a food pub and have won Dining Pub of the Year, we have also won 'Best Creative Outdoor Area' for the South in the Great British Pub Awards and CAMRA Pub of the Year 2011 for East Hampshire. We are certainly not just about food. We are very proud of our real ales and we work hard to keep the Selborne Arms a pub, not a restaurant!

14 May 2012 22:48