Wetherspoons poor service?

Could it simply be cheaper than providing training?

Arthur, the staff tell me that they are trained to only do the job they have been told to do. Dropping other jobs to serve customers isn't part of that training. The Warrington pub has a beer festival on and has a good selection of beers in good condition. Despite that it was almost empty most afternoons last week. Perhaps Weatherspoons service to customers is having an effect?

The message from "Gareth" contains these words:

Ditto here in Wick.

In article , Dave Croft writes

I now mostly go to a non-Wetherspoons pub which has a good selection of cask beer, an interesting selection of keg beer and ales, bottles, etc. It has more staff and vastly more customers but manages to serve them quickly and in turn, right up to 'time'. This is unlike the Southfields Wetherspoons which I visited last night, about twenty minutes before 'time' most of the staff were cleaning and restocking instead of serving customers and about ten minutes before 'time' most of them vanished leaving only one serving. The small saving is not worth the aggravation and contempt this shows.

I only went there last night because local transport is disrupted; perhaps I should go in there today just to see if the manager has removed the dangerous stool I pointed out to him, the wooden cross bars had come unstuck and their tongues were completely out of the uprights. I said it could collapse under someone causing them injury, but the manager was quite happy to leave a customer sitting on it.

On Sun, 21 May 2006 10:26:26 +0100, Gareth wrote (in message ):

They're cheap places so they pay their staff peanuts therefore they get monkeys. Where's the mystery?

It's been my experience that if you want cold food with sour beer served by arrogant schoolchildren, then Wetherspoons is the place to be.

I think it's probably partly that.

But the quality of the staff (presumably related to the pay) also seems significant to me. Most of the staff I see on my rare visits to Spoons here are the sort of people I'd be reluctant to employ to shovel manure. I'm not sure any training would make much difference to these.

I've found 'Spoons pubs to be very variable, but it's true that service is generally poor, with undertrained and inexperienced bar staff. The attitude of the manager seems very important, and JDW managers are a very mixed bunch indeed.

I agree that beer quality is usually quite good, but often spoiled by overcold dispense or unacceptably large heads. A request for a topup sometimes produces a very hostile reaction.

Best regards, Paul

I once had hostile to the extent of being told to drink elsewhere, so I do.

I hope that resulted in a call to Trading Standards.

I complained at curry night once (they wouldn't give me a real ale) and was told by the manageress "What do you expect for four quid?" That was in Northampton. I asked to try an ale before I bought it in Skegness and was told "No chance" I took a pint of Spitfire back in Redditch because it tasted like vinegar, and was told loudly by the manager that it was a "perfectly good pint of mild" MILD!!?? Wethers have now gone back on their promise to ban smoking this spring, after saying how much they care about their employers health. They care about nothing. I've emailed them about all the above issues and have never had a reply.

phil

Prolly not fair, but when we come to the UK we use Wetherspoons only as a convenient loo. Real Ale is had elsewhere.

nick

The Spoons round the corner from me is in the Good Beer Guide, but oddly, just has a tiny and grotty gents.

Had exactly the same problem in Harrogate on Saturday afternoon - loads of bar staff doing other things (one was delivering cups of coffee one at a time - haven't they a tray) and no one serving at our end of the bar. There were eight of us including the landlord of another pub waiting and we gave up eventually waiting to order our second pint. Pity too becuase the first pint (Bishops Farewell I think) was the best one we'd had that day.

Manky Badger21/5/06 12:55 pm

LOL.... But that all fits exactly with the sixth-form common-room style decor. At peak times it is a nightmare in my local JDW. I only go occasionally when it's not busy.

If you want quality with intelligent and prompt service then perhaps pay a little more and support your local freehouse of choice. They cannot all compete with a large conglomerate's buying power.

As one of my local landlords said *If everyone who has deserted their old local to drink in a cut-price JDW outlet, bought just one pint a week in their old pub, some of them might just survive*.

CR

The message from "Manky Badger" contains these words:

Had several excellent pints of Hydes Jekyl at Wetherspoons the other day

- and only £1.29 per pint too. Served by an informed manager who has been in the business for many years. He is an excellent replacement for the arrogant, ignorant slob who preceded him!

In message , phil writes

Btw on curry nights an option is marstons pedigree.

In message , Paul Rigg writes

Had the same problem in the Golden grove London e15 , 1 member of staff serving then another appeared from out the back with her own idea of the order of customers, this was about 17.00-1800, had the same problem before here , may need more staff.

You don't normally get an option, it's usually whichever of their regular beers is nearing its sell-by date.