"Always been a fan of this place, and I had heard some good things following the renovation, so was very keen to visit. I popped in last Sunday and spoke to a very pleasant member of bar staff who took a booking for a table of four for last night (01/12/23). I was pleased that confirmation was given that the venue was still dog friendly, and he even spotted my New England Patriots hat, and we had a very brief NFL conversation. Having arrived last night, we attempted to enter with our dog, however whilst the pub is dog friendly, the restaurant is not. Honest mistake I thought, and a member of bar staff said that we’d be ok ordering from the restaurant and eating in the pub, which we were fine with. Upon entering the restaurant again to seek menus, we were told that the kitchen was actually only open for the festive menu. Again, fair enough, honest mistake I thought, and we’d have been OK(ish) with ordering from the festive menu. However, the conversation then changed to the fact that the restaurant was now only open for private Christmas parties, and we wouldn’t be able to order anything at all. This was surprising and disappointing in equal measure, as there had been plenty of opportunities to tell us this, as we’d already spent around 30min in the pub having a drink before food. We were told that our booking “should not have been taken” however having left contact details several days previous when booking, I find it astonishing that nobody took the time to call to explain this prior to arrival. In the end, we walked to Tarro Lounge, who were extremely accommodating as always. I’m not one to be overly negative, however I found the whole experience really poor in terms of service, and won’t be returning as a result. This is a shame, as the atmosphere is generally friendly, there is a good selection of drinks, and the new menu looked to have been given a lot of thought. We strongly recommend avoiding based on service levels for the time being."
