A customers concern - regarding the White Horse Inn, Beverley

[Submitted Anonymously?]

We have been asked by a non-member of this site, if we could publicly post the following message - the authors email address is on our files in the event of any response.
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To whom it may concern,
 
May I start by saying that I have been a regular patron of the white horse inn, or Nellie's, in Beverley for the past 20 or so years.

my family and my friends have also been regular customers of this lovely quaint pub for even longer.

unfortunately the land lady of many years left, I am aware that there where problems putting in new management.
regrettably I have had a few problems with this establishment in the past months, firstly after spending a wonderful Friday night in Nellie's, I left my car in the car park, when I returned on the following day I was faced with a ?5 parking ticket, with no notice in the car part I felt this charge was unfair. when I discussed this with the landlady she compared my leaving my car in the car park the same as her leaving her car in my drive way, since this time I have informed her that I intend to leave my car in the large car park, she insists that I leave my car registration number whichIi think is fair, but she also insists on my full name and phone number, which to be honest I think is rather strange.
 
this public house also has an extremely large room upstairs which in the past my family and myself have booked for private functions, however around 4 years ago this room was opened up as part of the pub, this room is full of chairs, tables and sofa's, as you can imagine this room is very popular, and a favorite of mine, I have spent many a good hour relaxing with my friends and family in this room, with it's two open fires, this is a most pleasurable place to be in on a cold winters evening, however this room has been kept closed so far this year due to it's need of a clean!  the many open fire in this establishment are also not well stocked with fuel.
 
due to the layout of the establishment the lack of the upstairs space results in a considerable shortage of seating space, and overcrowding at the bar area, which results in poor service for the patrons of this fine establishment.
 
could you please ensure this letter reaches your complaints department as there is no link to such department on your website or alternatively send me the e-mail address for such department.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Sally Pearson
long standing customer of Samuel Smiths

[ian]

Speaking only on the car parking. 

I would think managers of city/town pubs get uptight about people leaving cars in their car parks. It only takes a minute to ask the manager if it OK to leave your car overnight.  Also Nellie's have a lockable barrier, I wonder how long the manager waited before locking it thinking you might return and wake them up because your car was locked in?

ian.

[blueboy]

As an ex manager of some 14 years with Smiths, I would like to point out that officially no overnight parking is allowed on Mr. Smiths property. No parking is allowed on his property during opening hours unless you are in his pub as a customer. This may seem pathetic to you as a regular customer of that pub who puts loads of money over the counter, but that is Smiths orders to his staff. If the manager does not comply and Smith turns up at the pub to find cars parked out of hours, or parked and the occupants are not in his pub, then he will immediately blow his top because his manager has not complied with his instructions.
Regarding the parking fee, that is not right, it has been asked for as a deterrant for you not to park there again. If it was a legal fine it would be 10 fold than what you was asked to pay.
Concerning the upstairs room. I would imagine that this has been closed down to offset heating and cleaning costs. The manager has a budget to operate to and exceeding budget could result in disciplinary action.
You see all in all the managers at Smiths are on a tightrope, just a little sway the wrong way could lead to dismissal for the oddest of reasons.

[ian]

As an ex manager of some 14 years with Smiths, I would like to point out that officially no overnight parking is allowed on Mr. Smiths property.

But wouldn't the manager be breaking the law by telling a driver who is over the drink drive limit to drive their car off the pubs car park?  There as to be a little common sense applied to all rules lied down by any company. 


So it looks the mangers of Sam Smiths pubs are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't.  Arn't I pleased I worked in the building trade where we could always tell our bosses to  "f off " if we did not agree with them.

ian.

[blueboy]

Ian you are spot on, the manager would be out of order insisting a car be driven off the car park if the driver was over the limit. I don't believe that any manager would even contemplate taking that avenue. I have personally taken the keys off my customers who were intent on driving from the premises intoxicated. They were pi**ed off with me at the time but were grateful the following day on returning to pick the car up. This is using common sense. However what you have to understand here is that Mr. Smith is not of the human race like the rest of us. He is a one off. His attitude would be that the car should have been left at home at the outset, and not left on his property. Hence in the case that I mentioned above, I would still have been found guilty of disobedience as using common sense with this company is not permitted

[OldBreweryDrinker]

The manager of my local Sams, has a problem with people just parking in the car park, during the day and overnight.This is because there are a few streets, with houses near by that dont have off street parking.The car park has only 6 places and the dray sturggle some mornings due to people right outside.

The manager does suffer and has had several customers complaining that they carn't park near the pub.

[ian]

Went in Nelly's today on my way home after a days walking. The OBB was good but this was better                       



                                               I
                                               I
                                           \   I  /
                                             \ I /
                                              \I/

[OldBreweryDrinker]

The open fires make the pubs very cosy especially in the present weather.

[gsxpete]

AMAZED AND DISCUSED AT THE LANDLORDS ATTITUDE TOWARDS HIS CUSTOMERS.
after my partner put comments on here a few days ago, we went to nellies a few nights ago for a quiet beer, by a fire, in the snow, not all fires where lit but that should be expected by now.
the landlord approached my partner in an aggressive manor, and produced 13 photographs of her and her family that he had printed from facebook, and began to rant at her, maybe if he put this much effort into running the pub there would be nothing to complain about in the first place.

[ian]

I've no axe to grind as I don't know the manager at nellie's and I don't know the couple who are posting on here.

So this is just my take on the subject, for which I'm entitled too as this as been posted on a open forum for all to see.

As I see it the first poster came on here slagging off the manager of Nellie's maybe in the hope to get him reprimanded or maybe the sack.  We all know that H.S's secretary reads this forum daily. It does look like most if not all of Ms Pearson's complaints are beyond the control of the manager. And because Ms Pearson did not get the tea and sympathy she thought she was entitled too her partner comes on here slagging off the manager again.

Maybe instead of coming on here whinging, take a step back and think about your part in this. You have dropped this manager right in it by your actions in the first post. Then you swan back into Nellie's wanting the manager (the same manager who you have dropped in the s**t) to be all sweetness & light to you. He is human, and being  such I'm not surprised he had a go at you.

 As for facebook, never been on it and I don't want to.   But saying that can I ask you if you've been posting on facebook about Nellie's?  If so you only got yourself's to blame.

This as always is just my opinion as a member of this forum.


ian.

Edited by me (spelling)  one day I'll learn how to spell

[BlackDog]

Very well put Ian.

I too don't know the pub or poster but feel this is the wrong forum to vent such spite.

[delboy]

as a regular of nellies, and without taking sides, this is my take on the situation.

all managers of all sams pubs have to abide by the rules, or face the sack. unfortunately, people dont often believe they are the brewery rules and think managers are just being petty, so they get unfair blame.

example: no singing is allowed (not even happy birthday), but most times when being told not to sing, customers get upset and probably dont believe its a brewery rule. if humphs was to walk in when such a rule is not being enforced, then i guess the managers are putting their jobs on the line.

so the car park thing is a brewery rule. landlady probably wants your name and phone number to let you know if the car needs moving, or if it's been broken in to, as has happened before in that car park

the upstairs room was great, but isn't closed 'cos of needing a clean. it is closed because if it was open and as full as it used to be, you would be waiting half an hour to get served because of the limited number of staff that can work in the week. brewery rules again

also over the last year, as staffing has been continually cut, managers have relied on volunteers for glass collecting, just to keep the bar stocked with glasses. so again not the managers fault

if the upstairs was open, there would be even more overcrowding in the bar. the pub has continued to get less and less customers due to long waiting times at the bar when busy (this is not so bad recently as pub is quieter). dodgy previous management, who didnt seem to want any customers, and of course all the other usual stuff, like music banned etc.

so ms pearson, whilst i can sympathize with you passion for the pub, and disappointed with the way things are at the moment, you are blaming the wrong people. i think the managers are equally frustrated at the situation, and have gallantly not pointed a finger of blame at the brewery, despite it being their rules which affect things

many sams managers are under pressure (as can be seen at this site) and its not surprising they may have a short fuse with people. daft thing is, you and the managers are on the same side, and probably sharing the same views, but frustrations may have just made the situation all mixed up

just my opinion, but it might be an idea to say something like "i didnt realize about brewery rules, but now i do, can we start again?" or something like that - i mean, well its nearly Christmas

[gsxpete]

QUESTION TO IAN
i have no problem with nellies and i have always found it a very nice old school pub, but would you as a long standing customer or manager of sam smiths go through the actions of looking up one of your customers on the internet and printing pictures of her, her family and friends so then you could challenge them aggressively in the pub.
many thanks
pete

Post Merge: Dec  3 - 2010as a director of my own business i would expect all my managers and staff to treat all customers and public with respect and take any complaints seriously and would look at the actions of what has been happening and post a reply on a public forum as this not looking them up on the internet and printing several pictures of her and her family and friends so he could challenge her in the pub causing an amount of embarassment and stress. i am putting these posts up because i am disgusted and appalled with the way in which the manager spoke to my partner.
i am aware of different ways to make complaints however my partner was advised to put her letter of complaint on here, and it was put on here by the person who gave the advice, as yet this site will not allow my partner to put a post on here.

[ian]

QUESTION TO IAN
i have no problem with nellies and i have always found it a very nice old school pub, but would you as a long standing customer or manager of sam smiths go through the actions of looking up one of your customers on the internet and printing pictures of her, her family and friends so then you could challenge them aggressively in the pub.
many thanks
pete

To be fair we are only hearing one side of the story here, and we all know that the manager of Nellie's cannot come on here to defend himself.

Re facebook. I have stated on my last post that I don't use it, but I find it hard to believe that posters on facebook post photo's of themselfs as well as family and friends for all to see.

What I would or would not do is not at question here. And I do believe that maybe your blowing this all out of proportion.

ian.


PS, Pete can you answer one question please as I've got enquiring mind some may say I'm just bloody nosey.

Did you go on facebook to complain about the manager and your circle of facebook friends  backed you up? If that is the case maybe that is why he had the photo's off facebook so he could recognise them if they came in.


Like I said it's just my mind working overtime, but it would be nice to know how far off beam I am.


Post Merge: [time]Dec  3 - 2010[/time]Respect is a twoway street.

[gsxpete]

ian to answer your question, nothing was put on facebook about nellies or it's manager, the bit of a grumble was put on this site by a member of this site, for my partner, as was recomended, the complaint was not about the manager of nellies or the pub itself, just in the hope of maybe getting the odd answer, of which now Del boy a member of this forum has now in his opinion explained the rules of Sam Smiths, which is a perfectly good answer to the original gripe. but since the incident the other night, yes i have put a comment on facebook about the manager. the manager got my partners name from the original letter put on her, he then .looked her up on facbook, and managed to get hold of photo's due to lack of privacy settings on her account