New Years Eve, your thoughts would be great on the following.

[OnTheDrink]

I believe that OldBreweryDrinker is saying more or less what I have said in my previous post. Everyone uses Sams pubs for the cheap ale to start the night off on NYE then filter off to places with some life in them, music, entertainment, late supping etc. and thus leaving Smiffies pubs void of customers. He states that the bar staff are under the cosh then boom nothing, and he is quite right, I have experienced this myself over my last 4 years. What I think he intimates, and I agree, is that if we still had music, entertainment, late supping, or in general some sort of atmosphere then we would still have full pubs like we used to have on NYE. In fact if we had the latter at any time through the year generally, at Smiffies prices, we would be closing our competitors down. Perhaps with his anti entertainment regime, Smiffie has a heart after all, and doesn't want to see such closures.
On a brighter note looking back to the good old NYE days when the job was fun, my wife and I plus barstaff used to get a pasting from 7pm to midnight on the bar, after which we got rid of the customers, cleaned up the pub then were joined by the staffs spouses and had our own staff shindig with jukebox, buffet and bought in drink, plus Smiffies stuff that had been bought for us during the evening. This went on while about 2 a.m. and was enjoyed by all.
Try doing that now as a thankyou for your staffs efforts and you will be looking for a new job.

It's not just NYE when customers stack up on the cheap SS drink then leg it off to somewhere more lively, it's  every night of the week, particularly at weekends!  That's the problem, Friday and Saturday early can be a right busy time for the staff then come half 9 it all goes quiet.

[Botolphman]

Ian, so what you are saying is that you can only complain on this site if you have over 500 post's, give you full name, DOB, blood group, a recent passport sized photograph, signed by a professional person, and possibly your family tree.
You need to remember that a lot of us go into SS pubs not mainly because they are cheap, but because our friends drink in there. The pub I have spoken about have a landlord, the landlady is not bad at all apart from the charging at NYE, who will bar you at the drop of a hat. He also has the attitude that virtually all customers are irritants disturbing him.
So why don't you tell me, and anybody else who might not be happy with things, where we should direct our complaints. You may say "stop drinking in the pub", so I should go and sit in another pub alone while friends are in MY local.
There are many other things that I could list on ere about what goes on, but I have not, the NYE was maybe the straw that broke the camels back.
Perhaps you think anonymous phone calls to SS head office are better, come on let everybody know please.

[ian]

In a last few months there has been a history of new posters on here using their first post to have a go at the managers of their locals. More times then not unjustified.

It just seams very odd that most people only find this site when their got something negative to say about there local. The trouble is nobody on here knows your motive for posting and has you know the manager cannot come on here to defend himself. If I'm doing you a injustice them I apologist.

Are you going to tell us how NYE went?

ian.

[Botolphman]

Ian, I can understand your caution, I have looked at the board for a while and thought about coming on here many times, but to be honest it would have all been complaints due to some of the things that go on at the pub that are just down to the couldn't care less attitude, I don't really have a lot else to say as the beer is fine most of the time and I go in mainly to see people. This was just something that got to me really as quite a few of my friends decided not to go due to being charged to go into a pub they go in all year. It was interesting to find out if their friends paid!!!!!!
Anyway, the night itself. It was a decent enough night due to the people I was with, the most annoying thing was that there were kids running around for most of the night, with their parents not really looking after them. There are some big blokes in the pub who like a drink, if one had fallen on them then that would have been a big problem. It was just a shame not too see some familiar faces on what can be the best night of the year.