Day 141 - Location Location Location

Lunch today was decidedly average. Eaten in a pub with no soul, owned by people who clearly had no taste whatsoever – not even a jot - in décor because the décor and the furnishings and the curtains and carpets and the light fittings were awful and completely mismatched (not eclectic – that would be quirky, this wasn’t), run by staff who clearly hadn’t heard of going anywhere let alone the extra mile for their customers and cleaned by fairies who perhaps need new wands.

I actually need to explain this a bit more to put it into perspective: here in the UK the pub industry is massive, it employs thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people maybe even millions of people. There are a myriad of publications covering every angle and every facet of the business, breweries and pub companies have experts in their midst that would happily help a pub owner to be better, guide them to better retail standards; hell if you sell their beer they may even help you financially to modernise your facilities…, and therefore, in my humble opinion, there is no excuse in 2012 to offer such a piss poor and dated environment.

But today it seemed to make no difference to the several hundred fellow lunch eaters at the Wharf Tavern which is somewhere I’m not sure I’ll find again, somewhere in Shropshire, I think. Next to a canal with wharfage facilities (not a very original name for the pub then don’t you think?). Oh and did I mention the not one but two caravan parks alongside the pub. And did I mention that we had to wait half an hour to get a table. And did I mention that there was no such thing as any table service whatsoever? And did I mention the two rather large car parks the pub had. And the awful uncomfortable furniture. And yes, the several hundred diners all eating merrily their Sunday lunch. And did I mention that we left depressed?

Depressed you ask? OK not really depressed because I’ve given up giving a shit, confused maybe is a better word. Here’s the difference. Our pub – yes we are part of the industry so maybe we are a little critical of others – you think… I can hear you saying – is really doing well. We are very busy, we do a lot of food, we sell a fair bit of beer, and we do functions, conferencing and and and…

We do several hundred meals a week, they would have done several hundred meals today…. we can seat about 60 people tops, they can seat double that and had a queue… we make most of our food fresh in house, most of theirs, based on what we saw on the menu, comes out of a box…we use only well-known brands of condiments – like Coleman’s, Heinz etc. – they use al cheapo no name brand sachets, we offer a level of table service and go way beyond the extra mile is we have to, there you have to order and pay at the bar, we pour a beer into that beers branded glass, there…anything goes.

And here’s the rub. We’re on the high street; they’re next to a picturesque canal in the countryside. And that my friends, is their Ace card. If you have location location location you can just about do anything you want.

And today proves it. It has never been clearer in my mind.

God speed.