October 5th, 2020 was the last time we sat down inside a pub and ordered a drink. It was in Great Yarmouth whilst on holiday in the Norfolk Broads. It had just started to rain, and like most people would do, we entered the first place we came across to get out of the rain. It was the bowling alley along the beach front promenade. We were welcomed in, wearing masks of course and having signed in leaving my phone number, and asked to take a seat and that someone would come over and take our order. Some people inside were ordering food and some were there simply to have a drink and, like us, keep out of the rain for half an hour or so.
After around three minutes, a member of staff came over and took our order and it arrived in a reasonable time. As the rain persisted we decided to stay for another drink and although we had to wait until the member of staff serving was free, as he had a number of people to deal with, he came over to us as soon as he could and took our order. All in all, it was a pleasant visit and would recommend anyone to go in, and give it a try, even if you do not intend bowling!
A further six months have passed and yesterday we visited Wroxham, “Gateway to the Broads” and decided to have a drink in the large pub situated in the centre of town on the river’s edge (they know who they are). It wasn’t that busy and most people had decided to sit outside in the large beer garden to either have a drink or a meal. We duly queued at the designated spot and waited to be seated, and a party of six people queued quietly behind us. When the manager arrived to deal with us, he asked us to move back and kept pointing to around ten feet away, so we duly moved. He then spoke to the group behind us, attempting to serve them first. They immediately said, “These people were definitely before us, they should be served first.” We walked forward and the manager asked us to download the pub “app”. I said I didn’t want to do that, and he said he would sign in for me. He took my name and number and asked us to take a seat and a member of staff would be over to us shortly to take our order.
Being a cautious person, I do not upload every pub, restaurant or café’s “app”, I would rather write down my name and give my contact number should I need to be contacted if someone visiting the pub at the same time as me, catches Covid 19, and I need to self-isolate. Downloading too many of this type of “app” can cause major issues by not only slowing your phone down, but also opening your phone up to “hackers”, who are adept at fraudulently obtaining money from your account, via. the personal ordering payment service you have just “in good faith” linked up to.
Large pubs and bars obviously want you to use their “app” as it allows you to order drinks and food online, tap in your table number, pay for your order in advance, and sit back and wait for staff to bring your order to the table. This also cuts back on the number of staff required, as they only need to deliver to the tables and clear the tables when people leave.
Unfortunately, I suspect because we only wanted a drink, therefore not being a profitable option, we were then systematically ignored for around 15 minutes or more. We sat quietly and watched the people who had been behind us receive their drinks and no amount of hand-waving or coaxing on our part could encourage the staff to serve us. We could see that all the larger parties and those parties ordering food were being given priority and we were blatantly ignored. I suppose the manager had made a choice and having lost money during lockdown has made a conscious decision to act in this manner.
As the summer approaches and lockdown eases this will be the case more and more, unfortunately, so will the cases of fraudulently obtaining money via. these “apps” as the criminal fraternity become slicker in their ability to steal our money.
I have luckily mellowed in recent years, and I am less militant than I used to be, and we decide to get up and leave and go to another, much smaller pub who took our details, seated and served us, with a smile on their face, and we stayed for a number of drinks.
This issue has already been reported on national television and may, when restrictions ease even further, be ironed out, but certainly made us re-think the type of establishment we will go into over the coming few months.