A Cumbrian pub – rated among the best in the county – has told a complaining diner they hope he never returns.
The Clickham Inn in Blencow has consistent good and excellent reviews on website TripAdvisor and is among the top eateries on the site.
However, nestled among the praise is a one-star slating by John B from Durham after his experience last month.
He criticised the pub in a lengthy rant saying that his wife’s birthday dinner had been ruined due to poor customer service.
The review – which also mentioned a dog begging for food at their table – was headed ‘We won’t be back’ and it prompted Clickham Inn owners Stephen and Geri Bailey to issue a stinging reply.
Owner Stephen said he would not stand for any nonsense from customers and hit back with a response saying the diner was self-important, rude and dismissive and they were collectively really happy that the diner would never be returning.
John B said: “Main issue was the owner (Steve) who was so rude, abrupt and has zero customer service skills. If you like a dog barking at your table begging for food off your plate…then hey ho it maybe for you.
“The young waiters/waitresses were fine but when we asked for the dessert menu we were told the kitchen had closed. Our table was booked at 8pm for my wife’s birthday, we had starters, mains and several glasses of wine, drinks etc, Steve rudely explained that the chef had been in all day and was wanting to get home.
“When asked about his dog begging at everyone’s table…his reply was…It’s a dog friendly pub. He continued to emphasise that his customers come for the food, which was OK. How this restaurant/pub is second on TripAdvisor is beyond me. My wife’s birthday surprise meal was ruined by a very hostile owner. Steve…you need to go on a course for customer service!”
Stephen, who has only responded to one other comment on his pub’s TripAdvisor page, said they rarely get bad reviews and normally only get positive responses from customers.
He added: “My staff warned me how bad he was and in the end he walked out shouting after he paid for the meal but I wasn’t getting into a shouting match.
“It was just a horrible experience and he was making all kinds of crazy demands and expected me to greet him and his party of four at the door and make sweets after the kitchen had been closed for an hour.”
Stephen added that the diner was so aggressive that his experienced staff were too nervous to interact with him.
He said: “It’s just one of those rare bad occasions, but I’m not going to be ruled by bad customers, otherwise you open yourselves up to all sorts and lose control.
“We have people who will come down 30 miles for lunch here, we don’t buy anything pre-cooked in and everything is done properly.
“If it’s genuine criticism we accept it but he was so over the top with demands it was crazy. it’s not often I respond like this but people need to hear the other side of the story.
“I won’t stand for drunks or rudeness or bad behaviour. People want to come in and see it nice, warn and calm and we had customers complaining to us about this table because they were causing such a problem.
“They were expecting to be treated like royalty and were very entitled, rude people.
“If we’ve done something wrong we always make up for it, we offer free meals or drinks if a wait is too long and most pubs don’t do that, we do everything we can to make sure people are happy.”
In his response on the site, Steve said: “This review was expected and anyone who read your nasty words will be interested to read the truth.
“Upon entering the pub your entitled self important self was rude and dismissive of our helpful staff to the point that the staff warned me about the terrible people on table 15.
“After being escorted to your table and a short while after your drinks order being carried to your table an experienced member of our staff asked if you were ready to order.
“This was met with how you wanted to wait until your ready to order and how amateur we were for asking. Well the rudeness continued throughout your meal to the point that both staff members were mentioning your attitude to me in disgust. I approached your table where you tried to berate me because I hadn’t introduced myself to you upon arrival.
“You proceeded to talk over me and had an opinion on everything, I tried three times to explain that we are a dog friendly country pub that produces good quality home cooked food and not a full blown restaurant.
“Your anger was quite ridiculous when at 9.45pm you asked to see the sweet menu and was informed that the kitchen closed at 9pm, which is not early at all.
He added that ordinarily, the pub would have made the desserts for the diners but that they didn’t want to reward them for their bad behaviour.
He said: “I suspect your entitled and over opinionated rudeness probably has a little to do with why your restaurant in America failed, as you told me.
“We are all collectively really happy that you will never be returning as we are known for being attentive and polite and its easy being nice to nice people. Folk can read hundreds our great reviews and then read yours, which do you think is typical of good folks experience. I imagine your review says more about you than anything else.”
The pub boss added that the inn was proudly dog friendly and that it clearly stated on social media that dogs were allowed.
He said: “We’re a working country pub that sells good food, it’s not a restaurant and it’s dog friendly. Nearly all pubs in Cumbria are dog friendly, they have to be.
“At any time we can have zero dogs or three or four running around. We have our dog Oscar who has become quite famous in his own little way, he’s a small black and white Shih Tzu, very friendly, doesn’t yap doesn’t do anything.
“He just sits at the tables and some people encourage him, we don’t encourage him to sit on seats but people invite him up and loads of people take photographs with him and post them in reviews and on social media and people love him to bits.”
Other reviewers called the pub warm, friendly and great value for money.
