So, you've just come back from two weeks of sun in the Med. Your back's peeling, your crotch is itching and you can't stop yourself from shaking until you have another beer. You swan down to your local pub, in the smallest and whitest outfit to accentuate your burning tan, open the doors, and proceed to venture forward towards the bar. On the way, your flip-flop gets stuck on the sticky and well-worn carpet. You rest your arms on the bar, only to be covered in beer and peanuts, and wait to be served. ....... And you wait....... then you wait a bit more, until a dishevelled-looking creature finally acknowledges you. "Can I have an ice cold beer, and what premium gin do you have?" you stutter, knowing full well that the spotty 19-year-old won't have a clue what you're talking about.... you're back home now, where the bar staff aren't pleased to serve you, the beer is warm and furniture looks as though it should be on the Antiques Road Show!
Although this analogy might seem a bit extreme, I'm sure that everyone at one point can relate to this.
So why does a country that prides itself on being a drinking nation accept such low standards?
I'm not talking about demolishing the traditional Welsh pub, or getting rid of draught ales in favour of swanky American low carb beers... but why can't we raise the standards of service. When you walk into a bar abroad, you're greeted by a friendly face and walked to your choice of table. Forthwith the knowledgeable waiter/waitress offers you a drink and helps you decide your choice of poison by actually knowing something about the selection on offer. You then remain seated, with your non-wobbly chair and table, and wait for your ice cold drinks and sparkling clean, non-chipped glass to be served to you, before you've even had a chance to light a bloody cigarette. At which point the waiter lights your cigarette, and your ashtray is cleared away before the ash starts to take over your table.
No wonder you see so many people staggering around at 12 midnight on a Friday night... It's because they've had to get bladdered as the night has been so crap due to the service on offer! To be fair, there are a lot of style bars and traditional pubs that do attain the dizzy heights of good service; people who care about how their pubs look, and the experience that their customers get from the venue; Bar tenders who keep up with what's hot and what's not. A problem with the industry is that 90% of the U.K thinks this career path is for drop-outs - the people who failed their degree, had a part time job behind a bar and because they showed slight signs of brain activity, got lured into the trade with a trainee manager's title.
They don't see all the training on product knowledge, mixology, points of service, wine appreciation, health and safety and such vital areas of the professional bar trade that get skimmed over!
However, the tide is finally turning. With new individual bars, restaurants and clubs opening up, where the emphasis is on the customer, and not sheer volume of trade.
Even the big-chained high street brands are realizing that they cannot just lure people in off the street any more with cheap drinks. Bars are just as much a fashion accessory, as a flash car or diamond necklace. After all, you are what you drink, as much as where you drink.
So remember next time you go out on the town to a club, bar or restaurant. If the standard of service, drinks offered or interior is not to your liking, you can do something about it.
Tell managers, inform the staff of their shortcomings. Don't just sit there and accept it.
After all if you demand more from your watering hole, and they don't provide it, then you will inevitably go elsewhere.
If we don't please the customer by listening to what they want, catching on to new trends and fashions and providing the ultimate drinking experience..... we don't have a job at all.
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