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You're the Landlord #2

With apologies to Paul Trevillion and based on incidents witnessed in the course of our pub-going.

Your busy city centre pub stops serving food at 8pm and the chef has shut down the kitchen. A weary looking business traveller approaches the bar and asks if you are still serving food. He looks downhearted when you say no. He scratches his head and then asks if there’s any chance he might get some fish and chips from the takeaway next door and bring them into the pub to eat with a pint.

What would you do?

19 replies on “You're the Landlord #2”

If it’s a city centre pub then no doubt there would be other nearby establishments still serving meals that you could direct him to. But why not let him bring fish and chips in if he wants to – plenty of other pubs positively encourage that.

I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Besides, you never know who might own a popular blog…

I wouldn’t miss a chance at additional pint revenue and the goodwill established by letting the weary traveler bring food in could pay future dividends in “word of mouth” business.

No!
:~)
Instead I hope I’d have enough staff & sense of good service to say to him something like “Sorry, the chef’s gone home, but I can rustle you up an omelette, steak & chips, bread, cheese & pickles or something?”

But if that wasn’t possible, then the least I could do is either recommend a decent local pub still serving food or allow him to bring his fish & chips into the pub.

(My brother travels a lot around NW England, with his unusual work/life – he loves good food, beer & pubs. I was talking to him about the useless service in some pubs he’s experienced recently – surly staff, poor beer & food, early kitchen closing, etc – he sees a real link with these sorts of problems & the fact that so many pubs are closing – why would you support a pub when they seem to treat people so poorly?)

Absolutely, not a problem in any way shape or form. However I would also offer for him to leave his briefcase behind the bar while he gets his chips sorted, that way he has to come back!

Definitely let him bring in food. First of all it is the hospitable thing to do. Secondly, if your kitchen is closed, you’re not in the food business anyway at the moment, but you are in the beer business.

Since he looked weary, someone from the bar should go next door and order it for him ask them to ring when it’s ready.

I like the approach of the Wellington, Birmingham – although not a food pub you can bring in takeaways and, what’s more, they provide plates and cutlery

Aye for sure would I say in case of being a pub without food but if I managed a pub with a Kitchen me myself would offer him an alternative. What’s more important, in these days of crisis I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea at all to have a kind of mini menu to face cases like this.

P.S.-Passing this case to Spain is something unthinkable with Kitchens open til midnight hehehe,( what is really sad and hard when you work in one but totally true)

Like the Wellington, The Salt House in Galway lets you bring food in. They also have a sister restaurant nearby which leaves its takeaway menu on the bar — the barstaff will even phone your order through for you.

I’m absolutely astonished that some of you think it’s ok to bring your own food in a pub and landlords should pander to it. The comment about not missing extra pint revenue is revealing of a major misunderstanding: that pubs thrive on selling beer. They don’t. The cash margin on a pint is tiny, and even if you’re untied the percentage GP is pretty poor too.

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