Save our steaks!

[Jez]

Having read some of the messages on this board, this might seem like a petty complaint. I only found this website because I was searching for the official Sam Smiths site to drop them a line. There doesn't appear to be one - I wonder why?

For the last ten years, the Agar Arms at Warthill, just outside York, has been known for miles around as a fantastic steak house. Huge juicy steaks, homemade chips, friendly managers - always busy. Myself and a group of mates would jump on our bikes every few weeks, pedal off to the pub, order 16oz hunks of meat cooked medium rare and while waiting, would neck down the Pure Brewed. A perfect evening! We even took it as the focal point for our New Year's Day entertainment. The manager would always fit us in somewhere.

Then utter shock - a week ago I visited with a mate. The pub was deserted apart from a few cardboard cutout customers staring gloomily at their microwaved lasagne. No steaks!

I immediately assumed that a large party of locals would be assembling with flaming torches to put their case for restoration of their carnivorous rights to the brewery. But - no placards, no demonstration, no petitions!

So - I don't really want to let one of the best eating experiences in Yorkshire go quietly to the grave...

How many of you out there have been equally apalled by this?

I assumed it was all a horrible mistake, soon to be put right, but from the rest of this board, it seems to be a universal attack on food standards and well-managed pubs.

Will I be wasting a stamp sending a pleading letter to Tadcaster?

[Max]

Sadly, your experiences seem quite typical of many if not all Sam's pubs - and why no petitions? Well it would seem to be down to understandable apathy. Bottom line - it would appear (in my humble opinion) that Humphrey Smith doesn't give a damn what customers like or want - so long as they keep drinking his beer. Now if I'm wrong - he's got a very strange way of showing it.

There seems no attempt whatsoever, for the brewery to gauge any customer feedback, or market requirements. Only what may arrive on the desk of Humphs in the form of a request or complaint - most of which seem to either be ignored, or never actioned upon - hence the apathy from experience.

There has been some real eye-opener posts at this site (many of which have followed a letter to the brewery), and still matters remain unresolved - and we are not just talking about customer dissatisfaction. In some cases we are talking about poorly managed venues, with at least two incidences of drunken management on duty! However, some would excuse some situations when one can appreciate the pressure that some managers are under, due to crazy customer losing policy's, minimal staff-hours, and little overall support and understanding.

If only Humphs (or someone on his behalf) would take the time to listen to managers and customers alike, and appreciate the potential value of their respective experience. Taken positively, it could only benefit the business as a whole.

Sadly, whether meant or not, the brewery policy seems that of a secretive retiring organisation, who hides its livery and overall presence from the public, until they actually enter one of their venues.

They also seem to demonstrate an 'up yours' attitude to the customer, by not making any attempt to cater for anything other than their brew, and whatever is sanctioned by Humphs. With no brewery website (and non allowed for their pubs), it would seem as if the idea of customer communications is most certainly off the menu. And if you contact the brewery for a list of all of their pubs/outlets, just so that you can easily locate one on your travels, you will be blankly turned down! Now could you imagine any other business behaving in such a manner?

Having spoke to yet another dissatisfied Sam's customer this morning (bad new management at his local), I began to realize why this site may have been rather quiet of late: Those who have been complaining through this site, may now be drinking elsewhere!

[jboycott]

regarding petitions and the like, about 15yrs ago some regulars at my pub sent a petition in critical of the management, SS sent a copy to the manager. Many years before that (about 30yrs ago) a regular wrote in complaining about a new landlord messing about with the hand-pulled (he was pouring sugar and pop into the barrel to try and "make it more like Tetleys"). Same result and he was barred from pub.

[Harry S]

Yes tis a shame that one of the the best steakhouses in Yorkshire has fallen fowl of Dumphreys Policies.
But note my local has now got a specials board once again,
Could this be a U turn?
I dont think so!!!   

[Coriolanus]

Well done admin, an excellent post indeed. My local landlord is visibly wilting under the ridiculous food policys/entertainment policies/staff hours policys. To say he is disillusioned is an understatement, but he gamely keeps trying to do things as correctly as he is allowed by his draconian employers. The food in particular is ridiculous. He had been allowed to continue with a proper Sunday lunch, and that was the only day when any food was sold, and so the only afternoon when there was anyone in the pub. I witnessed and heard him being told that wet trade was down as though it was his fault. How can they expect beer sales to hold up if hundreds of people are no longer coming in to eat each week? They seem to be trying to rid the company of all the decent managers. I heard from someone else and from people on this site that he was paying peanuts to all new managers and reliefs. Not good for customers or the brewery.
As for the quietness on this site, come on everyone, keep posting. even if we are repeating old news, or the same old stuff, keep it coming, because if this goes quiet, he really will trample over and destroy some of the best community pubs in the country. Some of them are only clinging on for dear life as it is.