Is this the end???????

[Coriolanus]

I sat in my usual spot in my local last night, and was suddenly surrounded by about 20 women all in the party mood, decorated with tinsel, as women going on their Christmas night out tend to do. I recognised a few as regular at the pub, and got chatting and it seems they were all going to a pub for their Christmas works 'do' for a meal and a bit of a disco. It seems that they had always attended our pub for a meal for the last 10 years or so and had stayed most of the night before going off to nightclubs or whatever. In the 3 quarters of an hour that they stayed they all had at least two drinks, and the atmosphere was very pleasant. When they left I saw our manager shaking his head and he muttered sadly. "They'd have stayed all night if we could have done a Christmas dinner".
When they left, it was instantly back to near silence, and I could just hear the clock ticking on the wall.
Ok, this christmas might be down the Swannee, but please save next christmas, this is all simply nonsensical. Even more worrying is the edict about New Years eve. This surely cannot be true, can it? Has it actually gone out as a memo yet? I asked my manager, and he said he hadnt heard anything official yet. Hope I am not tempting fate again, but it does seem that no maater how ridiculous a policy you think up, no matter how impossible you think it would be to implement, no matter how remote are the chances of it becoming company policy, a month letter it is company policy.

[Coriolanus]

Any more news about the tribunals and the unfair dismissals? Surely some progress has been made by now, or is it typical silence and stalling tactics from the Smiths?

[stig]

The cricketers arms in selby ( Laura Burleys the AM there), The shoulder of mutton and the agar arms are all doing home cooked food alongside the sams pies. But NOT allowed to do christmas dinners.

[Coriolanus]

Obviously sanity has not prevailed, certainly not in my local. My manager is doing his utmost to make the best of it, but he knows he could be much busier if he was allowed to run the pub properly. All we can hope is that 2009 will be the year it all started to be put right again. Please, Mr Smith.
In the meantime, a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all those connected either through employment or simply over a pint, with Sam Smiths. Good luck to you all.

[Coriolanus]

Rumour has it that Sams has fallen out with their frozen food delivery company. I dont know who has kicked who into touch but the rumour is that the delivery company had so much Sams food in its stores that just wasnt selling at all, that they didnt have room for any other products!! The figure quoted to me was in the Millions of pounds worth of stock stood idle. Thats a lot of frozen pies! Once again this came to me from a friend who talked to a friend who knows a friend, so it may just be scandal mongering, perhaps someone would enlighten us?

[357maddog]

Doesn't the Sarah Brownridge factory at Taddy make all the ding food, cos isn't that what all this is about, the factory lost a very large airline catering contract so instead of closing it/selling it or whatever, they (Sams) turned the production towards their pub outlets.

See the trouble is with Sams is that not many people actually "know" whats going on, most of us hear the stories second hand and are never sure what the truth is anymore.
 

[centurion]

Doesn't the Sarah Brownridge factory at Taddy make all the ding food, cos isn't that what all this is about, the factory lost a very large airline catering contract so instead of closing it/selling it or whatever, they (Sams) turned the production towards their pub outlets.

See the trouble is with Sams is that not many people actually "know" whats going on, most of us hear the stories second hand and are never sure what the truth is anymore.
 

Ding   Exactly!!

What do you expect from a private family company? Especially a Yorkshire one

An invite to tea?

[Alpine Drinker]

The airline contract that was lost was with thomsons.

[Coriolanus]

Another load of nonsense from his nibs on the morning advertiser website. Even most customers think that beer prices could go up and trade would not be affected. Most would willingly pay 10p a pint extra or even 20p if we got the music, tv's back and the food was returned to its old standard instead of this stuff being served now. Its edible, but its not what the customers want. He says he is trying to keep the 40% margin, but if he hasnt increased his beer prices, except from Beer duty, how is he covering the undoubtable increase in costs from raw materials, transport and wages? Oh yes, silly me, he sacks everyone doesn't he?
It says the meeting is to be adjourned till May. Didnt the good guys have a chance to put their case too? It seems it may drag on for a while yet, in the meantime he will have another month for mischief and mayhem. Perhaps in this time he will sack all managers and staff and introduce a serve yourself policy in his pubs?
It has to be the end of this nonsense soon, surely? That light at the end of the tunnel has got to change from a danger sign to daylight soon, hasn't it? 

[samsdrinker]

We already have a self serve policy at my local, as the manager is run off her feet.
Also
1/ Take turns sweeping up outside/ collecting glasses
2/ assisting with deleveries and
3/ manning the bar while said deliverys take place or pub is busy.
In addition to that we have to do grocery runs otherwise the manager would starve ( single masnager)

[Coriolanus]

Just for second, I thought that we had reached the end of the madness with Sam Smiths. I was looking at todays edition of the Morning Advertiser for news of the tribunals (when do they reconvene?) and I saw the headline:
"Ping Pies on the way out in rural pubs". The author predicted that the days of microwaved steak and kidney pies were numbered. I thought that Mr Smith had come to his senses and abandoned all his ping food, but alas it was merely a good pub food guide, in which I suppose there were no Sam Smith entries. I truly hope Humphrey has read this, as it is further proof that his catering policy was misguided and doomed from the very start. His only option is to cut his losses and go back to how things were before the madness. Even doing so would not prompt an instant improvement in food trade, since it will take a while for customers to return, but return they will if things are done properly. Carrying on in the present vein is akin to Nero fiddling whilst Rome burns, ignoring the real causes of his pubs decline (at least on food trade), with no prospect for some of his public houses to recover unless the ping menu is totally abandoned.

 

[Coriolanus]

Humphrey's completely out of touch with reality. Have a look at the front page of the Yorkshire Post today, hes completely lost it and obviously thinks all his workforce and his customers are his serfs that should be grateful for the few crumbs that fall from his lordships table. He still thinks that the state of his company is because of the current economic climate and has nothing to do with his ridiculous catering policy, music and TV bans and harsh treatment of his staff and condescending attitude to customers.
The price of beer is important and full marks for keeping it down, but putting 10p on a pint would be gratefully accepted if other amenities such as entertainment and a decent menu were restored to the pubs. All the Sam Smiths customers that I know would cheerfully agree with the increase if the pubs could be returned to how they were run before Humphrey so disasterously meddled with them when he initially removed entertainment and then destroyed the catering houses with his ping pie menu.

[Max]

Humphrey's completely out of touch with reality. Have a look at the front page of the Yorkshire Post today...

And here it is...

---------------------------------------------------------

'Barmaids just do it for the pin money': Brewery boss

Published Date: 20 May 2009
By Martin Slack

A YORKSHIRE brewery boss has been accused of "living in the dark ages" after he appeared at an employment tribunal and said barmaids only worked "for pin money".

The throwaway remark angered pub managers who were sacked by Tadcaster-based Samuel Smith Brewery after they protested over plans to reduce staff working hours.

Publicans Pam and Frank Marshall have brought a test case for unfair dismissal against the brewery and the outcome will determine similar claims by another 15 Yorkshire managers.

While giving evidence at the couple's Sheffield employment tribunal, brewery director Humphrey Smith said: "All the bar staff only come to work for pin money anyway."

The comment was branded "insulting" by Jayne Phillips, solicitor for the Marshalls. The brewery, which is the oldest in Yorkshire and was established in 1758, has a reputation for selling the cheapest beer in the county at an average of ?1.40 a pint.

Over the years it has courted controversy by banning music, pork scratchings, TVs and dogs in its pubs. It also provides no facilities for smokers.

Phil Bown, regional organiser of the Unite union which has brought the tribunal cases, said after the hearing: "Samuel Smiths have behaved diabolically. Their attitude is that they are the Lord of the Manor and the rest of us will be put in the stocks and thrashed if we don't obey. It is like going back to the Dark Ages.

"I can deal with old-fashioned but I can't deal with bosses who look down on bar staff as being from a lower class. We are not prepared to doff our cloth caps to them." If the Marshalls' claim is successful it could cost the brewery tens of thousands of pounds in compensation.

Mrs Marshall, 47, and her husband Frank, 54, have worked for Samuel Smith for 39 years between them.

They took over as joint managers of the Holly Bush pub at Edenthorpe, Doncaster, in July, 2002. The couple were allowed to employ bar staff working up to 89 hours a week to help them in their duties.

But in December, 2007 they got a memo from the company saying the staff hours must be reduced to 45 hours a week which would have meant sacking barmaids and increasing the Marshalls' workload.

Mrs Marshall told the tribunal: "We were concerned that this would impact on the high number of hours that we already worked and the cut in staff hours would impact on the smooth and successful running of the pub."

The Marshalls lodged a grievance claim with the company but Mr Smith threatened them with dismissal and said if the barmaids' wages were not cut the money would be taken out of their salary.

After the Marshalls failed to attend a disciplinary hearing they were sacked by letter on April 15, 2008 and told to vacate the premises immediately.

Samuel Smith said they were sacked for gross misconduct "for failing to comply with a reasonable management instruction".

The company told the Sheffield tribunal last week that other pubs were operating comfortably on the basis of reduced hours. They said the couple should have reduced staff numbers as instructed irrespective of the fact they had raised a grievance over the matter.

Samuel Smith said they faced soaring costs in the current trading climate and had chosen to cut staff hours to reduce costs rather than put 10p on a pint.

Mr Smith told the hearing: "If we put more on the price it would have hit customers and hit our output. If the price went up production in the brewery and consumption would inevitably come down."

The tribunal's findings are expected next month.

Source: YorkshirePost.co.uk

[minsterman]

Mr Smith told the hearing: "If we put more on the price it would have hit customers and hit our output. If the price went up production in the brewery and consumption would inevitably come down."

The guy is obviously a retard. It's simple to be the boss of a brewery - when you've had it handed to you on a plate! Just like our MP's - living in another world! Well it's getting nearer the day of reckoning! Bye, bye Mr H Smith!

[Leeds Born and Bred]

Does anyone know if Ian Daffern has really taken the stocktakers job? There was a mention of it on the web site a while ago but I've not seen or heard anything since.