I have visited the Horse and Jockey on the Tamworth Road on four occasions now. I have been twice…read moreon a week day lunch time, once for a Sunday lunch and once on a Friday evening. The week day lunch time visits were fine, nice food although we thought it was a bit overpriced for what it was. The Sunday lunch, absolutely great my husband and I were really impressed and thought it was one of the best Sunday lunches we'd had while eating out in a long time. On all three lunch time visits, the manager was in attendance as well and we've always found him to be very pleasant and helped to make us feel welcome. Oh dear, then came the Friday evening visit. We peeked through the window from outside and there was just one table in use. (My husband thinks actually that there are too many tablets scrunched into one room and it is a pub that's desperately trying to be a restaurant). Anyway, it looked empty except for a table of two in use, so we went in. It was quite early, between six and six thirty. Well, we were not made to feel welcome at all. Two girls in their late teens were on duty (no manager this time to make us feel welcome). They were asking whether we'd booked (we hadn't, we had just popped in on the off chance as we live in a local village and were driving by and as it looked empty, we thought we'd pop in). Anyway, after lots of 'ums and arrs', one of the girls seemed to be making an effort to try and fit us into this empty pub/eatery and the other girl seemed quite adamant that there 'was no room at the inn', they decided we could have a table. The one who didn't really want us in there (or that's how it felt anyway) reluctantly trotted off to the table with us following behind, slapped the menus onto the table rather abruptly and walked off. My husband and I, well, we were in two minds whether to just leave at that point we sat looking through the overpriced menu, feeling really unwelcome and wondering whether we should really be giving our hard earned money to such an establishment. The less friendly waitress came and took our order. I asked if there was any chance that my meat could be medium well done as I can't deal with pink meat. I was made to feel stupid, with lots of 'obviouslys' thrown in there for good measure (and reading between the lines, the answer was obviously 'no, I couldn't'. I replied that 'obviously it might be better if I had a pie instead then'. She took our order and rushed off, all very abrupt and unfriendly. Still unsure whether we should stay there, we looked around and noted that, yes, the place was still empty, apart from one table for two. Surely when you are eating, it's not just about the quality of the food but also the welcoming atmosphere? Even Wetherspoons staff are better trained! Anyway, the food came and I have to say, it was delicious. In fact, the food at the Horse and Jockey is always delicious. Well, we stayed for 45 minutes. (We thought that by having a dessert we might be overstaying our welcome). Oh, at this point, by the way, another table was occupied by about four people. If only the manager had been in, perhaps 'Miss Bad Attitude and False Eyelashes' might have been more pleasant. Anyway, we left after one course and the place was still nearly empty. We won't be going back, of course.