My family were regular customers here, in fact my parents went in on a daily basis and spent over £200pm on coffee alone. Thats not taking into account meals and what the rest of us spend in here each week. However, after the disgusting treatment that we received last night, by the owner who always appears to have one too many, we shall not be going there again. We arrived at around 5pm and between us had had 10 coffees and a coke. At 7.15pm, myself & partner were waiting for our group of friends to turn up, ready to make a night of it. My parents were sat with us and were just waiting until they arrived before leaving. Hence we had sat without drinks for 15 minutes at this point. The manager rudely approached us telling us to go as we had not had a drink for 20 minutes and there were people waiting for the table! (There were actually 4 other tables free & 5 minutes later when we went past, our tables were still empty).
I went across to him and politely asked if this was the way he always treated regular customers and that my parents came in every day. He then became overbearing & stood right up to my face, which as a lady, I found very threatening. He told me to never step over his door again!!!. I walked away to which he chased after me & stood right up behind me. (The 2 ladies sat next to us had heard what was going on & were also not impressed with his conduct and were asking what had happened when I spoke to him). By this time the manager was in my face again and in front of the whole bar, asked "Is there a problem?" Once again shouting he told us to never step through the doors again. He then confronted my partner. My partner told him where to stick it and we left. Is this how to treat customers? We were made to feel like we were not good enough to frequent his premises. I am nearly forty and as a family we run a few very successful companies with some very influential connections. (not that this matters to us but it obviously does to him). He should be careful in future in terms of who he is discriminating against. I have never been spoken to like this & if we spoke to our customers in this manner would certainly not be in business now. How can the owner of what is supposed to be a sophisticated wine bar be allowed to stand getting drunk with his colleagues every night and behave in such a manner. He has shown a complete lack of loyalty & respect to his regulars. It was quite apparent that all he was interested in was the customers spending money on alcohol. He missed out on on the income from 10 of us drinking for the rest of the night in there plus our/colleagues/friends future business. I am more upset for my parents who were humiliated in front of everyone and who left feeling highly embarrassed. Our custom has now gone to Verve across the road. read more