The London and North Western - JD Wetherspoon — Restaurant in Birmingham

Genuinely one of my worst experiences out. My friends and I nipped in to have a few drinks, we sat and ordered and waited. the drinks were delayed (taking about 20 minutes each time, no problem it’s busy that’s fine) but when we went up to the bar to ask where they were they claimed we had already had them. when asked to look at our table at what was ordered they said we ordered one drink (literally just not possible as there was food on our table we’d ordered and other drinks) but they still argued with us. when we then queried it AGAIN, the duty manager (dirty blonde hair in a ponytail), proceeded to come out and basically say we were confused and lying. he said he’d watched the security cameras for ten minutes (he’d been gone for 5 from when we asked him) and the cameras were really good they could even see our phone screens and we didn’t order the drink we had (i don’t know why he’d say the security cameras are that good when there’s literally cameras in the toilets, so uneasy but really good so they can see everything!) he said he saw all our drinks come to the table, we said okay we can show you the receipts of everything we bought and you can count the glasses because you can also see in the security footage that no one came to clear the table the whole 2 hours we’d been there, so the glasses and our receipts will show that one is missing. honestly why would we fight over a £5 drink, that’s so embarrassing but the principle took over. he refused to look at our receipts saying we had confused ourselves, then said we were causing fuss and when we asked to see the footage to prove us wrong he said of course he wouldn’t show us. he then proceeded to report us to security to remove us. none of us were drunk, we are all grown working professionals who have worked in hospitality and understand how it is when it’s busy and you’re overwhelmed and you’re predisposed to the general public being rude (as with all hospitality workers) but when customers come in and they are asking for the drinks they have paid for you expect to be listened to. how are they acting like some hotshot nightclub it doesn’t make sense, someone asks for a drink they paid for and they’re so quick to kick them out. surely the customer footfall isn’t that bad that they’re scamming customers out of drinks? worst customer service experience i’ve had, can’t believe how poor the service was. why build such a nice spoons to hire terrible wait staff? disgraceful.

ALSO they had a woman come to our table to clean after this whole situation, she told us it was our own fault because we ordered on the app and we should’ve ordered at the bar. you’re working for a franchise who have created an app for convenience and because it’s 2023, and you’re standing at our table telling us we’ve basically been cheated out of drinks because we’ve used the app which wetherspoons tell you to use. such a backwards, gaslighty, and ugly situation. over a £5 spiced rum and coke....

Entered on a fairly quiet early afternoon Tuesday, many tables were left uncleared, but we did manage to find a clear table. Ordering using the app was as good as it always is with Wetherspoons, after about ten minutes, with no sign of our drinks yet, we spied our food order on the hot plates waiting to be sent to us, another four, five minutes and we got our food from a lady who refused point blank to even look at us at all, instead, very weirdly focusing only on a spot in the distance way above our table, giving the impression of sheer arrogance and boredom at even having to attend to us at all! Asking about our drinks, we got a simple "they will be on their way" as our cutlery was dumped onto the table and our server left not once having looked at any of us or acknowledging our existence as human beings at all! The drinks did arrive a minute or so later, this time handed to us by someone who did at least look at our table if not us. The food - generally exactly what you expect from a 'spoons, although they got two of the three meals slightly wrong, one was corrected without any sign of care or apology at all, meaning a full meal had had to go back to be thrown away, the other - it was decided not to bother! The food wasn't as hot as it should have been, but then we had seen it sitting waiting for a few minutes so already suspected this would be the case, but it was warm enough and quality was exactly what it should be. No one ever checked in with us, but to be honest, by now we simply felt that we were only tolerated, certainly not valued in any way as customers and really, we were grateful because we didn't want to go through that weird blatant refusal to acknowledge us again. Upon leaving, I got pushed aside by another member of staff as he went along on his way with some plates, I was struggling to walk due to some back problems, so I knew I was slow, so I automatically called out "sorry" (ugh, the polite British reaction that was ground into me as a child!) yet the member of staff refused to engage and strode off haughtily, nose in the air - yet another member of staff making it plain that we didn't deserve their attention, in fact, how very dare we exist!

So... Two stars, because apart from the staff and the slow service, it's an average Wetherspoon with decent "you get what you pay for" solid value, but would we ever want to go again? Nope, not a chance.

May I suggest the staff take a look at the restaurant in Grand Central called "Karen's" - they would fit in far...

WHEN I FIRST WENT IN THIS PUB I THOUGHT WHAT A BRILLIANT PLACE THOUGHT I'D DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN ,LOVED THE THEME OF THE PLACE THE TRAIN PATTERNS IN THE CARPETS, ALL THE PICTURES AND THE STUFF ON THE WALLS, LOVE THE TRAIN CLOCK, PICTURE OF TONY HANCOCK AND I THINK THE TITANIC ANCHOR, A STEAM ENGINE,THE SQUARE PEG WHICH I VISIT REGULARY,FOOD LOVELY,DRINK LOVELY ,IT IS A REALLY NICE PLACE ,THE LIGHTINGS GOOD THE BIG PIPES ON THE CEILING REALLY SET THE PLACE OFF,AND I NOTICED YOU CAN LOOK OVER THE ROAD AND SEE THE PUB NOW CLOSED THAT I DRANK IN WHEN I WAS YOUNG AND NEVER REALISED OZZY OSBOURNE MADE HIS FIRST APPEARENCE THERE ,MAKES AN INTERESTING TALKING POINT,I KNOW SOME OF THE STAFF THAT CAME FROM THE DRAGON AND SQUARE PEG, ONLY BY SIGHT BUT THEY AND THE OTHER STAFF SEEM TO LOVE EVERY WORKING MINUTE IN THE PUB, NEVER HAVE TO WAIT LONG FOR FOOD OR DRINK AND IF I'M WAITING FOR A TRAIN I CAN ALWAYS POP IN THERE FOR SOME GRUB AND DRINK AND I KNOW I,LL BE TREATED RIGHT ,ALL THE STAFF WORK HARD AND THERE ALWAYS HAPPY,THE MANAGERS ALWAYS ON THE BALL IF HES NOT TO HAPPY ABOUT ANYTHING HE SOON GETS IT SORTED,THERES ONE OF THE STAFF THAT USED TO WORK OVER THE DRAGON IS ALWAYS ON THE GO DARTING ABOUT EVERYWHERE SO MUCH SO SHE REALLY MAKES ME FEEL DIZZY,SHES ALWAYS THERE WITH HER BROOM,SOON AS THE TABLES ARE FINISHED WITH SHES THERE PICKING UP EMPTY GLASSES AND PLATES AND CLEANING UP MESSES ETC IF SHES NOT DOING THAT SHES PULLING PINTS OR FILLING THE DRINKS MACHINES IM SURE SHEL BE A MANAGER HERSELF JUST NOW DEFINITELY ONE TO WATCH,, WHEN I GO OUT I GO TO THREE PUBS A DAY ONE IS THE SQUARE PEG ONE IS THE DRAGON AND NOW ONE IS THIS PUB,BUT THE ONLY DOWN SIDE IS THE BEER I DRINK WHICH IS MORE EXPENSIVE TO OTHER WEATHERSPOONS,.SO I TEND TO HAVE ONE TWO DRINKS AT MOST. APART FROM THAT, I THINK ITS IN A GOOD POSITION AND SHOULD MAKE TIM MARTIN LOADS OF MONEY ..P.S HAVEN'T HAD ONE BEGGAR COME IN OFF THE STREET ON THE SCROUNGE OR SOMEONE TRYING TO SELL SOMETHING WHICH IS GOOD BECAUSE THEY CAN REALLY UPSET THE DAY OUT.. LAST TIME I WENT IN AN THE TIME BEFORE I WAS UP AT THE BAR WAITING AT LEAST FIVE MINUTES AND ONE OF THE BARMAN TOTALLY IGNORED ME AND WHEN HIS FRIEND CAME IN HE IMMEDIATELY SERVED HIM I DON'T KNOW HIS NAME BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS RUDE . THATS WHY IVE ONLY GIVE IT ONE STAR...