The Ship Public House — Restaurant in Chelmsford

My friends and I always held this pub in very high regard until the fateful night of the 18th June when England played Scotland in Euro 2020.

We could not be seated inside due to it being fully booked but were assured three days earlier that the game would also be played outside under cover on first come first served benches. The forecast wasn’t great but we thought if we got there early we could bag ourselves a premium spot and we did just that.

The rain was torrential but this didn’t dampen our mood, no no. The six of us arrived from 17:30, 2.5 hours before kick off and the outdoor television was moved inside to protect from the rain, makes sense doesn’t it? Time passed, stories were shared and the Guinness was flowing, delightful. 19:30 and still no sign of the TV, by this point we’d already asked two bar staff if the TV would be brought outside and a third member of staff assured us it would be out soon as we ordered more drinks.

Just as our drinks arrived at 19:40 a sizeable doorman came over and informed us the TV would in fact not be coming outside because it blew up in the rain 2 hours previously, something the pub management could’ve kindly shared with everyone sitting outside waiting for the game but instead chose to take our money for drinks and withhold this information, leaving us 20 minutes to search for elsewhere to watch the game.

Forget the Three Lions, you made six lions very disappointed on Friday night and we won’t...

You have recently updated your menu prices (increased) so there really is no excuse for lack of transparency of pricing. When ordering an omelette I asked how many fillings do you get with that (the menu states a fluffy omelette with your choice of fillings, and no extra charge is mentioned) , I was told as many as I wanted, I repeated my question and the same answer was given. I chose 2 fillings which is fairly standard when eating out. On paying, the price increased from the advertised menu price. Only upon asking I was told it’s extra for each filling. Nothing is mentioned on the menu and the member of staff also did not say even when asked when choosing the fillings. Only when I questioned the difference price was I told oh yeah it’s extra for each filling. Do you really want to be underhand in this way by making an extra few pounds and being un transparent in your pricing and frankly annoying your customer. Just put it on the menu please and be clear. Otherwise customers will be wondering is sauce extra, salt , vinegar, where else are the extra charges hidden. I have had to mention this as a little while back upon ordering an all day breakfast, I was asked if I wanted toast and extra money was added, again with no mention of the extra charge form the member of staff. I have been coming here for 30 years and have only recently noticed these...

I booked to stay here as I was going to the theatre and this is really close to there and the train station. The lady who checked us in said they're renovating which may explain the mound of rubbish we had to walk past to get up the outside stairs to access the rooms (you don't go through the pub to get to the rooms). Our room was nice (well stocked tea tray) and the bed really comfy and the shower was nice and powerful. There is a lot of stairs and to find the room was a bit of a maze (even though our room was above the bar), the hall smelt fusty and needs to have windows open in the daytime although I appreciate in winter that would make the place cold. I didn't like the fact that the outer door doesn't close automatically so anyone could walk into the building from the car park next to the pub, and it was also very noisy at night - its a busy road and also the other guests were loud and kept slamming doors and shouting on their phones in the corridor but that's not the pubs fault. I think for the price breakfast should...