BrewDog Cheltenham — Restaurant in Cheltenham

BrewDog Cheltenham: Great Vibes, Tragic Staff Energy – A Masterclass in Passive-Aggressive Hospitality

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to drink craft beer in a venue that perfectly balances industrial-chic with the soul-crushing despair of retail burnout, then BrewDog Cheltenham is the place for you!

Let’s start with the positives: the atmosphere was spot on. The music, the decor, the general aesthetic—it all screamed, “Come in, grab a pint, and stay a while!” But the service? The service whispered, “Please don’t.”

The staff, while technically helpful when directly engaged, exuded the kind of weariness usually reserved for Victorian factory workers after a 16-hour shift. I wasn’t sure if I was ordering a drink or burdening them with the weight of my existence. Their exhausted, defeated expressions made me question if I, too, should feel guilty for being there. Perhaps I was part of the problem. Perhaps we all were.

The experience wasn’t outright hostile, just steeped in a quiet, existential dread. A service style I can only describe as begrudging compliance. No smiles, no enthusiasm—just the subtle but palpable energy of someone who would rather be anywhere else but here, pouring my pint.

Look, I get it. Hospitality is tough, and working in a busy bar is no joke. But when the staff look like they’re on the verge of drafting their resignation letters on a beer mat between orders, it doesn’t exactly encourage a second round.

Would I go back? Maybe—if only to see if the same team is still there or if they’ve finally staged a mass walkout. But next time, I might bring an emotional support friend to counterbalance the sheer levels of sadness radiating from behind the bar.

Final verdict: Great beers, solid vibes, but the service felt like an unspoken...

Genuinely really sad… We have been regulars at Brewdog in Cheltenham since it first opened. My husband and I are long-standing Brewdog investors and supporters so we were thrilled when we heard Cheltenham was getting a branch and we have been supporting it ever since.

We had observed some sub-ideal service a few times but it had been on busy days and not sufficiently poor to put us off or complain. Then, a few weeks ago we went on a Wednesday evening for “Wings Wednesday” as we often did. We were completely ignored for over 45 minutes despite trying to catch the regular staff members who know us and have frequently chatted with us. Eventually we managed to get someone to stop and were told they had been told to ignore us since we had not booked and to “teach us a lesson”. At the time we were not aware we were supposed to book in advance if we wanted to take advantage of the wings offer, it would not have been difficult to explain this at the time, we are very relaxed “easy customers” and from scouring the website I can see booking is not essential on any evening to enjoy the standard menu.

This experience has completely ruined our relationship with the Cheltenham branch which is a shame since we were extremely regular customers but I am too...

The reason why I rated 3 was that there wasn’t a lot of people on service. Admittedly we went on a Sunday evening but he had to wait occasionally to be able to order drinks at the bar.

The thing which lowered the food rating to a 3 instead of a 5 was that two peoples burgers got mixed up. I think what caused confusion was the sides were put with the wrong burgers so they assumed they had the correct burgers until someone mad the comment they didn’t have their chorizo. It turned out the chorizo burger was with the 2 sides the other person had ordered who hadn’t started their burger yet so didn’t realise they had the wrong one. Unfortunately that person did not like chorizo or black pudding so had to dismantle the burger.

We do take some type of responsibility and didn’t say anything at the time as we had somewhere to be so couple wait around but they were all separate orders so you would expect the correct sides with the correct burger.

Thee ones that got the correct orders really enjoyed their burgers/wings. We have been previously and think the burgers are amazing. It’s just a shame with those couple of orders that got muddled that a couple were...