The Peacock — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

“A Pub That Can’t Handle The Smallest Constructive Criticism Without Spitting Out Its Dummy”

I came to the Peacock last weekend, and it was okay. Pleasant enough to look at, a nice enough pint.. . I left a review with some compliments to this effect, along with a bit of constructive criticism. I then received a wave of personally targeted abuse from the pub’s Social media manager. Wow! I see perusing the reviews I’m not alone in this treatment, and I have a good sense of humour about it... All the same, here’s the pub’s ambassador for customer relations, setting the standard for your visit, Ladies and Gentlemen.

My complaint that the pub reserved all the tables for diners but allowed us to buy drinks, before declining to let us use the tables is an easy fix. Put up a sign by the door stating that ‘Tables are Reserved for Diners’ before people walk into buy a drink, or if you need to vet exactly where people are seated so a couple don’t take up a table for four people (god forbid!), have a stand at the door asking people to wait to be seated. Managing isn’t just bossing staff around, it’s curating the overall pub experience; Manage customers’ expectations! If a pub asks me to wait to be seated I will do so happily, otherwise it’s a perfectly reasonable expectation for a patron to sit at (what appears to be) a free table, as you would in literally any other pub in the country.

Manners cost nothing, but the level of the lack of The Peacock’s hospitality extends to online, and it’s thin-skinned, petty, pious attitude, defiantly rejecting the notion that anything could possibly be less than perfect with the pub. If a customer complains their food is cold, or staff were rude or abrupt, any other business would at least take this on board, rather than resorting to calling them liars, ‘sad’, ‘self-centred’ or making assumptions about a customer’s economic situation to belittle them as if this pleasant but average pub is too highbrow for them (yes, quality sometimes costs more, but a higher price tag doesn’t automatically make something ‘better’; a recurring theme in the rude responses on here.)

The point of review websites is to report on a personal experience, so to criticise a customer for being ‘selfish’ or ‘it all being about them’ really misses the mark of why they came on here. Nobody goes to an eatery thinking about how the management feel that day: I would put it that if you work in the hospitality industry, be hospitable.

If the management open their ears and actually listen they might actually learn something. Instead it’s fingers in ears, ‘we are the best, you’re all wrong... Eerily reminiscent of Trump on Twitter, and verging on psychopathic in the refusal to accept it’s failings, coupled with plenty of boasting and belittling to ensure Graham always gets to have the last word... if you have a moment may I suggest you Google the Manager’s extra-curricular activities, (namely his recent stint in the nick) which show the full extent of how unpleasant a person he is, as if his vitriolic self-denial online wasn’t enough evidence already.

The pub is successful because it will always get a lot of tourist footfall and one-off custom due to its location. I can only assume it does well in spite of, rather than as a result of the current management’s mentality, because the contempt they seem to hold their customers in is bewildering.

I’ve been to better pubs, I’ve been to worse ones, but this middling pub restaurant has delusions of grandeur without the class or grace to realise that the price tag should be reflected in the overall experience, not simply the cost of the ingredients plus mark up... . It must be so exhausting for the manager reeling off bitter replies to critical messages every day, even some that contain praise alongside the gripes. I had a nice pint there, for example, but that was about it. I won’t be bothering again.

The Peacock: Have a little humility, listen to your customers, stop spouting abuse and grow. Less Homity Pie,...

If you want good food at a decent price that doesn’t take an age to come then don’t come here.

Visited Monday 19th (PM). Pub was busy but not rammed, and we were able to find a table easily and sat down. Ordered via the QR code with no navigation issues, but food and drink is just so expensive. Nearly £9 for a panini and crisps; nearly £4 for a pint of coke.

However, what it didn’t tell you when ordering was that the wait for food was over an hour. I received an auto-text that said the estimated wait time was 30 minutes which I was fine with. But when 45 minutes had gone by, and I asked for an update on our food, I got an incredibly snappy: “There’s been an hour wait for food since 12pm so you’ll just have to wait like everyone else.”

I overheard a server saying that there was only two chefs on shift. If that’s because of Covid (self-isolation etc), then that does alleviate some of the time and I can be understanding of that, but if that was due to sheer poor planning (hot weather, ‘freedom day’), then that’s unacceptable really.

Food finally came after an hour of waiting and was okay. Thankfully it was piping hot and had no real issue with it, but definitely not worth the high prices.

Overall, a very disappointing visit. In my opinion, staff, where possible, should’ve been honest in advising customers BEFORE they ordered about the wait for food. If they did, it would’ve certainly seen us explore other options and saved a lot of frustration for us, and other guests who we heard asking the same question about where their order was.

FURTHER TO OWNER’S RESPONSE:

Mate you’re in dreamland. I’m leaving an honest review of my experience, not ‘moaning and groaning’.

If you’re busy, absolutely fine, haven’t got an issue with that. In fact, I can sympathise having worked in customer service. But don’t mug people off and let them just sit their like prats waiting for over an hour for average food just because you or your staff can’t be arsed to let people know the wait for food. Heavens, just stick a notice up on the entrance or something. It’s really not hard.

My comments about other guests are perfectly valid as it shows that it’s not just us who experienced problems yesterday. It was busy, yes, but certainly wasn’t rammed. And I can’t find better food for the money - I could’ve gone to the chip shop round the corner, paid half the price, and had double the standard.

As for struggling for hiring a chef, I sympathise, but that’s not really the problem of the customer. Again, be up front about it and warn people that they could be in for a wait. It’s not difficult, it’s basic.

Maybe if you got your head out of the sand and were honest with people, people wouldn’t leave such consistently negative reviews. However, they will if you just shaft them with no communication and...

Very short pint measure. This is after I sent it back to be topped up, barely seems to have any more (I wouldn't be leaving the review if it had been topped up OK).

Edit: the reply tells you all you need to know about the attitude to customer service. Not the first time I've asked for a pint to be topped, it happens, but I go back to the places which happily do it. It is the first time I've not had it topped up properly and the first time I've got abuse in response.

We weren't drinkers only. The food was fine, but whilst the servers were nice enough they seemed nervous. You need to buck up your ideas on customer service and train your staff better rather than just frighten them. The customer is right.

Would you prefer it if I contacted trading standards?

2nd edit: oh look, more abuse! Maybe you should stop digging, I doubt anybody reading your reply is likely to be encouraged to visit. Of course I've asked for pints to be topped up before, I understand sometimes bar staff accidentally don't pour a full pint - previously my request has always been met by a smile and an apology (in the pubs I prefer to drink in they take a short pint back and top it without having to be asked). It was a decent enough (almost a) pint, but far from the best I've had and it's quite arrogant of you to think your beer is anything special compared to pubs which sell full pints. For the record one of my best mates is in the pub trade and I'm sure he will laugh at your attitude when I show him this.

Yes, it is your problem if your staff are nervous - your replies on here give a hint of what it's probably like to work for you. I did think the girl serving us might be new, but the impression wasn't unique to her - maybe you need to spend a bit more time training your staff than abusing customers.

The food was decent, but if you think that's all that is required for a good experience then maybe you're in the wrong business. I'm thinking a one star review was more than deserved to balance out all the 5* reviews being left by your mates.

I'm glad to hear you don't need my money, and nor presumably that of anybody else reading this. I recommend they go somewhere else instead.

Feel free to keep being abusive, I'm more than happy to keep this up. Though just a hint, "I'm really sorry, I'll talk to my staff and make sure it doesn't happen again" would have been far better as a first reply in terms of your business even if it didn't satisfy your anger in...