Cheswold Lodge Brewers Fayre — Restaurant in Doncaster

We came as a group of friends to fetch our children, 3 of which are disabled.

My daughter has cerebral palsy which means at three she is still unable to mobilise in a typical way due to a weakness on one side of her body.

Our oldest son normally assists my daughter in play areas as at 11 he has a good understanding of her needs, and would normally only need to follow her around to make sure she doesn't get stuck. As parents we are always near by watching closely as we wouldn't dream of leaving her care entirely to our son.

When we got to the play area, we were told that my son was to tall for the 140cm height limit. We pointed out he would only be supporting our daughter, so wouldn't be going in to play in the traditional sense, and we would be happy to pay for him as normal.

The girl behind the counter said she'd have to ask her manager.

Once the manager arrived, she told us that on this occasion she would allow it, but if it got busy she would have to ask them to leave for my daughter's safety. My partner accepted, feeling under pressure then told me what had happened.

I asked the girl behind the counter for the managers details so I could complain as I feel my daughter has been discriminated against. After all she has the same rights as any other child.

Shortly after, the manager Fiona Grenton arrived to speak to me.

Her manner was very abrupt and hostile, asking me what my problem was. I was told that we hadn't been discriminated as after all they'd allowed us in.

She demanded to know if my son was her 'legal' carer and told me that they'd stuck within the rules of play, at one point calling it the law. Instead of approaching this problem reasonably I found her raising her voice at me in the middle of the public play area.

She said she would provide the details I need to complain to Whitbread, but there would be no point and I'd be just waisting my time.

I eventually had to ask her to leave me alone.

This made for a thoroughly unpleasant experience, and created a problem that I have not ever previously encountered. One which would not have occurred if I had brought children without disabilities.

One final note, minor though it is, but may have bearing on your decision to come here. One of the doors to the play area has been removed / broken (apparently for some time), meaning children are free to run into the bar area.

If I could give zero stars I would, there are some great children's play areas locally, I recommend you look elsewhere and increase your chances...

Went to The Cheswold today to meet a friend for our Christmas dinner, something we’ve done for the past several years with no problems. Today was different! What a disappointment. We both opted for the traditional turkey dinner and ordered desserts of profiteroles and a chocolate orange sundae at the same time. The pub and restaurant were both really quiet, especially for the time of year. However, we waited over 45 minutes for our meals, eventually chasing them up with a waitress. We were told they were just being plated up but it was still another good ten minutes before they arrived. The food was very poor - dry turkey, tough Yorkshire pud, mushy veg and the most anaemic ‘pig in blankets’ I’ve ever seen. It was accompanied by a tiny jug of gravy each - I like my gravy so I asked for more but it never came, although the mint sauce I asked for did and the meal came with a little pot of cranberry sauce each. I ate maybe half of my meal but couldn’t face the rest. We were sat with our finished plates for a good while and when the member of staff came to clear them away, we weren’t asked if everything was ok - nor had anyone asked whilst we were eating. I volunteered that the food was not up to normal standards and the waitress said she would inform the chef. We heard nothing more about it. We then had to chase up our desserts, which were nice. We both enjoyed them. To say it was quiet compared to previous visits when the food has been great, there was a noticeable absence of waiting and bar staff and those that were there looked fed up, not a smile or Merry Christmas to be had. Overall, a very disappointing visit and we will go elsewhere in future. Some feedback to our complaint would have gone a long way but it was as if it was all to...

Went as a large party for a family birthday, there was an hour between the first and last meals being brought to the table (each family group had ordered seperately to pay their own bill but all bar one were on the same table number), 3 meals had been missed entirely and had to be sent through to the kitchen again, the carvery was luke warm and the portions were very small on several meals (I had an adults mac and cheese which was smaller than the portions my children recieved despite being twice the price). My husband has coeliac disease which meant he had a choice of two menu items we could be sure would be safe-ish, there is no designated fryer here so no chips or wings despite them being gluten free and when we tried to ask about the cooking of the wings the server didn't know and "couldn't" check- definitely one to avoid if you have food allergies. The kids meals had hidden veg in, and while I like the idea, it changed the taste of the food to be something really quite awful. My toddler took one taste of his mac and cheese and refused the rest. Admittedly he's 3 but he would normally have eaten it and when I tasted it I had to agree that it was pretty gross. We did get an apology from the manager with some free vouchers for the play area (most of which wont be used). Not somewhere I'll bother to return to, with a limited menu for those with allergies (they also state they cannot guarantee no cross contamination in their kitchens), poor food for the kids and luke warm meals there are much better...