Alexandra — Restaurant in England

The pub was conveniently located between where I had been, and where I needed to go. Dropped in for a pint, y'know casual like. Like the time we had before the apocalypse. Upon entry, the gentlemen who stood behind the red velvet rope took my name, mobile number, shoe size and blood type and explained we needed to leave at 4:55 when our table had been pre-booked. We accepted this unusual departure time. We then followed him through the obstacle course of the one way system. I'm so pleased I never got lost on my way to my table. During most of my adult life I've ended up walking through fire exits, and loitering in the toilets as I have struggled getting seated without the assistance of bar staff. If you feel the same, the arrows on the floor really help you focus. At 4:15, after having just ordered my second drink a delightful young man called Christian explained we needed to leave the table. We said that if he had been with us as we entered he would've heard that our departure time was at 4:55. He couldn't be less interested and ran away to find another person to explain how time works. The other person explained the concept of time further and that someone had used time in a way which most people can't fully get to grips with. This human being couldn't contemplate two groups of people sharing the same seated area and drove the point home by saying 'I have several members of staff who deny time even exists, so their appreciation of this is infatigable.' We left dejected, deserted and inconsolable. I hope this review can give hope to those who need it in these...

Just ok

My friend and I visited the Alexandra, arriving at approximately 6.30 p.m to join our partners and one other. Although the bar did not look particularly busy and we were seen by at least three members of staff, we were ignored and left waiting at the entrance to be seated (with our partners) for several minutes. We were the only customers waiting and therefore it wasn't apparent why we were left waiting. It would be helpful to have someone stationed at the entrance being used as a covid-19 social distancing measure or at least have a member of staff acknowledge waiting customers. Once at our table the service was good and attentive. The bar was relatively quiet and we were served quickly. What wasn't helpful was the volume of people allowed to gather immediately outside the exit, smoking on the steps leading to the street, which meant social distancing could not be maintained, as well as having to walk through clouds of people's cigarette smoke. Had my experience on arrival and leaving the Alexandra been different then my review would have reflected this. I would return if these issues could be addressed. A smoking area should be set aside away from entrance / exist points to allow customers to...

I really do not think that this pub was used to the new normal. The person on the door was pleasant enough although he had to explain where you would sit, table service and would you behave yourself, smoking etc, the track and trace system. Eventually we were led to our tables. The table service was extremely slow and we sat there for at least ten minutes before being served drinks. I also suggested to the bar staff that they served others who were sat on a table for over ten minutes. There was a good selection of beers on the bar but very very few were available and my wife who wanted Black Sheep was persuaded into having a Leeds beer. I had a pint of soda water with ice and lemon. There were clearly some drunk people, even at 8:30 pm and the arrangements for the smokers was strange. They were supposed to stand outside the exit door and smoke and then enter via the exit door. There was clearly a massive amount of cigarette butts by the exit door when we left, which had not been cleared up. I think it was all a bit of an experiment and they had clearly not got their system for Coronavirus sorted but to be fair, very very few pubs have. At least there was some element of social...