The Black Bull — Restaurant in England

I write this review with a heavy heart, as The Black Bull, once a decent value pub, has succumbed to a drastic decline that leaves customers like myself utterly disheartened.

Before the dark cloud of COVID loomed the pub had great opening times that were a genuine attraction for customers. Late opening kitchen and bar offered somewhere to go when other venues were closed.

One of the most significant blows has been the slashing of opening hours, a decision that has left the once vibrant pub lifeless. Staffing cuts are ruining the venue, leaving employees demotivated and demoralized. As if that weren't enough, prices have skyrocketed, making every visit feel like you're paying more whilst getting a lot less.

Despite enduring reduced opening hours in a show of loyalty, the pub has once again slashed its availability, closing the doors as early as 9:20 pm on weekdays. This renders midweek outings for a drink virtually worthless, a bitter pill for the numerous regular customers who enjoy meeting within the venue. There's a group of 4 or 5 of us who regularly drink here multiple times per week who no doubt will look elsewhere.

The financial decisions behind these changes seem deeply flawed. With a gross profit margin ranging between 63% and 67% on beverages, even closing at 10 pm incurs losses. I've witnessed 20 to 30 people some weeknights unable to make purchases due to the premature closure, losing potential profits (not revenue) of £50 per round or more. All this to save 9 staff hours per week (£90) .. although this was before hours were reduced further.

At £4.55 for a pint of San Miguel, the pub is sacrificing approximately £2.55 in profit per pint. Multiply that by the number of disgruntled customers, and it becomes evident that this mismanagement is driving away loyal patrons. The suggestion that reduced opening hours save money is unfounded when considering the lost revenue and frustrated clientele. Regular customers provide bread and butter revenue streams and have increased loyalty. They are often most affected by these changes which ultimately are trying to reduce costs from a reduction in patrons At other times of trade.

It's clear retaining customers and then boosting sales is the key not cutting hours.

As a customer who, on average, spends £100-120 per week at The Black Bull, these reduced hours are an insurmountable disappointment. Tonight, 2 of us redirected £50+ of our money to a competing venue simply because The Black Bull decided to close its doors prematurely.

What's additionally frustrating is that both Google, the website, and social media still have the previous opening hours. This smacks of decision making without follow through.

The final galling element is that apparently these decisions were made well before Christmas and haven't been communicated to customers.

Indeed this evening, out of the two of us coming in for a drink, it was only myself that were informed about the opening hour changes as I'd arrived at 9.05pm

It would have been significantly better to have communicated these changes to customers well in advanced thus better managing expectations.

I expect that these decisions have been made at area manager level and above, by individuals who are not familiar with the venues.

If they were they would see the incorrectness of their call. If someone is to reach out to me about this review I'd expect this to be an Area Manager not a venue manager.

Here's hoping you can rectify these errors in the near future.

EDIT. Dec 2024

Weekday hours are now 10pm close. Slightly better though it would be much preferred to see an 11pm return to closing.

Weekend hours are good and Sunday is 10.20pm last orders. Which we would like to see back to 11pm

There have been some good additions to the bar. New IPA's San Miguel, Peroni etc have definitely helped a lot and there are more customers in now than when I last wrote...

Went there with my father for lunch whilst visiting home for the weekend a few months ago and this experience has stuck in my mind, not for good reasons!

The black bull has really gone downhill even since I last visited Peterlee, I thought I’d just come on a bad day but based on the other reviews about food I suspect not.

Inside: The place itself is fine, don’t believe it’s been decorated in a while but it’s holding up okay.

Drinks: There was no ice for my (reasonably priced) gin and tonic. No ice?? It’s not difficult, just go to the supermarket and buy some if you’ve run out! ‘We have no ice today’ is not okay!

Food: I ordered a fish finger sandwich with a side of chips and salad, and I do not exaggerate: it was inedible. The cheapest of cheap sliced white bread, no butter, cheap fish fingers and a smearing of something grey that I think was meant to pass for tartare sauce.

The sandwich wasn’t even sliced in a straight line, I had one tiny half and one massive half, why?? About 6 flaccid chips and a single lettuce leaf were on the side. I ate a couple of chips and the fish fingers then pushed the rest away. My father did something similar with his burger. Note: We are not fussy people!

The waitress came to collect our plates and cheerfully asked if everything was okay, clearly oblivious to the fact she was picking up almost full plates of food...? We politely replied that it wasn’t particularly nice, and she skipped off in the other direction, no apology or offer of compensation. We left immediately afterwards, and have no plans to return.

This may be a decent place to get a cheap pint and hang out with friends but if you’re fancy like me, and want ice in your drinks and edible food, its probably not for you.

To the management: I know you read and respond to these reviews, which is commendable, and I am sorry to write such a scathing one, but this experience smacked of staff that didn’t care about the customer experience, so perhaps enough feedback will kickstart some...

On the plus side the corrs light is lovley and the drinks were served quick and cold even though by a barman who clearly couldnt wait for his shift to be over. I upgraded my steak to a rib eye so I was kinda expecting a little bit better! WRONG I got a plate full of fat! I ordered a cheese and mushroom topper Disgusting! Congealed vomit with a floating mushroom in it DO NOT ORDER! the chicken was as hard as a rock and literary hurt my tooth. Side order of corn was freezing and old.

The person that I assume is in charge is looking after her child, bringing her food and drinks into the open earing area where she is playing unattended and hasn't once been over here to see how appalled we are at the food and service.

So an hour an a half in I am still sat waiting for someone to come and clear the plates and ask how the food was. It isn't gonna happen I don't think.

If you're thinking a quick fix for tea, cheap and cheerful think again this 1 course has cost me £40 for 1 adult and 2 kids what a waste of money I would have rather given that money to a worthy cause. Feel...