The Wilsons Arms — Restaurant in England

We have eaten here several times over the years and always had a lovely time. Unfortunately last August Bank Holiday Monday was not a good experience. We were staying nearby and wanted a pub dinner for 16 people. We had tried to book but been told they wouldn't take bookings. We arrived and saw that the inside of the pub is closed for renovations so they've erected a huge marquee in their massive beer garden. Unlike the cosy pub being renovated, the marquee doesn't have much atmosphere and feels like a wedding when most people have gone home. As the food isn't being served inside, it is basically a takeaway with everything served in cardboard boxes with disposable cutlery (no discount on the restaurant prices though). They've also added several glamping huts and caravans since we were last there. It seems this is now their priority. We arrived at 18.30, ordered drinks and sat in the beer garden looking at menus. I went to the bar to get the kids' menu and asked the barman how long they were serving food for, he said till about 20.30. It was only 19.00 so I was reassured. We moved inside and gathered enough tables and chairs to seat everyone. Then we queued to order our food. The first couple in our group ordered, paid and were told there would be an hour's wait for food. That's not ideal but hey we didn't have much choice. I then tried to order but the barman said the kitchen had just told him that they would not take any more orders unless for residents (the glampers). We were horrified - we had a load of hungry kids and were miles from anywhere. We had chosen the Wilson Arms so that everyone could have a drink and walk back to accommodation. The barman said there was nothing he could do - it wasn't his decision. Whoever had made the unpopular decision didn't show their face though. We spent some time having to google pubs and restaurants in the area. It was clear that if we all wanted to eat we would have to drive elsewhere. Meanwhile the first couple who had ordered and paid realised that if they were coming with us on our hunt for food, they would need to cancel and get a refund on their order. The barman refused saying their food was ready. They accepted that and went to get it but it wasn't actually ready, that was another order. They went back to request a refund again but were again refused. We then had to all wait for them to get their food order because they had been refused a refund before we could drive into Coniston in search of food for the rest of the group. There was no attempt to mitigate this terrible service, the barman just blamed difficulties getting staff post-Covid. I guess now they have so much glamping accommodation they can rely on residents for orders and don't have to treat other customers well. Such a shame our memory of the Wilson Arms is now this disappointing experience after several previous happy visits. Only saved by a lovely experience at the Black Bull, 15 minutes drive away in...

We were a group of 7 including my 4 year old. One of the group was given pasta which smelled as if the cheese was off. She was offered something else and just ordered chips instead.

Shortly afterwards whilst eating a chicken burger I found a piece of clear plastic around 20 x 10mm in size, my wife took it to the counter to give it to the manager so that they were aware and could avoid it happening again. The lady in charge offered a replacement meal for me but I'd almost eaten it so I refused the offer.

Toward the end of our meal my wife ordered ice-cream for our son and a drink for herself totalling £2.50, which seemed reasonable until my 4 year old found a shard of plastic which could have seriously injured or killed him if he'd have swallowed it.

This time me and my wife were both pretty upset due to our child being put in danger. She took it to the bar and asked for the manager again.

This time she offered a refund for the ice-cream, probably around £1 to £1.50. We refused as we will be taking it away to report it.

Neither of us came in to get a free meal or anything else free for that matter but I would have thought that the manager would have offered some kind of a good will gesture. Considering all that had happened they should have wrote off the bill for the full table.

I'm absolutely shocked and appalled.

Instead of dealing with it herself she sent 3 young kitchen staff members out to our table to apologise. I thought this was unprofessional and cruel. They were clearly very uncomfortable and probably scared of how we might respond.

Any decent manager would have dealt with the situation with us themselves and then dealt with the kitchen staff in a more constructive and less humiliating manner. Maybe highlight the issues to them and then provide any further training. This was out of order.

I or my family will never set foot in this place again and I would recommend anyone else to not visit here either. There are plenty of other places that don't serve plastic in your food in the lakes and some of which will have more...

Liked: Location. Wifi. Good electricity supply.

Disliked: I would not recommend this site. It’s badly managed. You are basically on a car park. The sites are very close together, with very large motor homes allowed and you are looking out onto the yard of a pub. We spent the week looking into the cleaners cart. It was noisy with deliveries, dogs barking, people walking past.

We booked with a caravan, to be told they don’t take caravans. As we’d only booked the day before they allowed us to stay, which we were grateful for.

There’s a cockerel that wakes you up every morning. The staff put a Jack Russell into a kennel on the car park that barks constantly all day. This really shows how little they think of their guests.

We arrived and we were not advised where the shower block, bins, Elsan was. A rather odd fella who seemed to think it was an inconvenience to actually take me to the pitch. The staff didn’t speak to us all week. When we were leaving no one even acknowledged us, despite several of them being there. We stayed 5 nights at £140, so I thought they might say thanks.

We were on pitch 1 and people were constantly walking between us and pitch 2 to get to the beer garden. The tables were right behind us, so pretty noisy on Saturday when it was sunny. Pitch 1 is right next to the car park, so extra noisy with comings and goings. Friday morning a load of men turned up to go for a hunt and parked in the motor home section as the car park was full and were shouting before 8am. There’s no control over who comes onto the pitches. A simple fence would assist.

There’s 1 toilet and 2 shower rooms. You have to walk through the somewhat scruffy working yard to get to it. The shower was good and clean. The toilet could do with cleaning more often.

It’s a great base for walking, so just a shame about the things that let it down.

We didn’t use the pub or the deli.

The pub mainly focusses on accommodation with several pods...