William the Fourth — Restaurant in England

Such a shame……I left feeling very disappointed, downgraded and cheated by the manager!

This was my first time visiting Brighton, myself and partner went for our anniversary, and after finding William the 4th, we thought it was a great place with a really friendly atmosphere.

After being in the bar for an hour and meeting some friends I purchased our 3rd drink. 1 ale and 1 strawberry gin and lemonade (£10 worth), I put them on the table I went to the bathroom.

When I came back from the bathroom my partner said that the bar staff had just taken our drinks away. The bar staff had accidentally taken our new full drinks away thinking they where old.

When I went up to explain the situation I was met by a very rude and abrupt man who claimed to be the manager. First he said he didn't believe I had purchased any drinks from them. I explained that it was an ale and a strawberry gin, he stated that they didn't even sell strawberry gin, when I pointed to our glasses on the bar counter, he called me a lier and said that the drink I was pointing at wasn't a strawberry gin. This is when the 2 other bartenders intervened (1male & 1female) and agreed that I did just purchase drinks and that the drinks on the side was what I had just purchased from them.

The manager then dug our drinks out of the pile of dirty glasses and removed other peoples dirty shot glasses from them with his fingers, he pushed them at me and said there you go theres your drinks back. I refused to accept drinks which had other people dirty shots and his hands in. I asked if he could just pour us new drinks as the other bartenders had confirmed what had happened, but he refused. He said if I wanted our drinks id have to take the dirty ones from the bar. He said I could have new drinks but id have to pay for them first. He said he could not be sure the glasses were completely full when taken, so I said well how about half a drink to compromise, but he still refused.

In total because of his sheer lack of customer service, even after the customer was proven to be correct by the other bar staff £10 worth of drinks were argued over for about 45 minutes.

The manager said his name was Gareth, which iv since found out to have been a lie, as I have contacted the pub and spoken to another manager and she confirmed that they don't have any employees called Gareth. So not only will this tall half cast man treat customers disgustingly he will also lie about his name to prevent a complaint coming back to him.

This experience ruined our visit to William the Fourth, and even tarnished our trip to Brighton.

After reading other reviews it is obvious that more people have complained about staff and their “Manager”.

The man I met clearly had no concept of customer service, hygiene standards or general respect.

I will not go be going back to this pub, and was very saddened by my experience.

Will not...

Poor customer service. We were forced to pay for our food upfront because of "COVID", which didn't make sense? (we were a family with dogs, ordering soft drinks, beer and food). We didn't argue, simply paid, and also tipped expecting a good service and supporting staff after the pandemic. We then ordered a healthy salad with some (additional) chicken for £2. The salad was delicious, however the chicken was basically "recycled" from the Sunday roast. It was roast chicken chunks on a salad. I was disappointed and I let the staff know. I was not expecting roast chicken on a healthy salad... I was then told two completely different stories from staff (one staff admitting on Sunday its roast chicken, the other days its not). Nevertheless I let it slide. Then we ordered a drink and the staff didn't even offer to reimburse the chicken (which I did not eat and left on my plate) because it was dry, roast and not tasty for a salad (recycled from Sunday roast left over) . Then when I wanted to speak with the manager one of the staff told me that the reason you have to pay upfront is because we can't tell if you would run away???? Non sense. We are a family and this approach is rude and unprofessional... all covered with "Covid". Then I told the manager our experience. She didn't really care if we leave a review or not, so I thought to leave one. She asked me: WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? - and I said for a start don't charge me in advance for food and reimburse me for the chicken that I left on my plate...) She then brought me back two £ in cash ... However, there was no element or willingness by her or the staff to recover customer satisfaction. No gesture of deducting it off the next drink by themselves. The only reason we got our money back is because we expressed our disappointment. For tipping them in advance we received a poor customer service. Slow service and ignorant staff. I would not come back, despite their salad being tasty (without the chicken) and the waitress who was actually serving us was pleasant...

This pub is the perfect spot for a bite and a drink when shopping in the Lanes. I have visited several times and it always has an excellent selection of beers on tap and traditional pub fare at reasonable prices. The William the Fourth has a really pleasant atmosphere with a groovy bar area and plenty of cosy corners to choose from. There is also a small outdoor seating area out back. The Sunday roast was great value for money but had room for improvement - the vegetables were a bit lacklustre and watery, about half of my partner’s roast beef was fatty/chewy, and while the roast potatoes were tasty, they could have done with a bit more crunch. That being said, the yorkshire pudding, red cabbage, beetroot and pork belly were excellent. I highly recommend the child’s roast portion if you’re not feeling too hungry - it’s a steal for £8.95! My friends were very happy with their nachos and fish & chips - I think classic pub grub is the way to go here. I would definitely come back to soak up the buzz of the Lanes with a cold pint or a weekday meal, but would possibly look elsewhere for a Sunday Roast. We really are spoilt for choice...