The Old Nags Head — Restaurant in High Peak

Nice building with decent food and drink selection.

Main concern is the treatment of the rabbits that the pub owners keep. It would be considered as cruel and as a busy establishment I feel is setting a very poor example of rabbit care to its patrons and potentially misinforming and encouraging similar poor care. I wouldn’t normally rant however I spoke to staff at the time and didn’t get the impression they were particularly bothered. I also emailed them to which I received no response.

They have 2 rabbits in an unsuitable hutch that does not allow for rabbits to stand or display any of their natural behaviour or freely run around. The pub has a significant amount of space so they could easily invest in a proper permanent run area attached to the existing hutch. The lack of space also explains why one member of staff said one of the two rabbits is aggressive. A typical behavioural sign that they are confined to an unsuitably small space.

It was an excruciatingly hot day and the rabbits hutch was covered in a plastic covering with only one partition open. Effectively making it a mini greenhouse. They had the typical drip feeders for water which are unsuitable for rabbits (despite pet shops selling them as such). I appreciate pet shops often misinform so I mentioned to the bar staff that the rabbits looked hot and needed to drink more so requested they put a bowl of water out for them. 3 hours later this still was not done which was my largest concern. I appreciate not being fully aware of proper rabbit care but when informed still nothing as done.

They also had no hay at all. It should be at least 80% of their diet and freely available at all times. Later in the evening when raised again with another staff member they might have some somewhere and would put some in that day along with a water bowl. I fear this will be more of a ‘one off’ goodwill gesture as it relies on the pub owners to take responsibility.

They need the following:

A permanent outdoor run attached to the current hutch (they have the space). Provide heavy duty water bowls that allow rabbits to drink more easily especially in hot weather. Also less likely to freeze in winter. Provide considerably more hay and do so daily.

It is a shame the owners did not respond to my comments at the time or my email as I know rabbit care is often misrepresented by pet shops, their lack of email response or care at the time is saddening. They should consider giving them up to adoption if unwilling...

Probably the worst service & standards of professionalism I've ever seen. I waited 20 minutes to be served with only one or two people waiting, whilst 4-5 bar staff stood by the coffee machine chatting and watching the football. Completely blanked me and other customers, including the couple next to me who'd been waiting even longer, just eyes glazed over looking straight past us to watch the match. No acknowledgement or apology for the wait, not even a 'hi'. When one woman eventually started serving people she had no awareness of any of us who'd been waiting patiently, instead just served the nearest people to her who had walked up whilst we had been waiting. Other bar staff more or less useless, walking behind the bar like zombies literally looking at people waiting to be served then wandering back to the coffee machine to chat. Picking up a glass, walking halfway down the bar, walking back, putting it back down, then standing for five minutes watching football.

Being busy in a rush or understaffed is one thing, I've worked in hospitality and I'm fully aware of how difficult it can be and would never complain about that. Which is why it was so maddening that a team of 5 bar staff didn't have the decency or competency to even acknowledge the wait, and would rather blatantly ignore customers and watch football on shift than do their job even remotely properly to the point where the wait was a direct result of this rather than being particularly busy. Ended up walking out of the bar without even having been served as I could tell I wasn't going to get served without making a scene and ruining my day more.

Beer was brilliant (served earlier by a different woman) and food looked amazing, which was a massive shame as we ended up leaving to find food elsewhere and would have absolutely destroyed one of their burgers. Shout out to the kitchen team who appeared to be the only competent ones, they were moving at pace and getting good quality food out at a good rate.

Although the setting is lovely and what they have to offer seemed great, I can't recommend this pub in good faith to anyone whilst the same low standards are held by...

This was the worst meal and service I think I have ever experienced. When ordering food at the bar, I was served by a woman (blonde, bobbed hair) who in my personal opinion should not be allowed to be in a customer facing role. She was plain rude. Meals were booked by table, as we were instructed, but were not served by table, so you had one or two people per table waiting 20 to 30 minutes for their meal. Two of our group waited for 50 minutes for their meal, which was only served after going back to the bar to re-order as they had lost the order. I ordered fish and chips; the chips were lukewarm, the fish had clearly been fried more than once and then I believe heated in a microwave, the portion sizes were small, as if I got the last of the chips. My son's meal of sausage and beans, (served 20 minutes after the rest of our meals had arrived, and only after I very politely asked if the meal was on it's way, only to be cut off mid sentence as the lady mentioned above stormed off to the kitchen then shouted back to me that it was on it's way), was awful-the sausages were black and very tough so they had been overcooked and then re-heated, plus the mash was instant and like a lump of lukewarm dough- inedible. Some of our kids went out to play on the little patch of grass at the back with two adults with them, including me, and the same woman mentioned above came running out and shouted at them to stop saying they had been smashing a ball against one of the cars. When I stepped out from were I had been standing to say this wasn't true as I had been there the entire time and would not allow this, she shouted at me and said she had 'Well why have I got a resident screaming down the phone at me' to say this had happened? Then she stormed back inside. I wanted to ask for a refund but I was so worn down by the experience and did not think we would even get a decent, open discussion about the service based on the above, so we just left as soon as we could. Do not eat here or give them your custom. The owners and management should be embarrassed to...