I have been contacted by the managment and asked to remove my post. I am unwilling to do this but am happy to amend it.

As a regular I thought I would take my son for the first time on his 18th birthday. I have always enjoyed the Merchants and I was hoping that my son would carry on the tradition... what a shame that the manager claimed that the pub was full due to the rugby (England v Scotland)... I asked if he could let us in as it was my sons birthday and I had promised to bring him for the match on his 18th... ''NO" came the reply "I can't break the rules". OK I thought fair enough.. rules are rules. So, disappointed, off we went. As I walked up the street I had a sneaky feeling that this guy just wasn't being honest! I looked back and saw him letting a couple in no questions asked!!! I watched a while longer and sure enough he allowed another male in. I walked back towards him and he looked towards me... maybe he saw me, maybe he didn't ,but as I walked towards him to question his decision he walked into the pub and out of sight.

I do not accept the managers explanation that the couple had just 'popped out' because they passed us on the street 30 metres or so away from the pub as we were walking away. I looked back a couple of times and you did appear to be looking in my direction whilst the couple stood by the door. As soon as it appeared that we were out of sight (we weren't) you let the couple in. However, I do accept that the single male could have already been inside and had just popped out for a smoke.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my original post. It is unfair of me to give you 1 star as I have had many more positive experiences at the Merchant's than negative ones. On reflection I have amended it based on those previous visits. However, I remain disappointed in relation to our treatment on that particular night.