Pioneer Bar and Brasserie — Restaurant in Sefton

I'd booked my daughter's 18th birthday at one of this venue's function rooms. We agreed on the party running from 18:00 to 00:00 with an option to bring our own food. Majority of the attendees were under 18. The party was going well until about 23:20 when my daughter was informed that the bar is going to close early (by about 40 minutes) and that they have to leave the venue. The kids quickly collected some of the food, some of it they threw away since they didn't have anything to pack it with. They were forced to wait outside in a cold, rainy weather until their unaware parents came closer to midnight. It was only after one of the angry moms arrived early to collect her child and knocked on the bar door that they offered to bring the children back inside. Around 23 40 I arrived with some boxes to collect the leftovers and tips for the waiters and was shocked after I realised what had happened. I don't understand the waiters' behaviour, they closed the bar early because there wasn't any guests in other parts of the building and my daughter had been kicked out. On Monday after the party I spoke to the bar owner. She was very unprofessional. She didn't see anything wrong in the way the waiters acted. Her excuse was that we paid very little for the hire of the venue, but in fact I paid the full amount. During the entire conversation she kept saying that they did us a huge favour because we paid too little and brought our own food, which was all pre-agreed with the manager. I didn't however receive an explanation as to why the waiters did what they did and no refund was offered. I did receive an apology. During the conversation the manager was there as well and while stroking his hair she said that he is not a manager...

Health and Safety Risk. For a business that should cater for functions, I expected at least a minimum standard of Health and Safety. My daughter chose to celebrate her 25th birthday at this venue and 50 family and friends were invited. The function was held upstairs with a private bar. Towards the end of the evening one of the BOSE speakers blasting the music out detached itself from the ceiling narrowly missing my fathers head. The shock and horror of it hitting the floor was written all over my fathers face. The bar staff and then owners response was to place the speaker on the table next to my father. No apology, no enquiry as to if my father was ok whatsoever. My day is 77 and recovering from Cancer. Happy to rake in your cash on overpriced drinks. Happy to promote a trendy wine bar theme. Not so happy to look after their customers. Not so happy to make their premises safe for celebrations.

With Christmas approaching choose a safer place to enjoy occasion, family and friends.

A friend attended a wedding the same evening in the Crosby Comrades Club across the road attended by over 200 people. It went without incident and guests celebrated safely together.

I will be reporting this to The Health and Safety...

Pre-booked for 10 people and they wanted a £5 deposit each which was fair enough. Only 7 of us ended up turning up and they only took £35 instead of £50 from the deposit off the bill at the end. They also tried to say we never paid a deposit. I think that was a bit sly taking the £5 deposit from the 3 people that didn't turn up. I could understand if no one turned up but the majority of us did. We were the only people in the place and they still got our food order wrong from a set menu! They made one too many Christmas dinners and came out and said they dropped the plate with the missing meal on. At the end they tried to charge for 8 meals instead of 7 as well. I just felt like they tried every trick they could to get more money out of us. The food wasn't too bad but I felt a bit ripped off because of the deposit thing.

If you're going as part of a big group check your bill properly and avoid paying a deposit if there's a chance someone might...