Jolly Sailor — Restaurant in St Albans

I would very much like to respond to the abhorrent diatribe that was posted on here last night from one Helen Coulshed.

I am said DJ whom she accused of being racist and would very much like the opportunity to air a few thoughts on this post.

Firstly, I am most certainly not a racist in any way, shape or form! I myself am from Jamaican background and take great pride in welcoming each and every one of you who choose to attend my Karaoke events. I strive to create an atmosphere where people feel welcome, have a great night, and most importantly want to return to and from the feedback I constantly receive, I do this very well.

I have been DJ’ing at The Jolly Sailor on and off for almost 20 years now and have a great relationship with both staff and clientele alike. I am hired for the exact reasons I have stated above which is why I take great offence to the review that was posted which not only discredits myself, but also the pub.

What I find even more interesting is that this “person of colour” as she most eloquently put it was not called Helen. She did come and ask to sing a Karaoke song, was put in the queue, and duly carried out shortly before midnight. I know this to be the case as my software records all the history of every single evening.

Following this, I was approached by a member of the bar staff who explained that there had been a complaint about me and that I had ‘ignored’ a request from this “person of colour” to which I clearly outlined that this was completely untrue. Said barstaff then went and spoke to the group in question so I considered the matter closed.

20 minutes later said “person of colour” approached me quite aggressively and said that I really do need to consider my choice of music as ‘quote’ “she was the only black person in the pub and I had only played about 2 seconds of Afrobeats music”. At no point did she ever mention that any request had been ignored (making the inflammatory review on here even more bizarre).

What people need to understand is that The Jolly Sailor is a VERY busy Karaoke venue! I often have more than 20 singers in the Queue by midnight (as I did on this evening) which means that the wait to sing can very often be well over an hour. This is very politely explained to all people coming in late wanting to sing and I also do very frequently announce over the microphone that we do start at 9pm and to get in nice and early to get your songs in.

In conclusion all I can say is that I really do hope that Helen Coulshed sees this post and can have a serious think in future about what she chooses to post as this is quite simply not acceptable.

That being said Karaoke has gone from strength to strength over the last 12 months when I have been back more regularly and I am 100% certain that all of the regular attendees feel exactly the same way.

Paul and his team do a fantastic job of running this wonderful pub and long may...

Never go here. My girlfriend and I wanted to do some karaoke, but instead found ourselves worrying for our lives. I will be excluding the patrons, one of which accused me of sweating too much, despite being under a spotlight in an over capacity room. The smoking area had its own bouncer. I say this because one of the owners refused people access to the smoking area if they had a drink. Never mind she was standing there sharing a beer with her friend. Then she said there was not enough space outside, even though there were 7 empty tables outside and 14 people waiting for fresh air! During our stay, a fight broke out among 50% of the pub, to which the DJ just said "another night at the Jolly Sailor!". The staff even remarked it was common place to stop serving for 5 minutes because of a fight, then start again, despite no one being kicked out. One woman was on the floor, clearly knocked out, though the staff made no attempt to move her. I fact, people stood over her whilst the bar staff served them! Don't go. It's terrifyingly...

After having a similar experience to other people in the reviews with the lady bouncer getting physical I returned after 3 years to only encounter horrible staff and discrimination from the dj. He was trying to humiliate someone from my party by denying them the microphone even though they had been in the queue like anyone else. He decided they wouldn't sing and made sure to say it in the microphone to the entire place. Followed by his completely unwelcome singing in between songs like anyone was there to hear him sing and not to sing ourselves as paying customers. Do not go to this place. Also they make you leave your drink unattended if you want to go outside even though ironically they have a poster on the female bathroom door to watch out for signs of spiked drinks.

This is quite sad as this is the only karaoke place in town. It would be greatly improved by a change of the...