The Fletchers Arms — Restaurant in Tameside

Lovely looking pub, with staff which unfortunately give "I really don't want to be here" vibes. Not all, don't get me wrong. But one girl in particular left her smile at home no matter how hard we tried to smile each time we went to the bar, she simply didn't want to even pretend to be happy about being at work... that's fine, people can have off days, but I suggest she finds a job behind a desk out of hospitality where, no matter what we feel like, problems are left at the door and we do the job with a smile. Maybe I'm old school but miserable staff isn't something I want on a nice family day out.

Secondly, we had been outside having a few drinks for a couple of hours waiting on family members to arrive, they did and so 12 of us plus two babies went in to eat as the place was empty. At 4pm the same girl told us we could eat but they need the tables back by 5pm, we expressed that the food could take 40 mins to come out, and she didn't disagree, leaving us 20 mins at most to eat and leave. So we said we would have to go elsewhere, to which she simply shrugged her shoulders and retired back to the bar - from a venue owners p.o.v if this was my staff member, she'd be gone. Going off average food prices on the menu our party would have spent around £350 on meals, however we decided just to have a small snack back outside where it was super windy and a parasol almost skewered my sister in law after taking flight. - if the miserable staff member could have made an effort in an empty(ish) pub to accommodate us for food, I may have overlooked the lack of enthusiasm at work, but no, she simply doesn't care enough about being there, no pride in her role and we were nothing but polite. - but that obviously gets you nowhere nowadays, so I thought I'd best leave some feedback.

Long story short, we won't be back. Which is unfortunate as its local to us.

On another note, there was a young camp lad and who I imagine was the bar manager lady, both super helpful and always wearing a smile. The side was simply let down by the young lady we had the pleasure of...

Having read a previous review in which it was stated that the reviewer brought his dog to this venue, I assumed that it was in fact dog-friendly. It's also situated right bang on top of the Transpennine Trail, so it would make sense for it to welcome dog-walkers and the like. I thought, great, just what I'm looking for!

Well, when I got there - having walked five miles - I was told that dogs were NOT allowed inside. Bearing in mind that Charlie is a well-behaved miniature Yorkshire Terrier (about half the size of an average cat and weighing in at all of four pounds) who likes to sit on my lap when I'm having a pint, I'm not sure what it was thought he'd get up to in there. Mistake the pot plants for litter trays? Chew the legs off the bar stools? Steal a string of sausages from the kitchen? Case the joint for a Hatton Garden-style heist by burrowing under the cash register? The mind boggles.

I'm sure it's not the fault of the staff, I have to stress. More likely it's a blanket policy dreamed up by some grey-suited corporate half-wit. (You know the type, the same people who think everybody who goes to a gym should be forced to listen to the kind of music gormless teenagers play on their ipods on the bus, only it must be at ear-splitting levels. 'And while we're at it, lets have the telly on really loud too! People don't come here to actually exercise, so they don't need to concentrate.' But I digress.) No doubt if asked, Mr or Ms Corporate would mutter something dark but vague about "hygiene reasons"; never mind the fact that there are thousands of pubs and restaurants which let dogs in without all the customers going down with rabies. Or that Charlie's paws have exactly the same stuff on them that the soles of my shoes do. Cause, you know, I'm attached to the ground by gravity just like him. I don't hover.

Ah well... you never know, the owners might get a sudden attack of common sense one day. Stranger things have happened. Meanwhile, I'm off to...

Oh wow what a find this place was! We were passing through and staying locally for football. I thought I’d google places to eat in Denton and The Fletchers Arms popped up at the top of the list. Firstly my son is called Fletcher, that was a sign, and then seeing over 2.2k good reviews was another good sign. I decided to book, I had no joy online so though I’d call, I wasn’t hopeful as it was Valentines night. When I called I was answered by a lovely member of staff that was very helpful, I was told that as it was Valentines night I could book for 4, as usually it’s a walk in service for less than 6 guests. On arrival we were warmly welcomed and taken to a round booth style table by Tom. We all decided we were going to have the carvery, and after our long day travelling we upgraded to the larger plate. We haven’t experienced a carvery other than the famous chain that start with a T and ends with a Y. We ordered with Tom, he then gave us a ticket so we could go to be served. We all went together to the hatch, there we were warmly greeted by the server, I believe he was called Mike, what a top guy! We were talked through the meats etc and Mike served us well, while having a chat and we said how nice it was there. The food was incredible, plentiful and with a good variety, It was all home cooked, and not mass produced like some places. We were all so stuffed we shared one dessert between us, the Biscoff Cheeses cake, that too was incredible. The atmosphere was so nice and warm, we stayed at our table, had a drink and listened to the live music for a bit. I would highly recommend a visit here, and we will come again when in the area, extremely good value for money too. Thanks for a...