The Gallery, City Of London

No air-con, overpriced drinks, a floor with 'divots' and a rude bar manager who would not let us open the doors despite it being so hot inside that sweat was running down the windows. Truly awful choice for an event venue in (even a bad British) summer.

5 Sep 2012 14:35

The Bavarian Beerhouse, Shoreditch

This place (I hesitate to call it a pub) is far larger than you might expect from outside.
I was with a large group of friends and acquaintances, who had set up in the furthest reach; a room decorated to resemble somewhere betwixt a sauna and an alpine hunting lodge. An attractive and authentically German waitress clad in a hackneyed blue and white uniform came by and took away my card in exchange for a tab and some decent yet uninspiring German beers. This turned out to be a mistake.
I can only assume that they're only used to businessmen drinking on the company tab. While we arrived in drabs, we all left at closing, and had separate cards to pay on. To compound this:
- We couldn't pay at the bar, or even with any waitress except the only one assigned to us.
- The card machine didn't get a good enough signal to process payments in or immediately outside the room we were in, so every person needing to do so had to wander into the main area and wave it around before it would work.
- At no point was I given the option of simply settling my tab with cash to speed the process up.
All in all, it took nearly an hour to settle all our tabs, by which time I was seriously contemplating walking out and cancelling my credit card.

I don't think I'd have been quite as incensed had we not had a whip-round for the serving staff just prior to the attempt to settle our tab, which I think came to over fifty quid.

The best advice I can give to anyone coming here is to refuse to part with your own credit card under any circumstances, and if they resuse to serve you as a result, leave.

1 Mar 2007 14:17