The Moon and Stars, Penge

i must say i am rather disappointed by some of the reviews that have been left. i actually work at the moon and stars and have done for the last two and a half years, so i have worked there in the time that most of these reviews were left. i am not going to pretend that they are entirely unjust, but the current manager, who has been there for a year has really turned the place around, not just for the customers (as i have been told) but for the staff also. granted, there have been some utterly diabolical staff that that been and gone (thank god) but to honest, we've had a team there where every member has been there for at least 3 months and are mostly bloody hard workers. to tar everyone with the same brush is unfair. there ARE staff that care about providing good service and please don't think that that is always easy. please don't forget that the industry in which we work is long, tiring hours, for a ridiculously low wage, and yes, sometimes we may lose our patience. but to be fair, it is EXTREMELY frustrating when you do have dozens of thirsty customers "waving fivers under our nose" screaming out "pint of fosters please love" when you are quite clearly serving someone!!!!!! would you like it if we waved signs stating "yes, thank you, we know you are waiting"???? we are not perfect, and we cannot always know exactly which person is next, particularly as the bar is long and you cannot see all the way across it at anyone time, so all we can do is tell the truth and ask "who's next?" after that all we can do is rely on the customers to tell the truth.

as for the claims that there is never any beer, i'd like to disagree. for the most part, there are at least 10 different beers on at any one time, in no small part due to the manager having trained other team members, including myself, how to clean the lines and prepare the beers. if, at any time, you ask for a beer that is displayed and you are told that it has "just run out" i'm afraid you'll have to assume that it is genuine, as the manager absolutely insists that we have no pump-clips left bare, so much so that we now have duplicate clips to ensure that the customer is not mislead.

if you have come to the moon and stars, and had a bad experience, i can only apologise, and implore you to revisit our pub and give us another chance. the majority of our regular customers have nothing but praise for the changes that have occurred in the time that i have been there, so i hope that you wont be disappointed!!!!!

9 May 2006 02:42