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[LadyV]

I have been thinking about after The Smart Festival.

Normally we head off to The Hand and Spear pub: http://www.handandspear.co.uk/

This pub has excellent car park facilities and is only about 1.5 miles away from Mercedes Benz World. I know last year (2011) there were some major issues with regards to the 'buffet' lunch that we all agreed to try...basically there wasn't enough food to go around and because two people out of about fifteen were vegetarians, there was more veggie food than anything else (please don't be offended Mr Singh- there were other issues that people complained about too!) At £10-£15 per head, it wasn't what we were expecting. I could go on, but for those of you that were there, you know what happened.

I wrote to complain and since then we were invited back to try some food from their main menu. I have to say I am very impressed- the food from the main menu is very reasonably priced, declious and you get a lot of food too...well enough for everyone really! Plus the place is under new managment and they are very keen to have us back every year.

I am happy to arrange for everyone to come to this pub again for the reasons suggested above, or if you would prefer to try somewhere new, can we have some suggesions? Please ensure that any suggestions have adequate parking facilities.

If you would like me to make the arrangements, just ask!

Thank you!

[LadyV]

Hello guys,

Any comments about the above post? Are we interested in having dinner afterwards? If so I need numbers to arrange it!

[Problemchild]

I'm thinking it will be a handful of people at the most so should we just play it by ear??

JJ

[Fox]

Hard to book a table or area in a restaurant if you don't know how many want to come along. I would rather people said yes or no than just twiddled thumbs and 'played it by ear'.

[Problemchild]

Well no from me then

I will have no idea of what I will need to be doing that evening, if the wife and Jacob are coming etc.

In my opinion, locate the nearest harvester and plan to go there after.

JJ

[funkydoodycool]

 Not 100% if I'll be at the festival or not, and would probably go home after so count me out of this one.

[Fox]

Sorry if I sound harsh, i don't mean to be - last time we arranged it was made very difficult due to people saying yes/no, giving a guess on numbers and then people not turning up that had confirmed. It made it very difficult for everyone.

Also as someone who has had to chef in all kinds of booked party situations, from buffet to 3 course xmas dinner for a couple of hundred people, i know what it's like to try and survive a party that turn up out of the blue with 20 people mid evening or plan and prep for 40 but 8 arrive. This can cause disappointment to all customers when service sometimes has to be stopped and almost always slows down.

I am happy to look around again and find somewhere nearby but the hand and spear is literally round the corner and have their own decent size car park and a free public car park just next door. We eat there whenever we go to MB and haven't been disappointed after their change in management.

If you want to find somewhere on your own then that of course is your call.

[Problemchild]

happy to go there and eat..... but we will have to take our chance when we decide

i know you had issues last time.

tying people down is always going to be hard though.

the only sure fire way is to get money off people in advance. if they don't turn up then you have left overs to feed yourself for a few days

Q1. was the restaurant busy after last years event?
Q2. what sort of numbers of attendees do you think it will be before the restaurant want you to book? (i.e. they must be capable of dealing with 6 or 8 people turning up on spec)

for me, if i come with the missus then we will eat
if i come on my own i'll shoot off early

i know that doesn't help

JJ

[Fox]

Q1 - The restaurant was reasonable in it's capacity - they have a few seperate dining areas suitable for groups to have a private area - inside and out - so are nicely designed. I didn't go peeking on them though so can't say if they were full or not.

Q2 - More than eight would be what I would feel as acceptable for that size kitchen.

Can't really collect cash from people first, bit difficult really. Just have to rely on the promises of others...