Not disability friendly, ruined birthday.
I tried to book a table for 7 people over Messenger and wanted to bring my own birthday cake. They said I’d need to pay a £30 booking deposit to book a table over 4 people, I was happy to do this but they said this could only be done over the phone as their online booking system was ready till September.
Which I’m unable to do due to disability, they also said I wanted to bring “my own food”, I’d have to book the party room for an extra £50 (we couldn’t due to friends having limited mobility on stairs).
At the end of the over 5 hour conversation on Messenger, I finally asked whether they were going to provide reasonable adjustments so I could pay the £30, they provided some bank details so I could pay online and mentioned “we have to cover costs to pay our staff”.
Overall, very disheartening experience, kept saying how they’re a small business with costs like I didn’t want to pay the £30, also because of everyone else no showing to large tables now everyone has to pay £30 to book, refused to make reasonable adjustments as required by law and only offered a way to pay online after they were pressured. Ruined a birthday with friends and family, didn’t allow us to bring a birthday cake, not transparent with their booking fees or birthday/food policy.
Please make the front door wheelchair accessible, instead of the back door/service door, people with disabilities are not second class citizens. People in wheelchairs who want to pop in or have never been before are not going to know about some back door, very discouraging for wheelchair users.
I want them to make substantial improvements in how they’re treat future customers and people with disabilities, hopefully I’ll be able to book in the future.
They've blocked me on Facebook Messenger, pretty childish and defensive, not remorseful or wanting to be better.
4 July 2024
Unprompted review