"I'm never going back there again" says Michael Winner about a restuarant that he's frequented for 40 years, but was disappointed with when he went there the other day - Daily Mail report, page 23, and Twitter. Hmmmm.

We use services of various sorts - restaurants, shops, banks, etc., in Melksham, and service is usually pretty good. But we have had bad experiences, most common (number wise) with the places we've used the most. There's a reason for that - places that have consistently failed to provide what we want aren't used any longer, but we'll keep going back to those that get it right 9 times out of 10. The rate of error is lower, but the numeric value is higher.

Of course, places can go up and down, and change hands from time to time which means that we should (and do) let problems - even major ones - fade away and we'll give places another go. Certainly we've never said "I won't ever go there again" about anywhere in town. But there are currently two lunchtime food outlets where I won't take customers. One is longstanding, after 2 appalling incidents and the owners being aggressive. The second made a bit of a hash of the customer service element on Monday, not for the first time. I expect I'll try them on my own again with Lisa sometime, as we do like to offer variety to our delegates, but when I take people out to lunch (as I do quite often), the service that we get reflects on our business too, and I'm simply not going to take unnecessary risks.

We eat at The Tavern and the West End from time to time ... at Ku, at the Cornerstone, and at Subway. Occasionally delegates like McDonalds, and the Art House Cafe and Bud's are occasionally chosen. Out of town, we frequent the Waney Edge. Of course, we're a fully certified kitchen ourselves at Well House Manor and we eat in our own place (Well House Manor) quite often. For an evening, customers are often directed to the Refa although it's rarely a lunchtime venue these days. We hear good reports of the other Indian eat-in restraurants - the Sultan especially, and from guests who stay at the Conigre.

How are these establishments going to fare when The Bear is re-opened by Wetherspoons? I expect those favourites which I've mentioned above will continue to well, as Melksham becomes even more renowned as an eating place. But I wouldn't like to predict a bright future for those who serve three meals so long apart that each of a group eats in turn, for those who take the money for an item which they then realise they've run out of, and don't refund the difference when the customer chooses something cheaper, and for those who give their customers serious agro because they've been seen eating previously in a competitor's place.
(written 2011-08-11)

 G205 - Well House Consultants - Food and Drink.
  [36] Tesco at 5 - (2004-09-02)
  [184] MTBF of coffee machines - (2005-01-20)
  [207] Canteen Dragon - (2005-02-09)
  [211] Look after your staff and they'll look after you. AOL. - (2005-02-12)
  [221] Lunchtime Drink - (2005-02-20)
  [302] Dining full circle - (2005-05-06)
  [456] Laying out a vegetarian lunch - (2005-10-05)
  [1332] Melksham Hotel - Five Star Kitchen! - (2007-09-04)
  [1843] How many cups of coffee? - (2008-10-17)
  [1904] Ruby, Perl, Linux, MySQL - some training notes - (2008-11-23)
  [2590] A healthy, local breakfast in Melksham - (2010-01-19)
  [2591] Melksham Hotel, B and B or business accommodation? - (2010-01-20)
  [2784] Course Lunches - (2010-05-27)
  [3182] What we look for in a lunchtime cafe restaurant in Melksham - (2011-02-24)
  [3199] Lunch for Melksham Businesses - (2011-03-11)
  [3233] C / C++ Course Lunch - sitting out at the West End - (2011-04-07)
  [4415] Buffet review - taking the price into account - (2015-02-05)

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