Food & Drink
Chef calls out ‘opportunists looking for a free meal’ who refused to pay bill after eating ‘70%’ of their food
‘Everyone’s after something for free at the moment, which perhaps comes from their lack of respect for the industry’
A chef and restaurant owner has opened up about an incident in which a couple refused to pay for their bill, despite having eaten the majority of the food served to them.
Luke Payne has owned and run The Pack Horse in Hayfield with his partner Emma for the last five years, and prides himself on serving ‘up market’ contemporary food not found in your typical pub.
According to Luke, 99% of The Pack Horse’s customers are ‘lovely’ and ‘have an amazing time’, but, on Saturday night, one couple refused point blank to pay up for their bill despite having eaten the majority of their meals.
Luke has since spoken out about the incident, saying the couple were simply ‘opportunists’ on the look-out for a free meal, clearly oblivious to the crippling impacts the Covid-19 pandemic has had upon the business and the rest of the hospitality industry.
Speaking to Proper Manchester, Luke detailed how, despite the couple being checked on by his waiting team several times throughout their meal, they never once complained about their food until they’d eaten ‘around 70% of it’.
The Pack Horse Hayfield / Facebook
He explained: “Despite having being checked back by our waiting team to see if everything was okay, the woman brought her pork chop up to the bar and compared it to ‘fatty bacon’, saying ‘this isn’t what I expected, I don’t really like it, I’d like another meal to replace it for free.’
“She had the opportunity to say if something was wrong or not to her liking, and in that scenario, we would have absolutely done everything we could to have made their evening better. She wanted a replacement for free, but she’d already eaten her meal essentially. So I said no, and informed her that if she wanted anything else she’d have to pay for it.”
At this, the woman’s husband allegedly became aggressive and claimed to be ‘in the right as the customer’. The couple then refused point blank to pay any of their bill, which amounted to £106, before leaving the premises.
Luke said: “Obviously we don’t live or die by £100, but it’s still a lot of money. That’s a young waitress’ wage for the day.”
Luke ended up charging the couple using the card details they had submitted when securing their reservation online – however, they threatened to get their card insurers involved so whether or not the money will actually come through will only be determined in the next couple of days.
The incident has understandably left Luke and his team disheartened and frustrated, with him noting: “When it’s your business and your livelihood and your passion, you want to make sure that everyone leaves having had a great time. So these kind of things do stick, and it is really frustrating.
“I take stuff like this really personally, because this is all we know, it’s all we do and we do it for love. The backbone of what we do is making people happy, so this kind of stuff brings out a certain level of upset.”
And sadly, this isn’t Luke’s first experience with customers attempting to get their meals for free; he told us that since restaurants have reopened after the lockdowns, he’s noticed a rise in diners complaining about food to avoid paying their bill.
“The customer always thinks they’re right, even when they’re not. We’re professionals at the end of the day, if something is wrong with the food and drink and the service that we’re providing, we’ll know about it. So people should be a little more respectful of what we do.
“Everyone’s after something for free at the moment, which perhaps comes from their lack of respect for the industry and the hard work and the graft and the love that goes into it… People only see the end product, they don’t understand why things cost as much as they do and why they take as long to prepare as they do.”
Since sharing his experience on Twitter, Luke and the Pack Horse team have been flooded with messages of support from adoring customers. One person wrote: “Corr, I wish I was having that pork chop for lunch. I love The Packhorse. These miserly chancers do not deserve your incredible food.”
Another noted: “We came in last week and 2 of our party had the Pork and absolutely loved it. Urrrgghh chancers trying to pull a fast one on a local business – hate it!”
You can stay up to date with The Pack Horse on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Food & Drink
Wetherspoons selling cheap pints from as little as £2.15 starting this week
Calling all beer lovers!
Pub chain Wetherspoons has announced it is hosting a 12-day celebration of all things ale — with pints costing as little as £2.15, starting this week.
The chain’s Real Ale Festival runs from Wednesday March 22nd to Sunday April 2nd, just in time for beer garden season. Exact prices will depend on where you live but the average cost is still expected to be below £3.
A range of 30 ales will be included in the deal, which is part of the pub chain’s real ale festival, from citrusy IPAs to deep dark rubies, available at extremely tempting prices across all of its pubs.
Some of those beers – 24 in total – will also have been brewed especially for the Wetherspoons event. Vegan and gluten free beers will also be on sale as part of the festival collection. Included in the selection of tipples will be offerings from leading British breweries as well as brewers in countries such as Switzerland, USA and Belgium.
Wetherspoon operations director, Martin Geoghegan said: “The festival is a great celebration of real ale. It will allow our pubs to showcase a selection of superb beers over a 12-day period, at great value for money prices.
“It will also give our customers the opportunity to enjoy a number of beers which have not previously been served in the pub, including those from overseas.”
The annual festival arrives as Spoons prices have risen by around 7.5 percent and a number of its venues have been put up for sale. Despite this, boss Tim Martin said that he remains ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the brand’s future.
The full list of ales is:
- Robinsons Brewery, Citra Pale Ale 3.4% ABV
- Rooster’s Brewery, Blind Jack 3.7% ABV
- Wainwright, Amber 4.0% ABV
- Butcombe Brewery, Vincent 4.0% ABV
- JW Lees Brewery, Vanilla Cream Pale 4.0% ABV
- Vale Brewery, Brass Monkey 4.0% ABV
- Exmoor Ales, Upside Brown 4.2% ABV
- Hook Norton Brewery, Merula Stout 4.2% ABV
- Theakston Brewery, Double Cross IPA 4.2% ABV
- Adnams Brewery, Extra 4.3% ABV
- Daleside Brewery, Seafever 4.3% ABV
- Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery, 1822 4.3% ABV
- Greene King Brewery, Spring Break 4.4% ABV
- Sudwerk Brewery, Reeds Ale 4.4% ABV
- Glamorgan Brewery, Fresh 4.5% ABV
- Redemption Brewery, Steam 4.5% ABV
- Brombeer Compagnie, Freddy Export 4.6% ABV
- Titanic Brewery, EBA 4.6% ABV
- Cairngorm Brewery, White Lady 4.7% ABV
- Orkney Brewery, Cliff Edge 4.7% ABV
- Liberation Brewery, Defiant ESB 4.8% ABV
- Moorhouse’s Brewery, Totemic 4.8% ABV
- Saltaire Brewery, Triple Choc 4.8% ABV
- Batemans Brewery, Spring Breeze 5.0% ABV
- Hawkshead Brewery, Five Hop 5.0% ABV
- Nethergate Brewery, Umbel Magna 5.0% ABV
- Sambrook’s Brewery, Valhalla 5.0% ABV
- Oakham Ales, Buckle Up! 5.2% ABV
- Otter Brewery, Head 5.8% ABV
- Cambridge Brewing, Flower Child IPA 6.0% ABV
Food & Drink
Zouk’s bottomless curry buffet is back for Ramadan with an entire stuffed lamb
It will be available for everyone throughout the entirety of Ramadan — Zouk have it covered!
Zouk is bringing back its epic bottomless buffet, available throughout the whole of Ramadan, consisting of their best-loved dishes — including a whole stuffed lamb.
Every evening starting from Thursday March 23rd, the colossal all-you-can-eat buffet will be open for everyone to feast on — the perfect way for families to celebrate Iftar and break their fast.
Guests will be greeted with a gift of stuffed dates on arrival plus fruit chaat, dates and water on the table. Once seated, customers can go up to the buffet and enjoy the daily selection of food which will include salads, starters, curries, lamb raan and a selection of accompaniments.
Zouk have created two sittings this year, so the Ramadan buffet is available for a longer period of time each evening — with a rotating menu in case you want to come back for more.
There will be one sitting at Iftar with a second sitting an hour earlier or later, depending on BST. All you have to do is simply select the time that best suits you and your fellow diners when booking.
The Ramadan buffet is £25 per person for adults, £12.50 per child (under 12s) and free for children under five. Throughout the month, Zouk will also be supporting a number of local charities by donating both meals and money to help with the homelessness crisis across Manchester.
While walk-ins are welcome, it is advised to make a reservation to avoid disappointment. Get booked in here.
The rotating menu is as follows:
Salads (a choice of three every day including)
Mango
Kachumber
Tabbouleh
Mint & Cucumber
Starters (a choice of five every day)
Vegetable Samosas
Mixed Vegetable Pakora
Dhai Balahi (yoghurt based dish served chilled)
Chicken Tikka
Seekh Kebab
Chicken 65
Live Carvey
Whole Stuffed Lamb Raan (weekends)
Leg Lamb Raan (weekdays)
Curry (a choice of four every day)
Chicken Sindhi Biryani
Chicken & Spinach
Lamb & Potatoes
Dall Makhani
Tarka Dall
Accompaniments
Assorted Naan breads
Roti
Basmati Rice
Desserts
Mango Mumbai Mess
Raspberry Mumbai Mess
Gulab Jamon
Chocolate Brownies
Fresh Fruit
Food & Drink
This Manchester food hall has been named best in entire UK
Three Manchester food halls made it into the top 10 list
A food hall in Manchester has been named as the best in the UK for its ‘exceptional’ food.
Mackie Mayor, based in the Northern Quarter, beat competition from London, Liverpool and Sheffield as it was voted best in the whole of the UK. Two other Greater Manchester food halls also made it to the top 10; Altrincham Market House and Society food hall, coming in fourth and eighth respectively.
Mackie Mayor scooped the top spot and was praised for the ‘exceptional’ food from its many food and drink operators, while second place went to Italian-inspired concept Eataly in London.
The news was announced by global travel site Big 7 Travel and hospitality specialists Enjoy Travel, who teamed up to find the best food halls in the UK. Venues were ranked on several factors including range of cuisines, selection of vendors, unique and special events and overall atmosphere.
Mackie Mayor food hall is located inside an 1858 Grade II-listed market building that was once Smithfield Market Hall. The site reopened as Mackie Mayor following a huge refurbishment in 2017.
The Swan Street plot was given a total revamp by the same team behind Altrincham Market — led by Nick Johnson — after lying empty for years. The team behind both food halls also run the Picturedrome food hall in Macclesfield.
Featuring a range of food and drink operators, all under its huge glass roof, Mackie Mayor holds the capacity for almost 500 people. The current line-up of vendors includes Tender Cow, Eagle Street Coffee, Honest Crust, Pico’s, New Wave Ramen, Mumma’s, Chilli B and BlackJack Brewtap.
Taking top position above Eataly in London and Cutlery Works in Sheffield, the description for Mackie Mayor said it was ‘crammed full of top-notch food and drink vendors’ and one of Manchester’s ‘most popular spots’.
It added: “Honest Crust serves exceptional seasonal sourdough pizzas, FIN Fish Bar is beloved for its sustainable day-boat fish cooked whole over a chargrill and Baohouse serves up the steamiest little Taiwanese buns. At Tender Cow, punters can tuck into lesser-known cuts of beef from some of the best producers and farms in Britain. Groups of 10 or more people can book a table too.”
The other Manchester food hall making the top ten was Society, located in the long-vacated bar site next to Bridgewater Hall on Barbirolli Square, serving up a range of street food, craft beers and cocktails.
Current traders at the food hall include Chaat Cart, Yoki Social Table and Vocation brewery.
Manchester University students ‘forcefully dragged’ out of building by bailiffs
Wetherspoons selling cheap pints from as little as £2.15 starting this week
Elmer the elephant art trail coming to Blackpool with 30 sculptures to find
Gary Neville ‘saves Mother’s Day’ after spotting woman struggling in city centre
Two girls aged 13 and 16 from Manchester killed in horror car crash
