Topic ID 6279
Went to see The Counterfeit Stones at Hertford Theatre last night. Band were excellent & so was the atmosphere, but what's happened to the bar? The cloakroom has gone, so nowhere to hang your coat. Nowhere comfortable to sit in the bar area, just plastic tables & chairs. No draught beers only bottles & a choice of just Becks, Budweiser, Speckled Hen & Magners that I could see & at £3 a bottle, that's £6 a pint. No proper glasses, just flimsy plastic & the bar staff were just 3 strong, so many people wanting a drink just gave up. Also, they had run out of beer & some soft drinks by half way through the interval. I thought the new venue was supposed to be an improvement - I won't be going back anytime soon!
Reply ID 84648
Dear Muddy Would you do a favour, complain to the Hertford Theatre too. The reason being that some of the groups who hire the venue (ie: Drama groups I belong to) have made so many complaints about these very problems, that we too were promised would be rectified and clearly they are not! The problem is unless you confront the Theatre to tell them this and the fact that they will lose your revenue for any other performances, they won't act or be made accountable. Could you do this Muddy for everyone who uses the venue and also for yourself. I am so sorry you had a bad experience, but please don't let it stop you supporting the bands and other performers...
Reply ID 84669
Hi Drama Queen,I've contacted the Theatre, will post here if I get a reply.
Reply ID 84673
Duplicate thread on the same subject (now locked) http://www.hertford.net/yoursay/topic.php?id=6281
Reply ID 84679
Hi Muddy, Drama Queen and all concerened. Firstly we wanted to apologise that we sold out of beer, the reason for this is because we only have a limited amount of physical space to store stock, however we have learnt some valuable lessons. The prices are equivalent to local bars and pub prices for bottled beer. However, in future we will make sure we have increased supplies. We took the decision to remove the cloakroom as this is the now the art gallery and cafe. I am sorry that you did not like our furniture, however we are looking at ways to make it more comfortable. We ask that if customers would like to take drinks into the auditorium that they use the plastic cups - I believe that this is industry standard across venues. Reading some of the posts I think there might be a number of issues, with regard to hiring the venue, and would be more than happy to meet with you both for a coffee to discuss them in more detail, if that would be helpful.
Reply ID 84680
I have to say plastic glasses and £3 bottles is pretty standard to me at a venue
Reply ID 84685
Not been since it became Hertford Theatre except to donate blood but I always thought that drinks were not allowed in the auditorium?
Reply ID 84695
Hopefully going on Friday, work and travel permitting. I will report back if I make it.
Reply ID 84699
Hello Rosalind, Thanks for coming on here to give your comments about the bar, but to you & Gemma I'd say I didn't have to pay £6 for a pint of beer when the venue was Castle Hall. I'm not saying the previous arrangement was perfect, but for stand up gigs you could get a pint of beer or lager on draught for between £4 & £4.50, it came in a glass & you could take it into the auditorium, although I do agree a plastic glass would be safer. If you sold beer in 500ml cans (with widgets), I wouldn't mind pouring my own to speed up the process. The new arrangement whereby the bar staff have to put a card into the till before they can put money in & get change out, slows the process even further. However I would point out that the 3 girls on duty did their best in difficult circumstances. With regards to the cloakroom at Castle Hall, it was unmanned & clothes were left at your own risk. How difficult would it be to have a couple of clothes rails in the room with the weird chair - most people were stuffing their coats into the flattened seats inside the auditorium, as I said hardly an improvement on the old arrangement. I appreciate you are trying to appeal to differing audiences, but you won't get people going to stand up gigs if you leave things as they are - running out of beer and some soft drinks by the interval is unacceptable, unless you'll give us all a pass out to go next door to Wetherspoons instead!
Reply ID 84702
But a bottle isn't a replacement for a half pint - its a seperate thing. I would get a bottle as it is a different taste to draft. I know several pubs in Hertford where a bottle is more than a pint.
Reply ID 84705
quote:A wine bottle?
Originally posted by Gemma
But a bottle isn't a replacement for a half pint - its a seperate thing. I would get a bottle as it is a different taste to draft. I know several pubs in Hertford where a bottle is more than a pint.
Reply ID 84721
Hi Muddy, Thanks for your comments - I have passed them onto the Bar and Catering Manager, I understand the main reason we do not have draft beer is just the lack of physical space for the barrels etc - however we will make sure in future we have additional supplies. Thanks for the tip re: the cloackroom we do have coat rails so we can use them for standing events.
Reply ID 84722
I would echo comments about the furniture. Very white and very spartan. Looking in from the outside they look very uncomfortable. It gives the impression that great expence was spared.
Reply ID 84731
The chairs and tables were imported from Spain (if memory serves correctly) and are designer... and very expensive!
Reply ID 84736
quote:Try sitting on one rather than looking through a window [:p]
Originally posted by Steve
I would echo comments about the furniture. Very white and very spartan. Looking in from the outside they look very uncomfortable. It gives the impression that great expence was spared.
Reply ID 84739
quote:I have, and they're not the most comfortable of chairs. The expression "form over function" springs to mind.
Originally posted by James007quote:Try sitting on one rather than looking through a window [:p]
Originally posted by Steve
I would echo comments about the furniture. Very white and very spartan. Looking in from the outside they look very uncomfortable. It gives the impression that great expence was spared.
Reply ID 84740
But surely decent bar service would threaten the age old tradition of running to the nearest pub during the interval. Back in the day it used to be over the road to the Woolpack but the 6 Asbos is much more convenient.
Reply ID 84777
I seem to remember that the Draught Beer wasn't particularly nice - at least they started selling Spitfire in Bottles in more recent times. Also Bar service is better now it is no longer a Serendipity franchise. As much as I like and admire Serendipity, their service model was incompatible with a theatre bar.
Reply ID 84792
I was at "Fawlty Towers" on Saturday afternoon and evening just gone (watching it at the matinee and stewarding for HDOS, who's production it was). I ordered a coffee for the interval in the matinee for DQ mum and I, not a problem, but in the evening I gave up getting a soft drink as there were two staff on and several hundreds of audience! Despite some pre-ordering their drinks! They at least had 3-4 when it was the Castle Hall!!! A professional theatre needs to make as much money as it can and if you see other local venues (Broxbourne, Gordon Craig) and London Theatres you will see the lack of staff perpetuates the lack of revenue... I think the cafe Bar needs re-looking at, staff levels with it and then you will get some decent trade to pay for the staff you need to work the couple of hours at a time that are needed. We took a lot of money for aftershow drinks to the 6 Asbos and all we wanted was 30 mins of aftershow drinks.. they would have made a couple of hundred pounds for 4 nights and then when they did open the bar on the saturday night, we went away to have an aftershow party.. their own fault for not opening up for the previous 4 nights of the show week! I used to be a part-time barmaid, the work you have to do at the HT is not hard, try doing a sunday lunch session with cricketers, lunches and others in a busy village pub..
Reply ID 84872
I went on Wednesday and the bar seemed to cope then - obviously it was busier on Saturday and didn't cope.