Fame at last 583

Fair enough - and lucky you. But try going at the height of summer when the staff are completely overwhelmed by the numbers of drinkers enjoying the sun. It takes forever to get a drink and you might as well forget about trying for a second.

The Ship's management, like those at a lot of destination venues in London that attract large crowds at key times, don't seem able to grasp the basic tenets of customer service. Experience tells them they're going to be busy at certain times, but putting more (and in the Ship's case usually incompetent) staff behind the tiny bar isn't the solution. Instead they need to change the whole system to make it more efficient.

I often get teed off in these places because the management takes such a cavalier atbreastude to customers.

Imagine this scenario - there's six of us around the table, finishing our drink and we decide to have another. One or maybe two of us go to the crowded bar to order and carry drinks, but it's crowded and the staff move at snail's pace.

For the next 30 or so minutes while we try to attract attention, we're not drinking (or spending) and neither are our companions, who are also taking up a table. And the same scenario is going on at several tables round us. Does that make sense for a busy pub at peak hours?

Just had to get that rant out...

-- congokid Eating out in London? Read my tips...