Soda water and lime cordial, how much?
19-March-2010
*
* Your Gripe Gripe List Quick Gripe Comments Gripe Poll Resources Contact Us Advertise Home *
* prev
next *
 

Soda water and lime cordial, how much?

Leave a comment Leave a comment 
Related Gripes Related Gripes 
Random Gripe Random Gripe 
Feedburner Gripes by email 
 
 

I recently went to meet my girlfriend at one of the Harvester restaurants, a pub called the Kings Arms at Gosford, near Kidlington.  It was one of those afternoons during the recent heat wave and I was pretty thirsty by the time I got there so I thought I’d have a pint of lager shandy whilst I waited.

I went to the bar to order my drink and the bill came to £1.90.  I thought this was actually pretty reasonable because most pubs charge about the same as pint of lager, which these days is closer to £2.50 and I was expecting to pay between £2 and £2.50 for the shandy.

Looking forward to this refreshing cold drink on this hot sunny day I went outside and chose to sit in a shady spot in the beer garden with a good view of the car park so I’d be able to see my better half when she arrived.  This particular Harvester restaurant is in a nice location and to be honest I was very much enjoying sitting there with a cold one watching the world go by, so much so that I had finished my drink before my partner had even arrived.

After a brief conversation with her to find out where she was, I realised I still had at least another ten to fifteen minutes to wait.  As I was still rather thirsty I decided to go to the bar and get another drink.

I am currently self-employed and whilst I am not penniless, I do have to be careful how much I spend.  With this in mind and taking into account that what I really needed was a thirst quenching drink rather than an alcoholic one, I decided to buy a lime and soda water this time round.

Harvester restaurants, A cool refreshing pint of lime cordial and sparking soda water

This is my drink of choice when I visit a pub and I don’t want to drink beer.  Firstly, because I can’t drink the usual soft drinks such as Lemonade and Coca Cola in any quantity and secondly, lime and soda is usually a lot cheaper.  It is after all only fizzy water and lime cordial!

I ordered my drink and was about to take a sip.  The bartender meanwhile had been to the till to enter my drink.  When he came back over he said to me" That will be two pounds please."  I can tell you that I nearly choked on that drink there and then!

Not being the type who enjoys a good confrontation, I don’t usually like to query bills at a restaurant etc.  I find those sorts of situations quite embarrassing and unless someone is really trying to take advantage of me I don’t usually complain.  In fact, quite often I probably wouldn’t even notice.

I do feel however that on this occasion I should have said something.  I suspect though that the answer I got would have been along the lines of "That’s how much it is I’m afraid."  Anyway, I paid up and I shut up, but I’ve been seething about this ever since.

How can a pint of cordial and carbonated water cost more than a pint of lager and lemonade?  These pub chains shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this kind of daylight robbery! I won't be visiting any other Harvester restaurants any time soon.


Other Related Gripes

Restaurant rip-off, high prices and small portions
Hobgoblin pub in Bicester getting too expensive
Kids meal - £4.49 for a sausage
KFC wouldn't serve me tap water
Complain at the appropriate time
Bottled water a pointless waste of money
Brewers Fayre family pubs
Real ale shunned by young people
Burger vans are a rip off
Some pubs not family friendly
24 hour drinking a ridiculous idea
Short change buying a round of drinks
No alcohol free beer in pubs
Sandwiches from the shop too expensive
Motorway service stations too expensive
Ripped off in trendy bars
Milton Keynes Bowl, what a rip off
British pub closing time





Visitor Comments

Please read this before you post

Enter your comments in the space below

Name or nickname


Remember my name



 
today I visited the harvester at handy cross, High Wycombe, my lime and soda was 40p, thats more realistic.
*heatherbelle  11-Mar-2010 18:50

 
Caffine Delight-I hope you asked for your money back.Don't put up with it.If you are not happy then complain.
*Maxwell House  26-Jan-2010 19:42

 
The meal at Harvester Bickley Kent was good but the coffee is like gnats pee.I asked if l could have stronger coffee but was told they are only allowed to use one pod per mug.What a joke at £2.40 for a builders mug of pea water.Dont bother if you need a caffine fix.
*Caffine Delight  26-Jan-2010 16:34

 
A 200 ml tiny bottle of Coke in the Mitre Hotel pub in Greenwich today cost £1-40p. A 2 litre bottle of Coke in Tesco Express later that day cost £1-65p.

Please try to explain to me the 9x difference in price. Coke is more expensive than beer in this pub.

A very very bad joke.
*Greedy Publicans  10-Jan-2010 22:47

 
My regular Harvester at Marks Tey Essex is very good, with the service and the freshly cooked food we cannot complain .but I do object to a male waiter constntly touching you on the arm as he passes checking whether everything is OK.
*Nick (Nicholas. male)  29-Nov-2009 14:43

 
I'm in complete agreement. I have actually just been to the Porterhouse in Convent Garden, London and as I'm driving didn't want to drink any alcohol. Similar to you, I don't like drinking coke or lemondade so opted for a soda water. The bartender told me they charged for soda water when I ordered the drink and although I though it was a bit cheeky I said it was fine. After all, the is an element of service involved and I am taking up space in the pub. However, when the price turned out to be £1.20 for half a pint I was outraged!! I used to work for a brewery and I know the ingredients of soda water....water and co2, that's it. A coke cost £1.50 for teh same amount, which apparently means they charge 20p for the coke syrup (which costs them money to buy) and £1 for the water and co2 which is free to them. If they are trying to encourage people to drink and drive, or be less healthy then they're doing a good job!!
*Rich  19-Nov-2009 21:19

 
My wife & I popped into the Harvester at Chalk near Gravesend last night. We had a great meal at minimum cost (Early Bird) Our server was Sheri who could'nt have been more helpful. We were pressed for time but we were served quickly & the food was piping hot. WE cannot fault the excellant service we received last night. Thanks to all concerned. We will be back.
*Bepop  11-Nov-2009 09:49

 
had a fab meal in brighton really friendly staff clean excellent salad all perfect cheers all
*maggie eliza  10-Nov-2009 15:18

 
After visiting Harvester at Shoeburyness,Essex in August and being turned away because the kitchens could not cope,and they were not able to take any more orders,this was after waiting for a good half hour at the front.
We were told to go to Raleigh as there was plenty of room there.My partner was furious to think that some one was instructing him to go some where else to eat.
We do enjoy going to the Harvester and so that Sunday in August we ended up at the Weir Harvester and my partner told them about the problems we had,with the Shoeburyness Harvester.It cost him a lot more petrol and we only just made it in time for the Early Bird.Raleigh Weir Harvester were very sympathetic and treated us like a King and Queen.
We continued visiting the Raleigh Weir Harvester every Sunday until today.My partner suggested that we try the Shoeburyness one again,we mentioned why we had not been there for awhile and the waitress was extremely nice to us.We explained the reason we had not visited for a while.She checked it out with the manergeress who remembered the episode.Several people had been turned away just like us and according to the story we heard today, unfortunitly the lady in charge that day lost her job.
Today we was treated very well,given a table straight away and the food was good.We always have the gammon with two eggs,but today we noticed they had reduced it to one,also we did not have so many chips,but as we are both pensioner's it was enough for us.The drink's were very reasonable and their salad bar was very well stocked.The rolls were just how we like them so today we give top marks for Shoeburyness Harvester,Essex.Let's hope they may continue with the good work.
*Doreen Brown  08-Nov-2009 21:40

 
We visit are local harvester ever other week sometimes more .It is great valuefor money good service, we seem to get good staff. Soft drinks do hoever seem to be expensive,and only one egg with your gammon but it is 50p cheaper than before Its a great place to go the Elms forget I said that its so busy we could not get in the other week. Bernard (coventry)
*Bwernard  04-Nov-2009 18:27

 
very good at the old trooper near chester.particularly like the free salad bar.very good service.
*mrs davies  01-Nov-2009 12:02

 
Re charge for soda water and lime I experienced a charge of £1 for half pint of soda water and lime at a H arvester .I therefore wrote to Customer Services Director, received a very prompt response offering apologies and a voucher to be redeemed on my next visit. It was agreed the charge was incorrect and subsequently all future visits the charge has averaged 40 p, this has been in Harvester at various locations.
*brianpobjoy@talktalk.net  31-Oct-2009 12:29


View more comments on this gripe


 
*   *
* © 2000-2009 The Weekly Gripe. All rights reserved. Please see our privacy policy and disclaimer.   Site Map *