Soda water and lime cordial, how much?
12-May-2008
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Soda water and lime cordial, how much?

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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!

Alas, 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.


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I Was Very Happy With The Service That We Recieved We Will Be goin There Again
*Sarah Prowse  11-May-2008 15:01

 
4 of us visited the Crown Harvester, Tettenhall Road, Wolverhampton on Saturday 26th April and we were absolutely disgusted at the state of the place. It was filthy dirty and needs to be closed down and given a good clean and facelift. I have written to the pub complaining and will never eat there again
*Joan Tocque  03-May-2008 12:16

 
I can't find the survey to wine £1000 like meany others that have been trying since last year.
*out of luck  26-Apr-2008 22:37

 
can't find website to enter survey for harvester to win 1,000 either but go to http://www.mbplc.com/harvester/index.htm, click on harvester, go to 'got a question' and click on this, Mitchells & Butlers Customer Feedback Form, tell these about it.
*j  23-Mar-2008 10:49

 
I used to work in a bar and the price of a lime and soda could vary thus. If someone wanted a small glass then a dash of lime is added at 35 pence. You can then top it up using the soda syphon, free of charge.
However, if you wanted a large or pint of it, then two dashes at 35 pence each are added, and then £1.40 for a bottle of soda water. So you could be looking at over £2. The soda syphon is supplied free of charge for people just wanting a splash of soda as a mixer - if you want a whole drink of soda, then you get charged the mixer bottle price. Which is fair enough really - yes, it might just be fizzy water, but the bar still has the price of ordering it.
You are better off asking for lime and tap water.
*L is for Lager  21-Jan-2008 09:39

 
I used to work in a pub and used to always put soda and cordial through as a 'cordial dash' (26p) rather than a half (90p) or a pint (£1.75) glass of squash as I was genuinely embarrassed to actually say the price to people. An extra £1.50 for soda or tap water!!! Ridiculous.
*MIssy  03-Jan-2008 15:25

 
OMG Mate you realy need to get out more !!! If you dont like it then dont bother going again, dont spend half your life discussing your thirst and the price of a lime cordial. Is any normal person that bothered ???? NUTTA !!!!!
*Turna.  28-Dec-2007 09:30

 
As an ex-employee of the Harvesters in both Slough and Maidenhead, I can definitely tell you, that a dash of cordial, when put through using the "dash" button on the electronic tills would have cost 30 pence.
Soda water is completely free. Whilst I worked there, there was no Soda water button on the tills, so the process was to put it through as "glass of water" (which is free), then push the "see team member button" This ticket would then print out in the bar and the bar staff would be informed that the customer wanted Soda instead of still water.
This is the same in ALL Harvesters. The only difference being, when a Pint of Soda and lime was ordered. In this case, the waitress would put through 2 "dashes" on the till meaning you would be charged 60 pence in total.

You were obviously charged the price of a regular Coke/Lemonade etc. I would've complained to the owners of this company who are Mitchell and Butlers http://www.mbplc.com
*All is revealed  14-Dec-2007 14:17

 
The other day we went to a medium expensive restaurant in London for lunch. I'll tell you what kind of restaurant this was. We ordered a bottle of New Zealand white wine. It was £25 plus service charge (12.5%). It wa delivered in its cooler bucket. The wine waiteerd wiped it dry on his trousers, and opened the screw cap it was contained it.

At the end of the meal we asked for a glass of water. A bottle of suspect mineral water at £3.00p + 12.5% service was added to our bill.
*Never again  04-Dec-2007 18:13

 
much of the same.
Totally unable to access survey web site. Wont be winning £1000!! Wont be eating there again!!!
*Lynn  04-Dec-2007 15:17

 
We visited the Trooper Inn, Chester on 30 July to celebrate my mother's 86 birthday we waited a hour for our meal to be served the poor waitress was so sorry and we didn't blame her, the chef was having a bad day we were told and the manageress was helping him, some of the food was on the hotplate for ten minutes and we were glad to see it was not ours. When we got our meals my son said straight away his was burnt on the outside and not cooked on the inside. My husband's was the same and mine was chicken breast but tasted like liver??? The next day both my husband and I were ill!!! My mother's was lamb steak which was mostly bone!!! My son did have a word with the manageress as I did when I paid the bill but it spoiled the whole evening!!! Four very unhappy diner's
*Barbara Wardle  04-Dec-2007 14:48

 
I went for a jolly good meal in Bournemouth yesterday,good food,well served fair price,I left a tip which wasn,t picked up - should I have completed the customer receipt - anyway I left the tip 10% - did I do something wrong and where is your survey website which I can,t find either
*Bob  02-Nov-2007 08:00


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