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No response when contacting Greene King

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I recently tried to contact Greene King through their website using their 'Contact Us' form.  It was with regard to our local Greene King pub, The New Inn in Buckingham, closing a few weeks ago without any warning.

I told them that I had been a regular visitor for over 20 years and that the pub had never shut for any length of time.  In fact it had only shut on a couple of occasions when the cellar flooded due to our local river rising in heavy rain.  The pub is located on the corner of Bridge Street and Ford Street, and the river is only about 100 yards behind the pub.  I just wanted to know why it had closed so abruptly this time and how long it will be before we got our local back.

I didn't get a reply back, not even an automated receipt reply.  I then phoned the Greene King Brewery and spoke to a lady who couldn't tell me why no one had replied to my message via the website.  She also couldn't tell me why the pub had been 'temporarily closed', but he did give me an area manager's phone number, however, and she suggested that he might be able to shed some light on the reason for the closure and perhaps know when the pub might re-open again.

I tried his number and the phone just kept ringing and ringing.  No answer at all and no return call.  I have tried again to contact Greene King through their website and this time I've told them what I think of their Public Relations when phone calls and emails go unanswered.  My attempts to find out what's happening with our beloved local have all come to nothing so far because the brewery that owns it doesn't care enough to answer a simple query from one of their customers.

A pint of beer in a pub pubs all over the country closing weekly...

In this day and age with pubs all over the country closing weekly, you would think they would bend over backwards to inform patrons of their establishments what's happening in the hope that, when the pub re-opens again, that regulars will all come back.  It takes years to get a good stock of regulars, but only a relatively short period of time to loose these regulars to other pubs.

Greene King appear to have a very uncaring attitude to the patrons of their pubs and if they don't change this, we'll vote with our feet and take our business elsewhere.

By: Steve R


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couvidou

couvidou

Could not agree more; I have the same gripe about The Lonsdale in West Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne. The staff are borderline passive aggressive; if not, apathetic.
12/07 couvidou
0
Essex girl.

Essex girl.

I messaged my local greene king pub to ask about the christmas menu I got the automated response that they would answer in 24 hours.
I waited and didn't get a reply so asked again.
Again I got the automated response to which I replied that I had waited 24 hours for a reply to the same question.
The manager replied and was downright rude saying unlike you we are not on our phones all the time.. we have to work. No need for him to be rude.
It was The Old Walnut tree in Southend.. Dean is the manager.
02/12 Essex girl.
0
brewer freddy

brewer freddy

I'm not surprised you have problems contacting Green King.. In my experience breweries don't like complaints and try to avoid them. On a previous occasion, I complained to Green King about a local pub and area manager told me outright lies..
Another recently refurbished Green King pub near me reopened a couple of months ago.. When I visited I found it full of chrome and plastic, but cold and featureless. It was clearly oriented towards food sales rather than beers. The choice of beers was good if you like overpriced poor quality largers..
11/09/17 brewer freddy
3
dave53

dave53

I have recently had 2 terrible experiences (out of 2)at Greene King pubs with food being very poor, beer being served after going off, and probably the reason behind very poor staffing. Complaints have been treated with rudeness.
25/07/16 dave53
1
jorge gomes

jorge gomes

i want to post about i was work there for 3 weeks /tat the sloop in in kengswell/torquay and i left to work at the grand hotel in torquay by the sea front and few weeks later my friends couple come from bristol to visit us and my friend said he wants to go eat at the sloop so i said to him i left the place a few weeks ago but should not be a problem. so me ,my wife and my 2 years daughter and my friends went there for a meal. after we waiting 10 minutes for a table finally we found one and we sit down start looking on menus wen the manager cALL CARL come to us shouting and talk to us like we was a piece of s**t saying we cant be served as i left the job...and i said but is no reason for us not be served...and my daughter start cry cuz she was starved...i cant believe this and apparently he done the same to others was working there...i things is wrong and i just like to pass this to others the same thing...i want to write this so the otheres can read and warning theme about the job there and also they use to make us work 14 hours shift with 5 minutes break that's why i left the job cuz i am not a slave...assholes...
29/12/13 jorge gomes
1
Tracey Wallace

Tracey Wallace

Hiya could i just ask is it the normal thing from Green king landlords to be able to ban regular customers for more than 20 years for returning there FOOD ????? The Victoria Tavern Barrow-in-Furness because the landlord had his head up his bum, because he had to work which normallywas left to his wife which bless had, had a nasty fall and unable to work
01/12/13 Tracey Wallace
0
Galaxy135

Galaxy135

The Pond House in Maidenhead, part of Greene King are terrible with customer service. The landlady has no qualms about swearing and abusing customers within their hearing. My daughter asked for extra veg instead of eggs with her gammon. You'd think she was asking for the earth. The landlady swore about her and said she should have gone home to eat as she was too fussy. We are now barred from the pub because she has decided she doesn't like us. Head office are useless. Landlady laughed when she heard Id made a complaint and said she couldn't be touched. How pathetic
24/03/13 Galaxy135
-5
Dave from Braintree

Dave from Braintree

Add to the growing list two pubs in Braintree - Kings Head & Inn On The Green. They were shut around Christmas time and it seems that they will be knocked down. Green King refuse to tell local paper why? They just don't care. Does anyone know what is happening?
12/01/12 Dave from Braintree
-11
Gherkindangler

Gherkindangler

Forgot to mention that I used to occasionally visit the New Inn back in the day when Mike Hall ran it, always got good service and a decent pint there. Very sorry to hear it's closed, hope someone takes it on soon !
13/06/11 Gherkindangler
1
Joe Friday

Joe Friday

SteveR. Well done. When I first started posting on GOW I hoped for results as positive as yours. I wrote to Dido Harding inviting her to read the talktalk gripes. I am sure that people of influence do lurk. “Just the facts Maam”.
12/06/11 Joe Friday
-12
Steve R

Steve R

Hi there all. To bring you up to date about my gripe, Greene King contacted the moderator of The weekly Gripe after their press office picked up the posting, and asked if it was possible for him to pass on to me contact details to me so that I could talk to them. This he did and I have been able to have a long conversation with them, mainly with their Business Developement manager.

I won't go into details of the why's and where for's of the difficulties I had in getting into contact with Greene King originally but would like to say that if I hadn't come across The Weekly Gripe and been able to air my thoughts, I probably would still have been at the stalemate stage, not knowing where else to go.

All the very best to all who read this Gripe and keep up the good work Kenny!
10/06/11 Steve R
-5
Gherkindangler

Gherkindangler

Greene King do not give a rat's about their customers - if they did they'd brew something better than IPA, and they wouldn't have screwed up Old Speckled Hen !
04/06/11 Gherkindangler
-5
Mrs speaker

Mrs speaker

steve I was very touched by your topic and hope you do get to find out why it closed.In this awful time of lack of meaningful communication and self centeredness we all need to have something or someone we can be part of man alone is not an island..
lucy tulips
Mrs Speaker General
04/06/11 Mrs speaker
-9
Steve R

Steve R

In response to 'Up With The Times' The landlord had only been in the pub for a few months and I don't have a mobile number for him and there is no landline listed. The old one was disconnected after the previous landlord left.
And to tee jay, 'nail on the head' springs to mind. Thats exactly why I aired my gripe to show just how some companies treat the very people that keep them in buisness. My 1st attempt at contacting them was just a series of questions of why's. When no response came from either that initial contact or the subsequent phone calls, my next attempt by email via website was as I described in my gripe, there apparent sheer lack of public relations.
Thanks for the responses. Steve R
04/06/11 Steve R
0
tee jay

tee jay

the gripe is not about closing a pub but the way green king have responded to emails and phone calls also there is no reason to insult the writer of the gripe
04/06/11 tee jay
0

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