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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.
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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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.
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..
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!
lucy tulips
Mrs Speaker General
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
couvidou