Review by Bob on 7th May, 2007

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The Hawkley is everything you want a country pub to be; walking boots, wellies, horses, bikes, great beer and cider, rib-sticking pub grub, fire, moose, big garden. All this and power showers too, in some very smart accommodation introduced at the end of 2006. Beers change every week, supplemented by the legendary Swamp Donkey cider and some excellent wines by the glass. Always plenty of local ales. Music at weekends, beer fest every year. Perfect pub in any weather, crowded at weekends, however, when food service can be on the slow side (though that's improved recently with the new bar and is really a supply and demand thing - it's not McDonalds and we locals advise gettng there early or late if you don't want to queue or wait too long for your food). All in all, a great pub.

Date visited: regular visitor

Review by nick at the Hawkley Inn on 12th December, 2006

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**RIGHT OF REPLY** The report published on your web site refers to a Sunday lunch time. We do get extremely busy particularly on Sundays as we are a very popular country pub surrounded by fantastic walking and cycling routes. The lady who sent you her views was one of a party of twelve, who had not booked and arrived at the busiest time of the week. I was able to accommodate them and took their orders and confirmed with the leader of the group that I had the whole order so those that were eating would be served all at the same time. Some time later, just as the meals for the rest of the group were being served this lady announced we had not taken her ordered. By this time there were many more orders in the kitchen and several bookings had just arrived and were wanting to place there orders. Just before this I had instructed my staff to attend to those who had booked before accepting any orders from anybody who walked in without a booking and it was at this point that the problem occurred. When she asked to order she was quite rightly told that she would have to wait a few minutes before we could accept her order. At this point she made quite a fuss and it was brought immediately to my attention. Of course when she explained to me that she was part of the group we were about to serve I took her order immediately and asked my kitchen staff to deal with her order ahead of those already in. This was done. The problem was that the leader of her party led me to believe that everybody in the group who wished to order had ordered and when she later tried to order my staff had not immediately fully understood the situation. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding and one that was overcome a swiftly as possible on a very busy service. I have run pubs for more than 10 years and enjoy massive repeat custom and endless compliments. That said mistakes and misunderstandings are inevitable and I am very sorry that this particular customer was not able to leave the Hawkley as a satisfied customer. We are never complacent and work tirelessly to try and please all our clientele. In the last nine months we had made considerable alterations to the pub including a brand new kitchen, new toilets, addition of five letting rooms and a new bar as well as increasing the seating capacity from about 40 to about 75. Still to do are improvements to the website and remedial work to the garden all of which is happening as we speak, ready for the influx of walkers and riders and cyclists that occurs every year from spring onwards.

Review by Trev on 23rd October, 2006

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I visited the Hawkley Inn as part of a group cycle ride on Sunday. There were 12 of us and we all stood in line to order our food. When it came to my turn - I was the last of the 12 - the waiter told me he wouldn't take my order. He said that he had to serve the other customers who had booked tables. I reminded him that I was the last of the 12, and if he just took my one order our whole group would be taken care of. He refused to take my order and told me to come back in 20min time. I can understand if he told the whole group to wait.. but he took 11 orders and then refused mine. I eventually found a more senior looking person and asked him to please let me order, he eventually agreed, but the made me choose a cold meal, so that the kitchen wouldn't have to cook my order which would take time. The place looked like it could have been great, had it had decent service. I have never ever been refused an order. The least the waiter could have done was take my order and inform me that it would probably take a little longer than usual. I certainly won't be returing here and wont recommend this pub to anyone.

Date visited: 22 Oct 2006