O/T Windermere Bizarre place?

[Keith]

I've been to Windermere many times but never stayed over. But working up there today, so I thought I'd have a comfortable Sunday and a late start.

What a strange place!

Arrived in time for the FA Cup draw. Found a pub, but it wasn't on their TV. Asked directions to a place where it would. Was sent to The Hole in t' Wall. Asked the barman and landlady (stood together) "we don't have a tv in here" she said dismissively and started to turn away. "Do you know where might?", "The Stags" she replied 'helpfully' and turning away again. Being the obvious stranger to the area I followed up with "Where is that?" "Next to the church" in her best gruff voice. And this time there was no stopping her as she completed the dismissal and walked away!

Stags was great, not only lots of screens, also a pinball table! Sadly I'd missed the draw but settled down to watch the second half of City v United (in a pub full of City fans). Quick check, yes, wi-fi called "Stags" too, but it was encrypted. Asked the landlord if they had rooms [yes] and can guests use the wi-fi? [no]... went looking for somewhere that did. Found a hotel that had wi-fi... for £5 per half hour and lots of 'no, we don't have that trickery here'. Finally a B&B where they said 'no, but an American guy found if he sat in the corner here he could get one'. Stealing someone elses wi-fi was clearly the best offer I'd get! Not sure it should be a selling point though... In fairness, she was the only friendly person that I met though, so checked in there.

Off back to the Stags. Stood at the bar waiting to get served I was met with a barmaid who is obviously working on her surly, p*** the customer off attitude in the hope of a job at the Hole in the Wall! A guy stood next to me was obviously not English. He'd ordered two drinks but the barmaid didn't hear him properly. She'd said "pardon" but he'd not understood... so she just gave him one drink! When he asked for the second drink, she went into a tirade, angrily saying "I said pardon but you just ignored me, it's your fault, I'm not dealing with your attitude". I was getting embarrassed myself! Fortunately, he wasn't offended and just walked away with a slightly bemused smile (and two drinks!)

Morning... breakfast... "can I have my egg very, very lightly done please?" "Oh, that'll be difficult, obviously the fat is already hot". Err??? I decided that pointing out that I was the only person in the dining room so perhaps they could turn the heat down a bit or even, get another pan out? But I decided that might just get me a glob of phlegm in my breakfast, so I let her go but heard at least two references to "really soft egg" coming from the kitchen. Clearly I'd thrown her plans in to disarray.

I'd almost forgotten how stunningly beautiful the Lake District is, especially yesterday, on a crisp sunny, winter's day. I just wasn't expecting a tourist town to so closely resemble The Slaughtered Lamb. I guess that's what happens when cousins marry?

Going back there in a couple of weeks time... might look for a room in Kendal unless anyone has a recommendation of a normal hotel... with wi-fi?

[Crooky MFC]

[CASS]

Problem is that Many Lake District hotels and Pubs are staffed by People from Northern City's Like Liverpool and Manchester,and a fair few are totally devoid of manners. As an avid follower of the "WessiGessi" I read every week of People employed in the hotel trade being prosecuted for this and that. Recently eastern europeans have made their mark and on the whole when sober they are gratious and helpfull. It's a dam shame when perhaps one of Englands gems is tainted with tossers ! There are of course exceptions,next visit dig deep and book a table at the Porthole in Bowness..worth every penny. Despite what I have said our company sent 20 of us the the Beech HIll Hotel in Bowness for a 5 night stay "Team Building",13 miles from home in the "lap of Luxury" the bar man on duty that week was partial to a drink,being from Liverpool might have had something to do with it ! any way this chap had a low tolerance of alcohol,and by the time we had bought him a couple the bar was "Liberty Hall" free drinks all around for his new chum's... God knows what happened to him when the Takings v stock level sum was done,but I guess he would have had to move on. I pass the Hotel regularly and still feel slightly guilty.

[slackAlice]

Keith

sent to The Hole in t' Wall

Now that used to be a fine hostelry, and whilst there's never an excuse for rudeness , perhaps Windermere and its pubs hav'nt kept up with the Techno age of Why Fi and all that jiggerypokery. We used to head up there for a right good 'blow out' many moons ago and 'Hole 'int wall' was one of our favourites - them were t'days when a good pub had Real Ales - Hartleys / Theakston's and a Juke box ; and a very good pub also had a Pool table. I'm talking about the time before Mobile phones , when pubs shut at 3 O'clock. I don't know - its perhaps somewhat comforting to know such places exist ? A grumpy landlord , No gadgets - real Ale and the only food Crisps & nuts ....... In time we might long for such establishments ....... But we had some good days / nights out in Bowness / Windermere .. always had a roaring fire on the go and I don't know what they were burning but it give off a lovely smell . ... Nostalgia

[Phoenix]

Have you thought about staying in Keswick? Plenty of accomodation at this time of year and when we stayed there last year, very welcoming and friendly around town.

[Abbo]

I too had the misfortune of venturing into the The Hole in the wall pub this summer, i dont think i have ever come across anyone as ignorant as the person that served me, i asked for a pint which i got but she was too busy talking on her mobile to hear me asking if she had a food menu.

[radcliffe_08]

hey my ma and pa own the hole in the wall pub so please keep your vindicative opinions to yourself keith

[Phoenix]

hey my ma and pa own the hole in the wall pub so please keep your vindicative opinions to yourself keith

If the service was crap, which is the opinion of more than one person, then maybe you can point your parents to this discussion and they can discuss it with their staff. It's called customer service which you're obviously not aware of because you've just put me off going there.

[radcliffe_08]

which tosser keeps deleting my messages? dont i have as much right to air my opinions on my pub as you lot do slating it? its not on

[Phoenix]

So the child of the hole's owners comes into a discussion already slating the hole for poor customer service calling the moderators tossers. The fact is at least two people have had poor customer service from your parents business. They should be taking that on board and doing something about it rather than you coming on here calling the moderators tossers.

[sgt major]

Keith - stuff the crap hospitality in the Lakes - stay at the York - with wi-fi and have your eggs done anyway you want.

It's only a 45 minute drive to the Lakes then.

[radcliffe_08]

well to be honest pheonix, if that is even your real name, ( which i doubt) , what gives you the right to slate my parents pub, and then my comments dfending it are deleted? not really a fair arguement is it you japs eye. if you continue to be mean to my ma and pa's pub then i wil have no other option except to call in the necessary authorites.
im sorry but at the end of the day, theres no business like show business
ps i didnt no the moderators deleted my comment so i didnt call them tossers.
they are nice people

[North Stand Shrimp]

Good little drinking hole in the summer. I've had a few pub crawls in Windermere and Bowness and never had a bad pint or bad service. hole int wall should be simply taken for what it is, a local drinking establishment not pretending to compete with the many eateries, internet caffees and bistros springing up everywhere in the lakes. if you want wi-fi, food, or football on the tv you will be dissapointed but if you want a decent pint in a beer garden in the summer you'll do right finding this place.

[shrimper]

Whereas I have found establishments in Windermere, Bowness, Ambleside and many other Lakeland towns and villages to be equally 'unwelcoming'.

There are a lot of exceptions, of course, but far too many appear to act as if they'd really rather you didn't bother them at all with your custom.

This is particularly the case if you have committed the heinous crime of adding to the stock of the human race.

Take a big, wet dog or two in and they are all over you like a rash, can't do enough for you. Armchair for you on entry and a rug by the hearth for 'Dipthong Montmorency of Kintyre'.

But one or two (even well-behaved) kids in tow and you may as well be carrying a strap-on incendiary device.

[radcliffe_08]

thats not the case in the hole , children are welcome and we even have a lego set for amusement purposes. also id like to point out that we do have a large tv, and we only didnt have football on this weekend because of the weather which badly affected the satellite.
thankyou for your custom, past, present and hopefuly future.

[B.H.C #3]

Only hole here lad sounds like a Sh**eHole!!!

[marky No.1]

Take a big, wet dog or two

My mate A.B. does that every Friday night

[Phoenix]

well to be honest pheonix, if that is even your real name, ( which i doubt) , what gives you the right to slate my parents pub, and then my comments dfending it are deleted? not really a fair arguement is it you japs eye. if you continue to be mean to my ma and pa's pub then i wil have no other option except to call in the necessary authorites.
im sorry but at the end of the day, theres no business like show business
ps i didnt no the moderators deleted my comment so i didnt call them tossers.
they are nice people

Radcliffe_08, if in fact that is your real name which I doubt, my full name is Brian Sheldon. I'm one of the photographers that will be pitch side tonight if you want to discuss this further.

If YOU continue to accuse me of being "mean to you ma and pa's pub" then I will bring in the authorities myself. When you reply, be sure to quote anything I have typed that in any way is "mean to your ma and pa's pub". I think you will struggle as it is not I that has slated the service in the hole.

[North Stand Shrimp]

I do a hell of alot of hiking in the lakes and after a good hard days trek up the fells there's a few pubs I can really recommend, The Wasdale head Inn at the head of Wast water, The Dungeon Gill hotel in the Langdale valley, The Sun hotel in Conniston The Travellers rest Glenridding and the White Lion in Patterdale.

[radcliffe_08]

AND THE HOLE IN THE WALL! we are the best , sorry pheonix u are banned init, my ma sed

[Phoenix]

I look forward to being thrown out of the hole for not saying it's crap, then I can say it's crap.

[slackAlice]

I do a hell of alot of hiking in the lakes and after a good hard days trek up the fells there's a few pubs I can really recommend, The Wasdale head Inn at the head of Wast water, The Dungeon Gill hotel in the Langdale valley, The Sun hotel in Conniston The Travellers rest Glenridding and the White Lion in Patterdale.

Coniston ..ahhhhhhhhhh Yep been in all them NSS except The Dungeon Gill . I did the Coniston 14 run around the lake many moons ago and its got to be one of my favourite spots on 'Gods earth'. I had a run up August Bank Holiday and its beautiful .. but ....and its a BIG but ..you kind of get the feeling 'The Lakes' is / are becoming too commercialised particularly Ambleside & Windermere ; you know the thing , pretentious 'Ye Olde **** shop'. The last time we went to Windermere we could'nt move for Tourist's / Camara's / coach's . They need to watch it doesn't get ruined , if it already hasn't ?
We also did the Keswick to Barrow 40 miler in a team a couple of times - Christ thats a killer - some silly buggers managed to run all the way ??? I wonder if that's still an event ??

[Keith]

...what gives you the right to slate my parents pub, and then my comments dfending it are deleted? not really a fair arguement is it you japs eye. if you continue to be mean to my ma and pa's pub then i wil have no other option except to call in the necessary authorites.

ps i didnt no the moderators deleted my comment so i didnt call them tossers.
they are nice people

Was it a 'google alert' that brought you here? I wondered if anyone up there would find this thread using an alert. It is a bit of a coincidence that I post this message last night and a few hours later you register and defend your parents pub in an off topic thread.

I haven't removed any of your posts but if other mods have, then it will be with good reason. For someone to have posts removed on their first day after registering, they probably aren't going to last very long before the ban sets in, so if you want to defend your parents pub, get your act together quickly or you'll soon be bleating that you don't have 'freedom of speech'. Thing is, no one on here will hear you doing so.

hey my ma and pa own the hole in the wall pub so please keep your vindicative opinions to yourself keith

The problem is radcliffe, my opinion, vindictive or not, is an accurate assessment of what happened. Manners cost nothing. It is, as someone else stated a 'traditional' type of pub. As soon as I stepped inside I knew it wasn't a 'football pub'. However, some help & manners and I may well have returned that evening to try a few pints. The rude and dismissive response to a polite question from a potential customer made sure that I didn't return. Your aggressive posts in this thread probably aren't doing the business many favours either! If I had a business where I'd upset a customer, I would have been getting an apology in pretty quick and inviting them to return. If you want to 'call in the authorities' feel free because I stand by what I have written, except perhaps for the 'why cousins shouldn't marry' which may have been slightly tongue in cheek... although having looked at your contribution since you joined the board...
search.php?author_id=568&sr=posts
...perhaps not?

[North Stand Shrimp]

I do a hell of alot of hiking in the lakes and after a good hard days trek up the fells there's a few pubs I can really recommend, The Wasdale head Inn at the head of Wast water, The Dungeon Gill hotel in the Langdale valley, The Sun hotel in Conniston The Travellers rest Glenridding and the White Lion in Patterdale.

Coniston ..ahhhhhhhhhh Yep been in all them NSS except The Dungeon Gill . I did the Coniston 14 run around the lake many moons ago and its got to be one of my favourite spots on 'Gods earth'. I had a run up August Bank Holiday and its beautiful .. but ....and its a BIG but ..you kind of get the feeling 'The Lakes' is / are becoming too commercialised particularly Ambleside & Windermere ; you know the thing , pretentious 'Ye Olde **** shop'. The last time we went to Windermere we could'nt move for Tourist's / Camara's / coach's . They need to watch it doesn't get ruined , if it already hasn't ?
We also did the Keswick to Barrow 40 miler in a team a couple of times - Christ thats a killer - some silly buggers managed to run all the way ??? I wonder if that's still an event ??

Yep still an event, my girlfriends uncle and cousin have done it and I hope to also one day. Doing the London Marathon next year, see how I do in that first!

I'd have to agree about the first point, Windermere, Ambleside area in summer are rediculous. I love the far western and northern reaches of the lakes where only walkers and hikers venture, Scafell massive, wasdale head(Great Gable et all) Buttermere, Crummock Water, Skiddaw and Blencathra.

But in the winter its much less touristy, we were up at the Low wood this weekend and Ambleside and Grassmere were lovely and quiet.

[Trevor]

... if you look at another thread in which this radcliffe person has posted he say's hes also been to Christie Park and seen the BHC reference. Morecambe fan, only just registerd here,coincidentally his parents own a pub thats been mentioned here?

Sounds like a WUM to me. His style is also very similar to 'dean windass' - could they be related?