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Punchbowl (The Old Punch Bowl), 101, High St Crawley West Sussex RH10 1DD
101, High St Crawley West Sussex RH10 1DD
01293 529085
A trendy and apparently new-ish Greene King pub situated in (and around) an ancient Nat West Bank building, the Old Punchbowl Inn - or Punchbowl as it likes to list itself in the yellow pages - is a hangout for groups of office workers during the day and assorted young adults in the evening. The entrance of the pub is the small group of offices that used to hold the bank, but behind is a larger area attached to the old building by bits of corrugated plastic. The harassed but efficient staff were on hand to take food orders and our choices, from a large laminated menu, came quickly enough. My chilli con carne, from an extra "specials" board, was vast, but runny and very very sweet and defeated me pretty quickly, while Q's Arabbiata Penne was good, spicey and not too sloppy and came with four large slabs of garlic bread. Prices slightly on the naughty side but Ok overall. M
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Corregated plastic? The
Corregated plastic? The newest section of the pub is actually formed of wooden beams to match the front area of the house. I urge you to try the pub for yourself instead of relying on this incorrect statement!!!!
In agreement with all previous comments
Avoid at all costs, unpleasant, uninterested staff. Door policy is ridiculous....obviously not interested in keeping this very poor pub going during this credit crunch. The sooner it is closed the better.
punch bowl
kiss my arse about the sooner it closes the better,
the pub does really well and holds on to a brilliant reputation and as a HIGH CLASS pub used by a wide range of customers one sad ass customer doesnot matter at all !
Review:
The Punchbowl, a recently updated pub with external smoking facilities situated in Crawley High Street. Unfortunately it’s the customers that are now harassed as the not so efficient staff, were on hand to remove customers, as well as paid for drinks from tables. It was evident that the priority of the staff was to get home formulated by removing as many unguarded drinks as possible, shouting at customers and the policy of obligatory rudeness in general.
I was unfortunate to witness several rude staff, with one member of staff seemingly assaulting a regular who was actually outside the premises. I believe the Bar Staff felt that the Punch Bowl also owned the public street and exclaimed “smoking was only allowed 1 meter from the pub premises”.
My Pizza was ok, but a little cold and slightly on the soggy side, I would agree with previous comments for Arabbiata Penne, spicy, not too sloppy and came with decent enough garlic bread. Prices of food, alcohol were excessive and probably not worth the visit.
Customer Service
I have to agree with the previous comment. My biggest issue was the customer service, could the staff care any less?
If you want customer services then don't go to the punch bowl
waste of time
Just seen the comments and wish I had checked this site first.
I have dyslexia and a slight speech impediment but felt totaly intimidated by the staff. I went to the bar to place my order and couldn't get served at all.
My wife had to place the order for us as I was blatently ignored, the more I tried to grab someone's attention, the longer I waited. My biggest annoyment was the fact that staff were available but considered filling the fridges with stock a higher priority.
If your disabled, this is not the place to visit.
I am shocked by this
I am shocked by this complaint. Although this was a while ago, i would like o point out that since then, the venue had changed management, and as one of the staff, i can honestly say that no customer has recieve treatment of this kind by my team. I urge you to visit us for what will be a plesent experience. You will not be dissapointed!
Rude staff still a problem
My Wife and I had the pleasure of visiting the Punch Bowl last night. Unfortunately, it seems some staff are still being very rude to customers.
I was served by a very abrupt "Supervisor", who took my drinks order with a grumpy manner and a complete absence of a smile. When I asked for one Bacardi and Diet Coke the till showed two dashes. I asked "Excuse me. Could you tell me why there are two 'dashes' of coke being charged?". Her response was "Maybe because that's how we charge you!", with a look that said "go away and die". After the abrupt way she took the initial order I, unfortunately, had had enough and suggested she "should work on your customer service skills, because they're not brilliant". This, I thought was the end of it - she didn't. A few minutes later she appeared at our table, sat down and proceeded to grill me about why her customer service skills needed improving. Now, had she really wanted to listen and take on feedback I would gladly have explained to her. The problem was all she wanted to do was tell me I was wrong and she was right and that, because she was a Supervisor, her customer service skills were great.
I asked who the Manager was to complain to and she said "I'm the Supervisor in charge tonight". "Who do people complain to?". "Me". "Who do they complain to about you?". "Me". "OK. Who owns this pub?". "Greene King". "OK. I'll complain to them".
No wonder the staff get a bad reputation if the management set this example to them. Maybe she had problems elsewhere, maybe she'd had a bad day. But don't work in a service industry if you can't be polite to people.
Looking at the replies above, I won't be surprised if the replies are from the same person who served us last night and she feels the need to "defend" herself on this site. However, it looks like I am not alone in my concerns, so hopefully the Brewery will see these, after getting my complaint, and do something about it before they lose all their trade.
Staff still a problem
I myself had an unpleasent encounter with i think the same person, the person in question obviously has frequently bad days as they are not only rude but customer service is absolutely appalling.
And for the drinks prices i am shocked as to why we have a be charged a double dash of mixer when everyone else on the high street only ever chargers us for one dash, this is disgracefull.
I feel that they need to look into what type of people they employe there at the moment because there is also a very rude gentleman that works there who at most of the time is only ever interested in chatting to other members of staff, prancing around or chatting/serving his friends.
If it wasn't for my friends that enjoy drinking there i would happilly not ever return.
new management
hi guys this is to everyone in general some of these coments are from a long time ago so i cant adress these issues iam a new manager and i came here on the 3rd april. i totaly agree with the last coments about rudness however i have worked very hard to eliminate these problems and believe we are winning so please come and give us another go and give your feed back ask for iain davies manager