Mill Pond

my granddaughter booked the millpond for her boyfriends 21^st birthday which was on the 20^th april and paid a deposit for the function room and bar. on the thursday before the party my wife and daughter called in to pay the balance for the room and while they were there the girl who was dealing with the booking informed them if any children were coming to the party they would have to leave by 9pm?! my wife and daughter were amazed at this statement it was a family party and they were told that children would be coming when the deposit was paid and why had we not been told then or notified until today only two days before the party? the girl said she would have to see the manager when he was due in later and get him to phone my daughter to explain to her why they had made this decision. later that day my daughter received a phone call by the girl who she was dealing with earlier that day but not from the manager? she was very abrupt on the phone and said that the children could now stay till 10pm but then would have to leave, my daughter said that this did not make sense and that if people had to leave with their children there would be no point in them coming in the first place the girl said well thats our decision so more or less take it or leave it a very rude way to speak to and to deal with a customer who had a genuine point!!! the following day we were still not happy with the situation as most people who book a room for parties ie weddings birthdays etc have children and expect to be able to go with their children after all these are family events! my wife and her friend called in to see if they would reconsider as we could not change the venue the day before the party and in any case they had already stated that they would not return any money for the room they were both wasting their time the person they spoke to said he could help. we were obviously at a total loss with all this unwanted hassle so as a last resort my son in law called in to the bar after arguing his point of view they finally agreed to the children staying till the party ended why could they have not done this in the first place on the night of the party we arrived at 8 pm ordered drinks including draught san miguel lager the barrel ran out after the barmaid served the first pint she said we could get a pint in the downstairs bar which was fair enough. when we went back later to buy another round my son in law asked for san miguel he was told it had run out and to go downstairs again he asked the barstaff if they could not put another barrel on as most of the men and some of the women were drinking it he was told by the barmaid sarcastically no chance not tonight! bearing in mind it was 8pm when the lager ran out and only the beginning of the night was this the right way to treat customers? after all how long does it take to change a barrel? the final straw came towards the end of the night i had been going downstairs to buy drinks and had been charged £6−40 all night for the same two drinks we were not drinking the draught lager so i went to the function room bar to get served and bought the same two drinks when i got back to my table i checked my change out of a £20 note i had been charged £8−00 why? i then went downstairs to the bar and asked the barmaid who had been serving me most of the night the price of the drinks i had just bought upstairs she checked on the till and £6 –40 came up i said is that definitely the right price she said it was. on returning upstairs the barman who had served me was, not behind the bar i found him at the buffet i asked why he had charged me too much? he turned his back on me and went behind the bar i followed him on the way i was approached by the bouncer who by the way had been walking round the room all night at a private party intimidating to say the least! he said to me whats your problem it was nothing to do with him so i ignored him and carried on to the bar to speak to the barman who said i charged you £8−00 thats the price mate i told him that i had checked the price at the other bar and it was £6 –40 i was amazed at his next statement he said «thats the price downstairs your in the function room it, s dearer up here» he seemed to take great pleasure in telling me this and was very smug. i argued that you cannot possibly have a 20% price increase at the same venue in different rooms but he was having none of it and just smirked at me i found him to be very rude and arrogant i had too walk away i was disgusted with his attitude. there was 80+ people who attended this function who were buying drinks at the inflated function room bar prices, instead of being grateful for their custom they have been totally ripped off this is a disgrace!!! there are many places to book from who not only wellcome family celebrations, will not rip you off, who will treat you with common respect and value your custom. the whole experiance of this venue and certain staff as been appalling and totally

This is another place i like to visit when in Stalybridge. The pub has changed from a tenant to a releif manager. The pub caters for the younger drinker there is very loud music at weekends far to loud for our group so i visit during the week to have a couple of pint of their J W LEES BITTER which is one of my top beers but not found often in the area were i live.