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Fans Bar

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  • iansarge
    iansarge Posts: 169
    Utter shite in the fans bar today - I don’t think anyone told them the season starts today !!
  • Valleysarr
    Valleysarr Posts: 1,098
    Today at half time I can’t even go into how bad the service was ! 
  • ElfsborgAddick
    ElfsborgAddick Posts: 29,037
    Today at half time I can’t even go into how bad the service was ! 

    I take it that it was understaffed?
  • Valleysarr
    Valleysarr Posts: 1,098
    Not just understaffed but the young staff didn’t know how to pour a pint or do the tills .. then the Peroni ran out. 
    Sure there will be other comments - utter shambles 
  • ElfsborgAddick
    ElfsborgAddick Posts: 29,037
    Not just understaffed but the young staff didn’t know how to pour a pint or do the tills .. then the Peroni ran out. 
    Sure there will be other comments - utter shambles 

    Do not bother using it again, find better options away from the ground and pop on a train in, there are good services in the surrounding areas.
  • charlton4ever
    charlton4ever Posts: 1,716
    edited August 9
    .
  • Valleysarr
    Valleysarr Posts: 1,098
    Not just understaffed but the young staff didn’t know how to pour a pint or do the tills .. then the Peroni ran out. 
    Sure there will be other comments - utter shambles 

    Do not bother using it again, find better options away from the ground and pop on a train in, there are good services in the surrounding areas.
    It was half time mate 😀
  • ElfsborgAddick
    ElfsborgAddick Posts: 29,037
    Not just understaffed but the young staff didn’t know how to pour a pint or do the tills .. then the Peroni ran out. 
    Sure there will be other comments - utter shambles 

    Do not bother using it again, find better options away from the ground and pop on a train in, there are good services in the surrounding areas.
    It was half time mate 😀

    Aha, you'd be late for the second half then :)
  • guinnessaddick
    guinnessaddick Posts: 28,625
    5”/50clive said:
    The Fan Zone, the Meantime Fans’ Bar and Bartram’s will all be opening their doors from 10am and will be open for one hour post-game.
    https://www.charltonafc.com/news/guide-game-watford
    50/50 of getting served after the game.
    Many a true word, spoken in jest.
  • Fanny Fanackapan
    Fanny Fanackapan Posts: 18,738
    Mr F looking to buy his usual cup of tea in the Fans' Bar when we arrived around 10.40...

    Met with " No tea bags, I'm afraid " ....WTF ???
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  • shirty5
    shirty5 Posts: 19,222
    The fans zone was good today so hopefully they can solve the problems that people are unhappy about in Crossbars 
  • ElfsborgAddick
    ElfsborgAddick Posts: 29,037
    Mr F looking to buy his usual cup of tea in the Fans' Bar when we arrived around 10.40...

    Met with " No tea bags, I'm afraid " ....WTF ???

    Saved you a fiver, look on the bright side!
  • iainambler
    iainambler Posts: 963
    Service in Fans Bar before the game and lower north bars at half time was shocking. But not a surprise either.  Suspect it’s going to take a while for the commercial success of CAFC hospitality to recover from the likely awful state the current owners inherited. 

    Running out of Peroni is appalling. I do appreciate there’s an art to not ordering too many kegs of beer which could spoil if not used - but wouldn’t you have bottles as a fallback option? I mean it’s a hot day and football fans are a thirsty lot - hardly unexpected is it?

    There were one or two staff who really got it and were working through their queues well. A lot of the other had no sense of urgency, but they may well not have a clue what to do either. What I didn’t understand was that there were some pre-poured pints at the back of the lower north at HT but no one seemed to be selecting them…. 

    Left and right hand, etc. 
  • Rather disappointed to walk all the way over to The River to find they hadn't opened earlier for the early kick off!  Served quickly in The Rose then made the mistake of going to the ground for one in the fans bar 🤦. I won't repeat what I already wrote about that elsewhere, suffice to say I'll definitely be taking the advice and not bothering again. 

  • addick19
    addick19 Posts: 378
    Mr F looking to buy his usual cup of tea in the Fans' Bar when we arrived around 10.40...

    Met with " No tea bags, I'm afraid " ....WTF ???
    I don't drink the stuff but my pal couldn't believe it!! Surely someone had the nous to get one of the staff to pop up to Sainsburys to buy a couple of packs of tea bags? Farcical.
  • Went in after the game to have a breather instead of queuing at the station. That backfired. :)
  • Chunes
    Chunes Posts: 17,349
    edited August 9
    I've honestly had enough now. I came to the stadium today naively thinking that they've had the whole summer to figure out the problems from last season. What an idiot I was. It was exactly the same, if not worse. Once again all the beer was coming out as pure foam in the bar nearest to NWB and the queue did not move for 20 minutes. 
  • se9addick
    se9addick Posts: 32,035
    Today, in the sun, after our team won, I realised that the Fans Bar (or whatever Crossbars is actually called now) > Fan Zone.
  • valleynick66
    valleynick66 Posts: 4,890
    Maybe the ‘fan engagement’ route is symptomatic of the problem?

    If this is the structure to raise and resolve issues I can understand why we have a poor offering and no resolution for such a long time ! 

    How many Charlton forums does it take to change a lightbulb? 😉😆



  • timken
    timken Posts: 1,001
    Chunes said:
    I've honestly had enough now. I came to the stadium today naively thinking that they've had the whole summer to figure out the problems from last season. What an idiot I was. It was exactly the same, if not worse. Once again all the beer was coming out as pure foam in the bar nearest to NWB and the queue did not move for 20 minutes. 
    What a great day .perfect result great performance and all you can do is moan .get a life.
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  • Gillis
    Gillis Posts: 998
    timken said:
    Chunes said:
    I've honestly had enough now. I came to the stadium today naively thinking that they've had the whole summer to figure out the problems from last season. What an idiot I was. It was exactly the same, if not worse. Once again all the beer was coming out as pure foam in the bar nearest to NWB and the queue did not move for 20 minutes. 
    What a great day .perfect result great performance and all you can do is moan .get a life.
    In fairness, it doesn't seem unreasonable to post comments about the Fans' Bar in the thread about the Fans' Bar. If he'd put this on the post-match thread, maybe you'd have a point.

  • LargeAddick
    LargeAddick Posts: 32,560
    Not to worry, they have recently extended the contract with Gather and Gather so must think they are doing a good job.
  • cafc999
    cafc999 Posts: 4,967
    Had all summer to sort out the problems with serving and nothing has been done.

    It's worth noting that the club knew all along that it was going to be a big crowd yet the service was poor
  • Rock Spectacle
    Rock Spectacle Posts: 1,441
    It is genuinely luck of the draw as to which queue you're in, some extremely efficient, some helpful but naive, some ambivalent. But ultimately not their fault, though half an hour explaining what a football match is like and opening before the half time whistle could help 
  • Chunes
    Chunes Posts: 17,349
    edited August 10
    timken said:
    Chunes said:
    I've honestly had enough now. I came to the stadium today naively thinking that they've had the whole summer to figure out the problems from last season. What an idiot I was. It was exactly the same, if not worse. Once again all the beer was coming out as pure foam in the bar nearest to NWB and the queue did not move for 20 minutes. 
    What a great day .perfect result great performance and all you can do is moan .get a life.
    Alright billy big bananas. PM me your number. Next time it's chaos in the NW I'll ring you so you can come down and tell everyone complaining about the wait to 'Get a life.'
  • Plaaayer
    Plaaayer Posts: 8,997
    I’ll punch your face in mate 
  • CaptainRobbo
    CaptainRobbo Posts: 607
    Chunes said:
    I've honestly had enough now. I came to the stadium today naively thinking that they've had the whole summer to figure out the problems from last season. What an idiot I was. It was exactly the same, if not worse. Once again all the beer was coming out as pure foam in the bar nearest to NWB and the queue did not move for 20 minutes. 
    Surely the management have installed some sort of training on how to pour a pint to the staff before letting them loose on the great unwashed?
    Doesn't sound like it though 🍺🍺
  • cafc_4life
    cafc_4life Posts: 456

    I work in the contract catering industry and know Gather & Gather very well, having come up against them in numerous contract bids. They have a reputation for winning tenders by offering the most attractive financial package, especially now they are part of compass, but then fail to deliver on pretty much every other aspect of their bid. 

    I suspect this particular contract is no different. Hopefully, Charlton are already having conversations behind the scenes. I think they’re about halfway through a 5 year deal so there may well be scope to remove them which wouldn’t come as a surprise as it seems the club are trying to engage with supporters snd want to deliver the best experience possible.

    I do have some sympathy for the young team working behind the bar. While they are frustrating and lack any form of common sense, I try not to get angry and remember they have probably been thrown behind the bar and told to get on with it. They appear to be extremely understaffed for the volumes they know they are going to face, and there’s rarely any sign of a supervisor / GM to lead the service. 

    We do a little bit of stadium catering and they are really tough accounts, but as with most things in life, you put plans in place and focus on the basics, (classic NJ quote) which ultimately is serving beer quickly. Do that any most will go home happy. 

  • blackpool72
    blackpool72 Posts: 23,675
    edited August 10
    I stopped trying to buy a drink in the covered end about 3 years ago.
    Plenty of decent places to have a beer all within about 3 train stops from Charlton. 
    Drink before and after the match and avoid the half time shambles 
  • Dippenhall
    Dippenhall Posts: 3,919
    Chunes said:
    I've honestly had enough now. I came to the stadium today naively thinking that they've had the whole summer to figure out the problems from last season. What an idiot I was. It was exactly the same, if not worse. Once again all the beer was coming out as pure foam in the bar nearest to NWB and the queue did not move for 20 minutes. 
    Surely the management have installed some sort of training on how to pour a pint to the staff before letting them loose on the great unwashed?
    Doesn't sound like it though 🍺🍺
    I’m guessing that the only “staff” are the managers/supervisors who will be the only people who have been near a training room.

     The bar staff I suspect are temporary hires through an agency meeting the demand for clients like GG seeking “unskilled” workers commanding only minimum pay casual work.

    GG should be asked directly to explain how they recruit and what training bar staff receive.