Torquay – The Green Ginger
Look at the state of these photos, I’m very pleased that my new phone is here so that the quality can improve at least a little…. Any expedition around the pubs of Torquay inevitably meant a visit to JD Wetherspoon and it transpired that their Green Ginger pub in the town had more real ales than any other pub in the area. The chain did have a second outlet here, but that’s now Yates and as we went there the day after, I’ll come back to that. This venue opened as a Wetherspoons in November 2009 after a £780,000 refurbishment and was previously called Bar Med.
This information sign about the pub reads:
“These licensed premises partly occupy the site of Abbey Place – a Victorian parade of bespoke businesses and hotels. Slade & Sons, one of Torquay’s leading grocers had premises here and was, in early Victorian times, the sole agent for Green Ginger wine – ‘superior to any mixture yet introduced'”
I have to say, this is the most tenuous naming of a Wetherspoon pub that I’ve seen and I rather suspect they could have selected something with a bit more local relevance, but there we go and I suppose it’s unique. It’s a large pub which I can imagine gets very busy in the summer, as it was surprisingly full on a rainy February evening. There are two separate bars and the usual variety of different seating types to suit just about every customer’s needs.
Does food get any more decadent than this? £7.49 for a selection of three different ways of frying chicken, what a time to be alive…. It all tasted as expected, was hot and the chicken was tender. The beer is the Sea Fury from Sharp’s Brewery and it’s better than I remember it, it was smooth with a malty and fruit edge.
As it was just over £1 for a half pint, I also went for a Legend from Dartmoor Brewery and, frankly, there’s more toffee here than in a Werther’s Original, smooth but rich in taste. As it’s a JD Wetherspoon outlet, I felt the need to read through the reviews and it’s rated on Google towards the lower end for the chain which means plenty of negative reviews to browse through.
“Worse steak I’ve had at a wheatherspoons, steak was very chewy alots of grissle. Air con was blowing out cold air, had to put my coat on.”
I actually thought that the pub was at just the right temperature, so she’s likely right as I like things on the colder side. I don’t think she liked the steak either.
“In there tonight after football. Meat madras v good, decent pint of ale. Trouble was pub became half full of 18 year old acting as 12 year old. A table of girls screaming and shrieking for no apparent reason. We had to move tables, a mixed group quiet at first then playing a drinking game that involved bang bottles loudly. Then a bout of screeching across several groups of youngsters – seems to be a thing because when one started they all joined in. The security guys checked id outside but never came in or did a walk through. This was my worst Spoons experience ever in thousands of visits”
I’m with the customer here, that’s highly sub-optimal.
“Advised that we couldn’t have a table due to staff shortages. The place was empty on a Sunday teatime. Maybe offer a limited menu just to keep the revenue flowing.”
I don’t know the background here, but I’ve read that several pubs have struggled to get staff in Torquay, so I’km not entirely surprised that even JD Wetherspoon are struggling.
“Turning into a coffee shop with people taking advantage of free refills. One way of keeping warm and off the streets for £1-49 I suppose. Problem is that proper customers can’t find a seat so leaving when busy.”
I have limited sympathy here. If it was a small venue that makes sense, but it’s a huge pub and there must be over 100 tables here. I am surprised that they shut their second venue, or at least haven’t opened another, as there appears to be the demand for it.
“Shocking service. Almost 2 hours after ordering our pizzas still hadnt arrived. After asking after them the waitress eventually wandered back and casually said they had been burnt so they were putting fresh ones in she then left while i was still speaking. Obviously experiencing staffing issues but the remaining staff could do with learning some customer service skills.”
I think I’d mention if my pizza hadn’t arrived after two hours.
“Went to join a group of friends on 14/10. Waited at the bar just before 11.30. Not a member of staff in sight. Eventually a barman arrives. Young lad, tall blonde complete with love bites. Unfortunately, missing any customer service skills or personality. By the time he got round to serving me (how can it take nearly 5 mins to ring 1 cup of tea through & I’d ordered my black coffee, I asked if I was too late for breakfast as it was 11.33. Oh yep, no offer to try & help or anything. After the last time when I had a cheeseburger which was stone cold I didn’t want to risk the lunch menu. The female bar staff who came on later were great. Knew exactly who was next, & great customer service skills.”
The old divide and conquer strategy of how good the later staff member was. That first barman seems to me to have been quite perceptive, as the reviewer later writing such nasty comments is entirely unnecessary.
“Disgusting staff! We have used this pub for years and always enjoyed being in there but were shown up twice today for questioning the wait when using the app, people going up the bar were being served twice as quickly. We were refused service because we asked the staff member to lower her voice as everyone was looking at us and we were embarrassed. So upsetting we are in our early 60s and not used to being shouted at.”
Definitely two sides to this story….
Anyway, I’ve digressed once again. We didn’t experience any service issues and the team members seemed to be doing their best, with the food and drink arriving relatively quickly. As for the beer choice, there are around six real ales available and a whole host of decent craft beers to choose from. And there’s also free wi-fi and a fair number of power points, always a bonus.
