Right I've been silent on this for long enough.
I was so excited about getting a new pub on Deptford High Street, especially one run by a company whose reputation for well-kept ales and good pub food was already well-established in the area via the Royal Albert in New Cross.
With the opening of the Job Centre last year, there was finally a glimmer of hope that Deptford High Street did have the potential to become an evening destination for pub food as well as Vietnamese cafes and our old favourite the Orient.
Ever since it opened we have been continuously taunted by the promise of a kitchen arriving 'soon'. The original refit included an obvious kitchen space which made it seem utterly likely that the fit-out was simply delayed by a lack of organisation on behalf of Antic's overworked builders, or perhaps a slight problem with programming.
In the end I stopped asking as the usual answer ('apparently coming soon') started to be accompanied by a long sigh and a visible slump in the shoulders. When I took the decision to celebrate a special occasion there, I did my own catering. My own catering. In a pub.
All this time the usual Antic antics continued. New pubs opened left, right and centre. The Woolwich Equitable even opened in November with a brand new finished kitchen in situ and I considered unfollowing them on Twitter because of the constant tweets about lovely-looking food being served at the other end of SE London.
All these shenanigans were annoying enough, but now the Job Centre has been forced to set up a petition in order to get Antic's numpty overlords to concede that people in Deptford are not just out-and-out lushes, they ACTUALLY EAT TOO! They are asking customers to lobby for a kitchen by signing the petition at the bar - a strange way to run a business if you ask me.
Does Antic make all its decisions on the basis of names on a piece of paper? And what about those potential customers who don't visit purely because there's no food? How does Antic intend to gather market intelligence on that particular demographic?
Why open a cavernous pub on our high street, bring us fine ales served by friendly and helpful staff and then make us grovel for sustenance?
I say fuck your petition.
Just get a kitchen in there and I will visit on a regular basis, at least once a week, and I will buy food. I will also most likely buy more drink than I do at the moment since I usually have to leave after a couple of pints because I need to eat. I cannot survive on your sausage rolls, however nice they are.
I'm sure many of you out there agree; feel free to comment, share this, tweet @Antic_London or go straight into the ear of the boss via their website (play nicely now).
3 comments:
I very much hope they don't get a kitchen as at least you can get a seat at the moment in The Job Centre on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights unlike the Albert, New Cross House and now the Rose Inn.
The Job Centre offers the option of ordering delicious food from Deli X and they will deliver to the pub up to 8pm. There is also a BBQ in the beer garden on weekend evenings. So I say f*ck the petition and don't let a very nice pub be ruined!
On a positive note, the pulled pork pitta I had in The Job Centre was soooo good.
It's a great pub a the mo, good music on vinyl, plenty of seating, chilled atmosphere. I'm not sure it'll stay this way for too much longer especially with Deptford Project hordes arriving soon.
I agree the food from Deli X is very good, but it is only available till 8pm and that's not late enough for anyone who works in town, has to go home first and then wants to go out for a leisurely evening. The BBQ is variable and the options for vegetarians are pretty poor and overpriced.
From a purely selfish point of view I also agree that the level of custom is how I like it, but it will be difficult to maintain a business long-term on that level of income.
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