Awful experience at Peckham Rye park cafe

[peleparso]

I'm sure I'm not alone in this but wanted to relay a really poor experience at the cafe in Peckham Rye Park cafe at the weekend.

Against our better judgement (it was very quiet) we stopped off at the cafe on Sat lunchtime for a quick bite. After ordering a couple of bacon sandwiches and a salad which were promptly delivered I went back into the cafe to get some cutlery (why don't they just bring it with the food?), leaving a friend at the table. A pigeon immediately dive-bombed the table and took some of the bacon out of one of the sandwiches (while the friend could only watch) and flew off. I saw this on my way back with the cutlery. The waitress came straight back out and took the plate away without saying a word. I presumed she was just being efficient and was going to show goodwill and replace the sandwich.

About 30 seconds later a young woman who I presume had been left in charge came out and just announuced that "it's the policy of this cafe that we won't replace food left unattended as there are posters up about the pigeons". Not only was I annoyed by the fact there was no discussion to be had (she was in robot mode) or that we'd had no choice about the plate going back into the restaurant in the first place, the fact was that the food wasn't left unattended at any time, a pigeon had come down and taken it before we'd even had chance to look at the plate, let alone take a bite.

Now I totally accept there are warnings about the pigeons but several issues which left me feeling angry:

(1) at myself for trying again with a cafe which is nearly always grimy and left in the hands of grumpy teenagers;

(2) for the completely abysmal customer service all through the experience;

(3) for the cafe (and probably LB Southwark) for not actually tackling the pigeon problem. If it's that bad that it's almost impossible to eat outdoors then the external eating area should be closed down until the problem is solved. It must be an environmental health risk.

Definitely the last time I will eat/drink at that cafe and I'd advise any others if you want to eat outdoors set up a net overhead before you even take a seat.

[dv1]

Is this a joke?

[Nigello]

Caveat emptor springs to mind: if the posters are there and prominent, then it's fair for them to not provide you with a replacement.

However, the attitudes and conditions you describe are annoying and ought to be tackled, so what did you do on the spot? Was it anything as like as well-described and eloquent as your EDF entry? Have you spent time emailing or phoning the people you think might make things better for you and other customers? If not, please do, and report back.

[nxjen]

Certainly made me laugh

[PokerTime]

Hmmm. It's a tricky one. If there are signs up, then you are not the first to be affected. And whilst the cafe can't be held liable for the actions of the wildlife outside, the staff may well find their jobs at risk if people can't sit outside and eat over the summer months, and seasonal takings are down. Might be worth contacting the owners of the business with a complaint;

fiona: [email protected]

andy: [email protected]

[tiddles]

how annoying! However I have to add that as a frequent visitor to the cafe, it has never felt grimy, and the teenagers are not grumpy (I usually get a smile)

[Penguin68]

The obvious solution would be to provide (possibly against a deposit) covers for plates (those aluminium ones, possibly) which would protect food. If you have e.g. small children and a large order protecting food from predation whilst collecting cutlery or other things will always be problematic. Warning notices don't really cut it for a food outlet of this type.

It must have been (quite) funny to watch, but to take the food away (which has been paid for) without replacing it or refunding is actually theft - you could have taken the food home for a pet if you didn't want to eat it yourself.

[SkyofFire]

Oh come on, it's always filthy - the floor is constantly covered in food thrown all over the place by toddlers.

[titch juicy]

Use it regularly, never found it dirty and the staff have always been friendly and helpful.

Plus, the 'Rye Fry' is always excellent. They use decent cumberland sausage and their bubble is the best around.

The Mediterranean Wrap is very nice too.

In fact, the only complaint I could have about the place is the occasional screaming toddler, left to it by indifferent parents.

[JohnL]

I never usually complain about anything - just remove my custom for a while.

The public aren't beta testers for services that should be expected :)

Nigello Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Caveat emptor springs to mind: if the posters are

> there and prominent, then it's fair for them to

> not provide you with a replacement.

> However, the attitudes and conditions you describe

> are annoying and ought to be tackled, so what did

> you do on the spot? Was it anything as like as

> well-described and eloquent as your EDF entry?

> Have you spent time emailing or phoning the people

> you think might make things better for you and

> other customers? If not, please do, and report

> back.

[Nigello]

How very splendidly isolationist of you, JohnL. Keep up the bad work! To take it to its logical conclusion, why bother posting on the EDF?

Letting service providers or business owners know what they are doing right or wrong is at least as effective as "flouncing off" and probably more so: withdrawing custom is passive and open to misinterpretation; giving feedback is active and unlikely to be misunderstood.

Float on!

[balanceforlife]

Sorry but just could not resist..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dexQhvczVeM

;)

[puwetter]

My daughter goes there with her children and she bought two bags of crisp 60 pence each found out they were out of date

[Medley]

I do like their sausage sarnie, but the filth levels are a bit much sometimes.

[Strawbs]

I can't stand the place. I definitely get th grumpy teenagers and not the smiley ones and they move at an absolute snail's pace even though the queue is out the door and there are fractious kids everywhere! I got a blt there last week and the bread was far from soft but to be fair I didn't complain as was dealing with my kids but it feels like overpriced food (some of which is good) with absolute rubbish service.

I've always thought that they were missing a trick in terms of coffee ordering - a little window could be made in to a place where people could order take away coffee to save the endless queue so people could mill around outside waiting rather than queuing for 10 mins, would be easier for all duty? People with dogs can get coffee, people with kids can be with them outside and people ordering food and wanting to eat in can be left in the queue. I also think the ice cream section is in a terrible place as people who finally get to the front to order then need to double back in to the queue if they haven't chosen a flavour or need to show the teenagers which flavour they need.

[titch juicy]

Strawbs Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I can't stand the place. I definitely get th

> grumpy teenagers and not the smiley ones and they

> move at an absolute snail's pace even though the

> queue is out the door and there are fractious kids

> everywhere! I got a blt there last week and the

> bread was far from soft but to be fair I didn't

> complain as was dealing with my kids but it feels

> like overpriced food (some of which is good) with

> absolute rubbish service.

>

> I've always thought that they were missing a trick

> in terms of coffee ordering - a little window

> could be made in to a place where people could

> order take away coffee to save the endless queue

> so people could mill around outside waiting rather

> than queuing for 10 mins, would be easier for all

> duty? People with dogs can get coffee, people with

> kids can be with them outside and people ordering

> food and wanting to eat in can be left in the

> queue. I also think the ice cream section is in a

> terrible place as people who finally get to the

> front to order then need to double back in to the

> queue if they haven't chosen a flavour or need to

> show the teenagers which flavour they need.

You hate it so much you popped in for a bite last week?

[peleparso]

I personally don't "hate" the place. It was exceedingly quiet on Saturday afternoon and we'd walked all around the park with young kids so I thought it was worth a try. It wasn't.

Thanks to PokerTime for the contact details, I've emailed them.

[Louisa]

I didn't realise pigeons ate bacon.

Louisa.

[peleparso]

In the spirit of fairness and feedback, Fiona from the Cafe has offered a sincere apology and a refund, which is appreciated. In the longer-term the pigeon pests seem to be here for the foreseeable as Fiona reports that:

"In terms of the pigeons we are unable to do anything about them as we are not allowed to shoot, poison or otherwise get rid of them. We are also unable to scare them away with either a real or fake bird of prey as they do not roost overnight at the cafe. Our only defense is to encourage park users to refrain from feeding the pigeons. The Park Manager is currently in the process of identifying park users who routinely feed the pigeons and is seeking a means to stop them doing so".

Be interesting to hear directly what LB Southwark has to say on the subject....

[KikiMac]

If the grumpy or otherwise teenagers staffing the place cleared the tables outside a bit more promptly it might help alleviate the pigeon problem mightn't it?

And their coffee is criminally bad.

But there isn't much competition for them in the park really is there? So they can be as rubbish as they like...

[Mustard]

It's illegal to feed pigeons, as they are classified as vermin. Have seen signs put up by Southwark in other parts of the borough, mentioning this fact. Not sure why they can't put up a sign outside the restaurant.

[PokerTime]

There are always going to be tons of birds around, it's a park. I've been followed by gangs of ravens walking through the park eating chips for example. That's a pretty surreal experience!

[lpool]

I've always thought their coffee quite good but then I only drink Black Americano. Yes floors normally not very clean but always found staff friendly and definitely best sausage sandwich in East Dulwich.

[unlurked]

Funniest OP I've read in a while!

[civilservant]

PokerTime Wrote:

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> ... gangs of ravens walking through the park eating chips for example.

> That's a pretty surreal experience!

indeed!