Compass at Coventry – employees not happy

Following on from news reported last year in the Coventry Telegraph and posted on this blog, outlining how Compass, a contract caterer, had taken over the foodservice operation at Coventry University, this blog has received an anonymous post claiming that employees of what was Coventry University Hospitality Services are less than happy with the situation.


As the poster pointed out, the employees of Coventry University Hospitality Services are having their contracts TUPE'd over to Compass and have no choice in the matter. In some cases, members of staff who have given between 10 and 30 years service, feel that they have been sold off to Compass and have been given 'sparse communication about their job situation'. Many are worried about their pensions and believe that the University has treated its employees disgracefully.

Yahoo'sTop Ten breakfast guide

Yahoo has listed a number of places where people can enjoy a decent breakfast. Click here for more details.

Poor service at the Lobster Pot

The Lobster Pot in Felpham, West Sussex.

Teashop and Caff had an email from a Lobster Pot customer complaining about the service at the new-style Lobster Pot, which is sad to hear as, when the 'larger than life lady' was in charge, I don't think there was ever any room for complaint. Still, there you have it.

Here's what happened:-

"Yesterday we went to the Lobster Pot to have breakfast – lovely weather, wonderful location, thought we would start the day off well!

"Walked in, no customers inside, waitress behind the counter on the 'phone.  Looked at the menu, decided what to have, went to the counter.  Assistant still on the 'phone (private call).

"We waited, and waited. It seemed ages, really without exaggeration it must have been five minutes, but although throughout this time the assistant could clearly see us she did not make any attempt to end the call.

"In the end we left, went elsewhere for breakfast. Our food was probably not as good as we would have had with you, and the view was certainly inferior, but the service was much much better."

The complainant said that she planned to give the Lobster Pot one more try but if the service hasn't improved, she'll take her custom elsewhere.

Sad news, as Teashop and Caff loves the Lobster Pot. Our message to the Lobster Pot? "Sort it out!"

The Lobster Pot – revisited!

I say 'revisited' but the truth of the matter is that I often drive down to Felpham in West Sussex because, as I've probably said before, it's the place where I spent my childhood holidays in the days when the summers were hot and seemingly endless and the perils of adulthood were simply unreal.

I took a drive down there recently and took a look at what appeared to be the new order of the place. It's now a little more 'culinary', a little more 'foody' in its approach – which is a good thing – but it still retains (thank heavens) the caff element during the day, although evidence of it's new 'cheffyness' was everywhere; well, on a couple of blackboards. There was, for example, a seafood weekend being advertised. It's over now and I couldn't get there, but it seemed like a great idea and I'm sure they did well out of it. 

The thing is, the place now opens at night and the prices are pretty much 'up there' in terms of 'posh restaurant' levels. Main courses range from £9.95 to £12.95. Huss served with hand-made chips and sugar snap peas is £9.95, there's talk of 'port reduction'  and crispy fried squid with roasted chorizo and salad. Things are certainly looking up and the blackboards mean that the food is fresh.

If I say so myself, I make a pretty decent cottage pie so when I saw that the Lobster Pot was offering, as a set lunchtime special, home-made cottage pie, well, I just had to dive in and order it. Was it better than mine? To be honest, no, it wasn't. It was nice, but I'd love to put mine up in a head-to-head contest and see who wins.  Also on the lunchtime specials was home-made mushroom soup with crusty bread and something called a lamb and lentil 'ravine', which, I admit, might be an error on my part. What the hell is a lamb and lentil ravine? Should that be 'tagine', perhaps, who knows? 

But look at the other menu items: veal schnitzel, grilled huss fillet, vegetable and puy lentil burgers, whole roasted rainbow trout. The Lobster Pot isn't the Lobster Pot anymore – a quote that might be used in a film entitled The Lobster Pot Story, should such a film ever be made.

Anyway, it's still a great place and the fact that it's open at night makes it even better. I really do want to spend a night there and when I do I'll report back immediately.

West End Café, Tamworth, Staffordshire

I'd been covering a training course in what amounted to a theme park, very weird. Outside the window everybody was enjoying themselves on roller coasters and assorted scary rides while inside, people stared aimlessly at Nobo boards and ate biscuits. Then, when it was all over, I decided to walk, in a kind of daze, to the railway station, which turned out to be around five miles away.

I knew Tamworth from a previous visit to the Glascote Working Men's Club when I stayed in a hotel in town near the castle. I remember there was a very good army surplus store that sold loads of great things, like camouflage trousers and silly hats, but I had my eye on the West End Café, which I'd seen on my previous visit but hadn't bothered taking a look.

Today was different. I had a bit of time to spare – or rather, time wasn't an issue – so I bowled in to what was an empty restaurant and ordered a pot of tea for £1.20. Once again, I didn't stop for something to eat as I'd been stuffing my face with Digestives all morning.

The West End was a great place and the food looked excellent. There was a specials board (always a good sign) offering dishes like braised steak and onions (£6.95); Madras curry and chilli con carne were both £5.95 and traditional ham, egg and chips (with peas) was a healthy £3.95. A caff wouldn't be a caff if it didn't offer a Full English and the West End delivered with a £3.99 brekkie. There was a home-made turkey, ham and mushroom pie served with chips and peas (£5.95), a big breakfast (which I can only assume is bigger than the full English, cost £5.95. This consisted of three rashers of bacon, two sausages,  two eggs, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, chips, toast and fried bread – all for £5.49, cheaper than the Full English and probably bigger. The daily roast bap of the day was only £1.50 and there was a wide variety of fish dishes, grills, jacket potatoes, sandwiches, burgers and baguettes on offer too.

A dessert menu offered traditional favourites like apple pie and jam roly poly (both £2.50).

The West End has it's own website, click here for details, and it's open between 10am and 4pm on a Sunday too.

Riverside Cottage Café, Lynmouth, Devon.

The Riverside Cottage caff was okay, but I kind of regretted ordering a huge pasty, chips and beans (£5.50). I don't know why, it just seemed so stodgy and unnecessary when a plain old ham sandwich would have sufficed.

Anyway, no point crying over spilt milk – or spilt pasty and beans in this case. Actually, I ate the lot but the caff lacked a cosy atmosphere and turned out to be a hotel, built on the banks of the river Lyn. My wife ordered a jacket potato with tuna (£5.75), which I should have ordered, and my daughter enjoyed a hot soup, roll and butter (£3.75).

The food was fine, the staff were friendly but I think it was something to do with Lynmouth that put me off a bit. I didn't like the place for some reason.

Having said that, the hotel element of the Riverside Cottage looks quite impressive, check out the pictures of the rooms on the hotel's website by clicking here.

Caff in a garden centre (Knight's in Warlingham)

If you want a cosy teashop type of experience, go to Knight's Garden Centre and visit the Pantry. It's just on the other side of a display unit that sells loads of cosy stuff, like jams and preserves and bricks of fruit cake and, like the whole gardening thing, its a cosy sort of place.

Personally, I can't stand gardening. Actually, let me make that clearer; I don't mind mowing the lawn and sweeping up, but I hate weeding and having to pull things out of the ground, like unwanted saplings with hefty roots
.
Weeding is the worst, though, it's that whole King Canute thing and trying to hold back the tide. Take out some weeds and they'll be back next week; it is, quite simply, a good illustration of what I like to call 'the futility of gardening'.

Still, The Pantry at Knight's is great and it recently won a Gold Award in Surrey County Council's Eat Out, Eat Well Awards. What's more, there's a Curry Day every Tuesday.

On this occasion, however, it was a cup of tea and half a bag of crisps.