John_Burke_Davies

Well what the folks have been saying in earlier reviews is quite true.
Tommy and Linda were the driving enthusiasm behind the Roebuck for 20 years and while Iain worked as their manager for a goodly piece of that time he hasn't inherited their work ethic (read lazy)and definitely not their natural chatty warmth and hospitality.
It's a very cold and virtually hostile environment to walk into now since they retired. The bar staff aren't the smiling, chatty, friendly stereotypes one expects.
Miserable and morose is a better description. A couple of them do have an irritating habit of disappearing into the beer garden every few minutes for a smoko, normally just when someone needs serving.
All been there too long, part of the furniture and lacking a good kick in the backsides. It's bit like walking into a government departments office and waiting to be attended to: a bureaucratic frigidity, once served, then ignored, unless one of the bar staff's personal clique.
Little wonder the pub's losing custom to the Malt Shovels, Orange Tree and Brickies. Recent outside decor isn't too bad but funds should have been committed first to refurbishing the lounge toilets for both sexes. Apparently the ladies are in a worse state than the gents, which is hard to believe.
The vaunted beer garden for them that smokes is an over-rated heap, a stretch of canvass and a couple of tables, and open to every naunce of the cold winds and sweeping rains.
A comment was made in one review that the pub's goodwill has started sliding down Victoria Street. I'd venture it has slid all the way down to Kingway by now. Avoid at all costs ! (JBD)