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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed that Premier Inn wouldn’t serve us at 22:58

78 replies

SweetMarmalade · 08/08/2019 09:09

Virtually ran back to our Premier Inn last night for a final nightcap (it had been a long day) we were there just before 11pm only to be told the bar was closed!

Surely last orders are at 11pm and not a few minutes before.

The barman was still there, dp had got there first, dp said ‘but it’s not quite 11pm’ just a ‘sorry, bar closed but you can have water!’

AIBU that a bar should close on time and not before? The bar wasn’t full, completely the opposite.

OP posts:
vasya · 08/08/2019 09:35

Normally last orders are before closing time. When I worked in a bar we had some discretion over whether or not we served a customer who ordered right before the closing time. If it had been quiet for a while we would have already started shutting up.

Just bad luck, but I appreciate annoying for you!

livefornaps · 08/08/2019 09:35

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Littleduckeggblue · 08/08/2019 09:36

Says more about you that you "RAN" back to hotel to have an alcoholic drink and the. Argued with the member of staff for a drink Confused

Whoops75 · 08/08/2019 09:37

YABU

Original poster
SweetMarmalade · 08/08/2019 09:38

Hardly a CF Hmm

I can understand last orders in a high street pub but this is a PI where the bar area is open to sit throughout the night. The bar staff serve at the bar and reception, a few feet away. We’ve stayed here a few times.

We did go back out to buy a drink from elsewhere and the barman was serving another customer a bottle of what I assume was fancy water to take to his room, so the till wasn’t closed.

Just think a little bit of leeway wouldn’t go amiss. It wasn’t like we were a group of 10 expecting fancy g&t’s and it was definitely before 11pm!

OP posts:
NoSauce · 08/08/2019 09:38

They probably recognised a sad pair of alcoholics and did the sensible thing turning you both away

Harsh. If the OP was an alcoholic wouldn’t she be taking a bottle up to her room?

AgentProvocateur · 08/08/2019 09:38

YABU for drinking in a Premier Inn bar. Surely there was somewhere more exciting nearby.

TriciaH87 · 08/08/2019 09:39

Last orders are about 20 minutes before closing time. Closing time means you sod off as the staff are going home. They are not going to serve you with 2 minutes to go as they then need to wait for you to drink up and wash glasses etc. They want to finish on time because they are not paid after the time their shift ends which is likely 11

MarthasGinYard · 08/08/2019 09:39

'The bar wasn’t full, completely the opposite.'

No shit SherlockGrin

Quite they were almost closed.

TBH with you whenever I've nipped in those pubs attached to perm inns they tend to be getting all the breakfast bits set out by about 9pm.

Not your 'night cap' kind of joint really.

IvanaPee · 08/08/2019 09:40

It was on the nose of 11 not definitely before it.

It would have turned 11 before you’d finished ordering.

And he told you you could have water, too. 🤷🏻‍♀️

MarthasGinYard · 08/08/2019 09:40

'Prem inns'Smile

'Perm inns were the haunt of the 80's'

Anotherusefulname · 08/08/2019 09:42

I wouldn't have expected to get served a couple of minutes before the bar closed either. I remember in my younger days rushing into pubs to make last orders after being to the cinema, always at least 10 minutes before closing. I would still assume this is the case everywhere.

recrudescence · 08/08/2019 09:42

I always pack a bottle of scotch for exactly this sort of crisis.

BarryTheKestrel · 08/08/2019 09:45

Every bar I've ever worked in, including a restaurant/bar attached to a premier Inn, has called last orders 15/20 minutes before closing to give people a chance to drink their drink before we lock up. Closing is the time the bar closes to all patrons and cleaning/cashing up/staff go home, not the last opportunity to buy a drink. You buy a drink at 22:58 and all those staff are delayed in finishing their jobs and going home by at least 20 minutes, that they likely won't get paid for.

YABU.

HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone · 08/08/2019 09:46

Just think a little bit of leeway wouldn’t go amiss.

But its the same as being in a shop they normally shut the doors with a few minutes to go and only serve those who are already in the shop. If the bar closes at 11 then why would you expect to be able to waltz in at 10.58 and get a drink? The poor bar tender had to relieve the other member of staff on reception he doesn't have time to faff about serving you a drink when the bar should be closed.

JinglingHellsBells · 08/08/2019 09:47

You can't buy a drink after 11pm. By the time the drinks were poured/ pulled and money taken it would be after 11pm.

Most pubs and bars shout 'last orders please' at around 10 minutes to closing time.

You are being unreasonable.

flashdancer19 · 08/08/2019 09:48

They probably recognised a sad pair of alcoholics and did the sensible thing turning you both away

Bloody hell, what made that a reasonable comment? I think you need to address your frankly bizarre attitude to someone having a couple of drinks @livefornaps! You do realise that drinking alcohol does not make someone an alcoholic? I'm sure you've got some reason to be this angry but you can't force that anger on others.

Sirzy · 08/08/2019 09:49

Licensing laws don’t allow leeway!

TheInvestigator · 08/08/2019 09:50

"Last order" is the cut off for orders, which is usually 10 minutes before closing time. Closing time doesn't mean you can still order drinks at 10.59.

JinglingHellsBells · 08/08/2019 09:50

@SweetMarmalade And what if every person wanted a bit of leeway at 2 mins to closing time? Where is the line drawn? It's licensing laws- not your call.

You had a nerve. I don't even go into shops ten mins to closing time as after years working in bars and shops as a student, I got sick to death of inconsiderate people like you.

HouseholdPlantMurderer · 08/08/2019 09:51

It's not just about staff. It's a licensing thing

DejaVoodoo · 08/08/2019 09:51

By the time you’d chosen your drinks, perhaps humming and hawing, and the barman had prepared them then it may well have been after 11pm by the time he was ringing them into the till. They don’t want to be in contravention of their license by serving after time.

bumblingbovine49 · 08/08/2019 09:53

If they were refusing you a glass of water ( a basic human need) I would see your point but not alcohol - hardly a basic need!.

I am also quite bemused at you being so annoyed/upset over such a trivial incident that you have posted on here about it as well, looking for sympathy. For me that situation would have elicited an 'oh damn,just missed it, oh well never mind' . Then it would have n
been forgotten about.

mrspotatohed · 08/08/2019 09:55

Closing times are there for a reason. People are Incredibly cheeky, I used to work in a coffee shop and people would stroll in with under 10 minutes before closing and want a coffee to sit in. They'd be made aware that we close at so and so time.Then they would sit there taking their sweet time whilst having to be repeatedly told and get a shitty on because they couldn't sit there in peace! There's been times I've had my coat on ready to go and they have had to leave with me. It was chain rules otherwise they'd have been told no it's tough shit, don't take the piss.

DotBall · 08/08/2019 09:58

Well you’ll know for next time, eh... consideration for others and common sense will get you a long way in life. As will being demanding and entitled. The latter makes you a cunt, though.