Villa Park Catering.....

[astonvilla82]

Upper Holte main bar, ordered a can of Guinness and the lad had to ask someone how to open it…

Guinness in a can, sacrilege

[astonvilla82]

That was absolutely tragic today in the lower holte end , I moved from upper as brought a family member along. The new system is worse there's now machines to pre order and then you join another queue to collect. Made it even worse than before, Holte Suite closed, no other improvements

got into the Holte suite at halftime, but they then closed the doors,it was practically empty inside and easy to get served,then one of the stewards decided to stop people moving between each bar, the rear bar was empty considering and after a bit of ear ache they let people through, son got served in minutes

[Nunkin1965]

Upper Holte main bar, ordered a can of Guinness and the lad had to ask someone how to open it…

Guinness in a can, sacrilege

Personally speaking Guinness in a can is better than no Guinness at all.

[SaddVillan]

After the World Cup break we returned full of Xmas spirit hoping for a great Boxing Day out.
Went in the Holte pub for a pint before the game, it was unusually quiet, I wonder why ……… No draught Guinness run out, only cans. No Amstel, run out. No Purity, run out. No Heineken run out, only bottles. We had to settle for cider.
Still we had our half time balti pie to look forward to. When we eventually got the pies they were incinerated on the outside and not even lukewarm but really cold on the inside, another catering triumph for AVFC.
We have previously written to AVFC about the appalling catering but no reply.

The Mupppets in the Holte pub deserve a medal for having no beer for a fixture that was announced back jn August. How and why they failed to have the cellars fully stocked for  what was obviously going to be a bumper crowd  beggars belief.

As for the balti pies - obviously thrown jnto a volcanically hot oven when heavily chilled, resulting in the burnt pastry/cold innards. Evidence once again of a mismanaged system that seems unable to cope with demand.

How long have they been trying (and failing) to get things right?

[colin69]

This season my son and I just take a couple of beers into the park. (Classy or what), but there’s no way I could be doing with those order screens then waiting in another collection queue. Looked like a nightmare.

[Chico Hamilton III]

my son and I just take a couple of beers into the park. (Classy or what)

Away at QPR a good few years ago and none of the pubs were letting away fans in so me and Pat McMahon sat on a bench in the middle of Shepherd’s Bush with a bag of cans. Like the opening scene in Bottom.

[Rory]

my son and I just take a couple of beers into the park. (Classy or what)

Away at QPR a good few years ago and none of the pubs were letting away fans in so me and Pat McMahon sat on a bench in the middle of Shepherd’s Bush with a bag of cans. Like the opening scene in Bottom.

Did one of you punch the other in the bollocks?

[RamboandBruno]

This season my son and I just take a couple of beers into the park. (Classy or what), but there’s no way I could be doing with those order screens then waiting in another collection queue. Looked like a nightmare.

We got to the ground about an hour before k/o, just because with no public transport, i thought parking might be tricky. I think the pre-ordering system worked reasonably well before the game, other than you couldn’t order hot food from the screens by the right hand entrance in the lower holte. Half time was a different story, queing for the screens, followed by similar ques as normal for the bar to collect. The problem seems to be the normal problem, the refusal or lack of instruction to pre pour lots of pints. Especially now there is a pre-ordering system, it makes even less sense to only have a handful of pre poured pints to dish out, the staff were still individually pouring pints. Theres a huge lack of supervision and management going on with the teenagers behind the counter, who need help.

[Pete3206]

Gave up with the Witton Upper debacle long ago and just walk up with a couple of cans. The stand has obviously got infrastructure issues, but there is no excuse not to properly staff with competently trained people and pre pour drinks to get the queue moving.

[Des Little]

Massive full-on pisstake in the UT today, as per fucking normal.

Yep, atrocious. I’m pretty sure we employ a load of people whose job it is to create a memorable match day  ‘experience’. Looking at those poor kids faces in the queues, I’d say they’ve certainly achieved it. Jokers.

[Pat McMahon]

my son and I just take a couple of beers into the park. (Classy or what)

Away at QPR a good few years ago and none of the pubs were letting away fans in so me and Pat McMahon sat on a bench in the middle of Shepherd’s Bush with a bag of cans. Like the opening scene in Bottom.

That was a cracking day out, 1-0 win thanks to Kodjia and then upmarket beers in Notting Hill.

Almost as good as the away game at Arsenal at Christmas 2009 when we couldn’t get into pubs and asked a copper for directions to an off licence. We bought 4 cans each and then the same copper came over to tell us we couldn’t drink on the street.

[Clampy]

I can understand the pre-match grumbles. The last time I was in the Holte Suite, it was much much better in fairness. I've never quite fathomed why people can't go a whole 90 minutes (and a bit) without a beer though.

[pauliewalnuts]

I can understand the pre-match grumbles. The last time I was in the Holte Suite, it was much much better in fairness. I've never quite fathomed why people can't go a whole 90 minutes (and a bit) without a beer though.

I tend to agree, I've never really felt a massive urge to have a beer or something to eat inside the ground.

However, the point is, there are thousands of people who do want exactly that, and are there - a captive audience - and can't get served because it's such a mess, while we have had flat commercial income for years.

It seems to be a problem that persists across club managements from year to year. Can't they just send some people from our catering team (the management, I mean) to a ground where they get it much better and copy what they do?

Having a new system which consists of TWO queues rather than just the one is fucking nuts.

[dave.woodhall]

We know there's problems, they know there's problems. There just isn't the ability at present to make a wide choice available so until that's sorted we should get back to the basics - chips, pies, burgers.

[Lastfootstamper]

The issues in the UT would be solved in an instant if they either stopped doing chips altogether, or invested in a frier capable of churning out more than four portions every ten minutes.