O perfil de Steaders

This is a fairly large, modern conference and exhibition centre built on land along side the former Royal Victoria Dock in London’s Dockland. It is easily accessed from Custom House station on the Docklands Light Railway.

There are several large areas where events can be held, and I believe they can be combined to make larger areas.

There are several places to buy food and drink from, ranging from restaurants to kiosks. Outside the main building there are more restaurants and pubs.

There are also free-to-use atms located near downstairs in the main building.

I visited for an exhibition and found the whole experience enjoyable.

Located half way between the two shopping areas of Churchill Square and Blatchington Road, this Tesco Exress is handy for those forgotten items, or single purchases.

It does have a small range compared to it’s larger cousins, but most everyday items are here.

I popped in to get some headache tablets and came out with a fresh cream eclair!

Not the place to go for your main shopping, but ideal as a corner shop.

This is a modern pub located on the main road to London. It is actually an old pub that was modernised a few years back.

It has a some nice comfy sofas inside, and several tables outside where you can watch the people walking by. Or fire engines leave the fire station.

Inside there is a thai restaurant, which I didn’t try so I can’t comment on that.

They serve the standard range of drinks: Guiness, Grolsch Strongbow plus several bottled beers, and Harveys ( a local Real Ale). The Harveys was actually quite decent (although not quite as good as that served in the Hare & Hounds on the opposite corner of the junction!)

This is a wecolming pub where the casual passerby doesn’t feel at easy when they pop in.

We should have known how this would turn out when we tried to book at table for ten people at 7pm on a Saturday and got told “we don’t take bookings” We were told to just turn up and they’d get us a table. Perhaps a drink at the bar whilst waiting? Hmm.

Well fortunately when we turned up, they did have a table for us. Right next to a hen party of 25 women. Who had obviously been drinking for some time, and were rather loud.

We were told that if we ordered quickly then our orders would be put through before the hen party’s order. So we did. And guess what. Our starters arrived and then nothing, while they got their food.

An hour after arriving we were served our main course, served on cold plates. And although most of the food was acceptable, all the vegetables were cold. So the waitress was asked if some fresh hot vegetables could be served, and her reaction seemed to be one of “Oh, yeah ok, it happens all time.” No shock, no surprise, not even an apology. But then all the staff seemed to have an air of indifference and were very off-hand with us.

It was 8.40pm when we were asked if we wanted desserts. As we were booked to go ten-pin bowling at 9.00pm we opted to skip this and just pay the bill.

The bill arrived and was about £185, which we split between us, and £200 was given to the waiter. As we left it became apparent that he hadnt brought any change back. And then it was pointed out that an optional 10% service charge had already been added to the bill. So the actual cost was just under £170, and the change from the £200 had been kept.

One of our party promptly returned and demand our change, and that the service be removed as we were not happy with the service. At first she was given £30 back, but standing her ground, the rest of was reluctantly given.

I, and probably most of the group, will not use this particular establishment again.

Update: Forgot to say that the optional (they’re words) service charge is only added to groups of ten or more, so be warned

Having just experienced rather poor service at the restaurant (see Frankie & Benny’s Brighton) our party of 12 headed to the Bowlplex.

When we arrived we found only one person on the desk, dealing with customers wishing to pay and handing out shoes. I felt really sorry for the people in the queue behind us.

There was a DJ playing music mostly from the 60’s & 70’s, but with a few modern ones mixed in.

We were allocated two lanes next to each other and started to sort out teams. Meanwhile I overheard the DJ ask a question, saying that the first person to answer correctly would win a bottle of “bubbly”. I immediately walked up to him, gave the answer and walked away with a bottle! It wasn’t anything special, but hey, the evening was begining to look better.

As the evening progressed we were beset with a few technical problems with our lanes, resulting in numerous visits by the three members of staff, and culminating in them moving us to the two adjacent lanes. However they were both helpful and pleasant at all times. And we saw an unusual way to bowl - the manager held the bowling ball in the palm of his hand and just launched it down the lane resulting in a strike! Followed by another. He gave up after the third when he only got nine pins down. To say we were impressed would be an understatement.

We spent and enjoyable hour and half in here, and the technical problems didn’t really detract from the experience. It certainly made up for the meal.

Only four stars, because I don’t really go in for loud music. I prefer it to be loud enough to hear (and sing-a-long to) but not so loud that you have trouble talking.

This is probably the least customer friendly branch of Asda I’ve ever used.

As it is open 24hrs I have shopped at all hours, and find problems whenever I go there. In fact I only use because it’s on my way to/from work, and it’s open 24hrs.

I frequently find the shelves empty of want I’m after. Sometimes they are on the trolleys waiting to be put out, but more often than not, they don’t have them. And whilst we’re talking of the stock trolleys/roll-pallets, why do they have to leave them in the middle of the aisles? If you shop during the evening or at night, I is often impossible to actually go down some aisles because they are blocked by stock waiting to be put out.

And the staff have a habit of standing and chatting amongst themselves totaly oblivious to the customers. Sometimes it takes saying “excuse me” a couple of times, or a quick jab with the trolley, to actually get them to move.

And I would never buy anything frozen from them. I have seen, and been told by an ex-employee, that frozen products are sometimes left out waiting to be put in a freezer for longer than half an hour.

However, they do have some good points such as being 24hrs. Also they do some weird offers. This week I have bought two packets of cereals for £2, when they are £2.15 each; and five Muller Lights for £1.00 when they are 54p each! Bargains!

They also have a petrol station which is normally one of the cheapest in the area

The moment we walked through the door, my mate and I felt out of place. Don’t get me wrong, we were made to feel welcome, and the bar staff were friendly, but this pub was not our scene. It is quite obviously aimed at Goths.

The was the normal range of lagers and keg beers, and they had Hobgoblin real ale which was a nice pint.

There was a small beer garden (or smokers area) out the back and this was packed.

There was nothing wrong here, but we just felt out of place. If you’re a goth and/or a student, then you’ll like this place.