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The Swan - Fradley - Ever Wish You Had Not Turned Up A News Item?

alan_fincher

By alan_fincher
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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

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Whilst by no means obsessive about such matters, if I'm throwing myself on the mercy of a commercial establishment to provide me with a meal, I think it not unreasonable to hope that at least basic rules about hygiene and food storage and preparation are adhered to.

 

You are hardly paying cheap prices at these places, so if they can't do the basics, I think they shouldn't be doing it at all, in my view.

 

Unlike others I have not had an obviously duff meal at the Swan, (and in fact have had some quite good ones), but reading through the stuff I posted in the first post, I certainly think I would be doing quite a bit of research before ordering food there again.

 

Reading some of the stuff already posted, I could be tempted to think some of you think that an establishment would be doing us a favour if they wiped a well neglected dishcloth over each meal before serving it to us, just to guarantee it contained enough germs to help us build up an immunity to common infections!

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churchward Veteran II

churchward

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Whilst by no means obsessive about such matters, if I'm throwing myself on the mercy of a commercial establishment to provide me with a meal, I think it not unreasonable to hope that at least basic rules about hygiene and food storage and preparation are adhered to.

 

You are hardly paying cheap prices at these places, so if they can't do the basics, I think they shouldn't be doing it at all, in my view.

 

Unlike others I have not had an obviously duff meal at the Swan, (and in fact have had some quite good ones), but reading through the stuff I posted in the first post, I certainly think I would be doing quite a bit of research before ordering food there again.

 

Reading some of the stuff already posted, I could be tempted to think some of you think that an establishment would be doing us a favour if they wiped a well neglected dishcloth over each meal before serving it to us, just to guarantee it contained enough germs to help us build up an immunity to common infections!

Quite so.

 

I can understand folk who say that a sterile environment isn't the be all either. How many of our own kitchens and practices would pass teh commercial standards? However, I view the kitchen standards (and standards testing results) as a barometer of how the restaurant manages itself. Sloppy food standards could mean poor performance in how ingredients are sourced and how fresh they are and as much as anything how much they attend to detail and care about its customers.

 

Mind you I once had a couple of summer jobs as a youth in a meat processing factory and another time in a cake manufacturer and I cringe remebering some of the things I saw happen.

 

I also went to Brazil amongst other things for the carnival and ate street food from all sorts of vendors and suffered no ill effects. Then on our last evening in Recife with our friends we went to the equivalent of a 3 star restaurant and I got Salmonella poisoning (it was traced to a moose pudding made with egg whites our friends later told us) fell ill in RIO after flying there the next day and spent 2 days in hospital there. Sometimes it is just luck of the draw.,

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Laurie Booth Veteran

Laurie BoothDonate to Canal World

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As the reader may know, we live in Aberdeen but have our boat near Birmingham. I like an aromatic and flavoursome Indian meal (not one where the main ingredient is chilli) and I have to say that of all the Indian restaurants we have tried in the "curry capital of the UK" aka Birmingham, including those in the "Balti triangle" etc, none has come anywhere close to our local favourite the Jewel in the Crown in Aberdeen.

 

I must admit I have never found one decent Indian restaurant in Birmingham.

:(

 

I am open to correction but I thought eating establishments and takeaways were obliged to display them?

No they don't have to display the rating. Strange thing is I always see 4 & 5 star ratings on places.

:)

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For any establishments that don't display their ratings or if you want to check someone is displaying their correct one they can be found on here -

 

http://ratings.food.gov.uk/

 

Here is The Swan's at Fradley

 

http://ratings.food.gov.uk/business/en-GB/384568/The-Swan-Alrewas

 

and our local chippy!!!

 

http://ratings.food.gov.uk/business/en-GB/272861/Bylands-Road-Fish-Shop-Skelton-In-Cleveland

Edited by The Dog House
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boathunter Rising Star

boathunter

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There's almost certainly something in the modern life/more illness theories whether proven or not. When I was at school out of 400 kids, there was one fat kid, 2 with inhalers and one with a hearing aid. Not many had central heating at home so they had real fires drawing plenty of fresh air through even in the winter. Food and living conditions have changed markedly in the last 40 years.

 

We live in a very draughty, dusty old house and in 25 years not one upset stomach, no asthma, no colds, no flu, no nothing apart from chicken pox for the kids, but we infected them on purpose via friends kids. Could just be luck I suppose but I doubt it. We could lie in bed and get rained on 12ft from the window if the wind blew in the right direction. Hermetically sealed stuffy modern houses might be cheaper to run and warmer, but I'd rather have fresh air blowing through and put more clothes on.

 

Being veggy for most of that time also allowed us to be slovenly in the kitchen to no ill effect, but also meant we never ate pre-made food. Apart from the ex, who somehow managed to put on 9 stone by eating crisps. She's not very healthy now, but the rest of us are slim and agile.

 

However there's a gulf between finding this acceptable and poor hygene in the kitchen where you're eating out. My muck's ok, but I don't want to be sold someone elses toenail scrapings and bogies thanks.

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churchward Veteran II

churchward

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Is that related to Desperate Dan's favourite Cow Pie then?

It could have been the Brazilians certainly like their meat. However in this case it was a coconut and chocolate mousse made with egg whites. It is the unfortunate thing that with spell checkers it doesn't help when you spell the wrong word correctly!laugh.png

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Woodstock Rising Star

Woodstock

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Only if the food inspector asks the place to show it.

smile.png

It recently became a requirement to display the rating in Wales and I believe will be a requirement in England later this year / next year (not sure of exact date). Anyone can display them now- but it tends to be the ones who have scored well that do.

 

It isn't particularly difficult to get 4 or 5 stars- a lot of the requirements are simple and things you would probably do without thinking in your own kitchen. Our local paper reports findings and things are pretty bad to only achieve 1 or even no stars- There was one in Burton last week that had steaks in the fridge 6 weeks out of date. I agree with Alan Fincher, I expect a certain level of hygiene when I'm paying for food- be it from a food factory or a pub.

 

If they don't clean the kitchen and understand basic food hygiene- you can bet your life they probably don't wash their hands after the loo- and do you really want that in your dinner

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It recently became a requirement to display the rating in Wales and I believe will be a requirement in England later this year / next year (not sure of exact date). Anyone can display them now- but it tends to be the ones who have scored well that do.

 

Correct, from November last year it seems.

 

link to the relevant legislation here

 

Can't find anything on plans for England though.

Edited by The Dog House
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That's weird I thought I had said about Wales earlier

 

... and? so what?

 

I was simply providing confirmation of a subsequent post and relevant links. I also referred to the fact that I couldn't seem to find confirmation regarding it's planned introduction in England which was mentioned in the post I was responding to.

 

I don't see that as particularly 'weird' at all (unless you live in some strange alternate reality that is).

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Athy Veteran II

AthyDonate to Canal World

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However in this case it was a coconut and chocolate mousse made with egg whites.

Ah, a Mousse! I was wondering about this exotic moose pie which sounded rather nice but I could not work out why they put egg whites in it. I evidently misunderstood. Oh deer.

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PaddingtonBear Rising Star

PaddingtonBear

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The Swan is a seriously crap pub. The last time the Great Helmsman and I were in there we were served our beer in glasses straight out of the washer, almost too hot to hold and with soapy residue still in the inside. When I objected they said I should go without then and refused to do anything about it. I should be a really good pub surrounded as it is by serious drinkers living very close. What it needs is competition and for their customers to be a little more demanding.

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The Swan is a seriously crap pub. The last time the Great Helmsman and I were in there we were served our beer in glasses straight out of the washer, almost too hot to hold and with soapy residue still in the inside. When I objected they said I should go without then and refused to do anything about it. I should be a really good pub surrounded as it is by serious drinkers living very close. What it needs is competition and for their customers to be a little more demanding.

Yes I suspect it's laziness caused by it's location. The junction and the locks must draw thousands of people each year including many non boaters and they will probably find they don't have try too hard to pull people in and keep a reasonable turnover. If it was further up the Cov on an ordinary stretch it would likely seriously struggle.

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Athy Veteran II

AthyDonate to Canal World

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we were served our beer in glasses straight out of the washer, almost too hot to hold and with soapy residue still in the inside. When I objected they said I should go without then and refused to do anything about it.

WHAAAAAT??? What did you do?

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dmr Veteran II

dmr

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We have always had good beer in the Swan, and found all of the staff very friendly. I have not eaten there but regard it as a drinking pub so would not expect top rate food. However some pubs can be really unfriendly. A few years ago whilst queuing at the hatch that passes for a bar at the "Square and Compass" I witnessed a conversation that went something like:

 

Customer "Can I have the menu please"

Landlord "This is a pub"

Customer "Do you do any food"

Landlord "Pasties or Crisps"

Customer "Two halves of lager then"

Landlord "We don't do lager. we only do beer and cider"

 

Sadly since moving on to the boat I don't get to go there nearly as often as I would like.

 

............Dave

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