CFS - Half time early exodus

[jos]

I’m curious as to why 35 minutes into the game it looked like 10% of the CFS populous made their way down the stairs to the amenities!

Does it take ages to get served in that stand or is their another reason?

[jdrobbo]

I’ve not been in the CFS since 1996…even then it took three years to go to the toilet and queue for a coffee.

[Penwortham_Claret]

Trying to beat the queue…. To the toilet cubicle

[Devils_Advocate]

Its 2-4-1 on Beer from 3.30pm-3.40pm. Its a good idea to try and spread the flow of people. They are thinking of doing the same offer in the Bob Lord but for Werthers Originals rather than beer

[Billy Balfour]

Same with pies as well.

[Ric_C]

Always boggles my mind that folks will happily miss great swathes of the match just for a pint or a pie. Each to their own obviously. It's like leaving the cinema and potentially missing the best bit of the film, just to get a hot dog

[Hipper]

Why isn't there some sort of waiter service then this could be avoided?

Not sure about toilets though. There used to be holes in the floor of the Cricket Field Stand for the original heating system. I expect they're gone but if the pipework is still their there could be some sort of pee tube system like pilots had in military aircraft.

[claretburns]

I’m curious as to why 35 minutes into the game it looked like 10% of the CFS populous made their way down the stairs to the amenities!

Does it take ages to get served in that stand or is their another reason?

If you don't go down at least by 35th minute, whether for beer, food, smoke, toilet etc then you'll be stuck and pushing your way through a crush for at least 15 minutes.

[fidelcastro]

If you can't go the duration of the match without needing a pint, then you have a major problem if that's more important than the game you're paying to watch!

[AlargeClaret]

Equally shocking queues ( sans cokeheads) in the longside bars , 40/41 you can just about get served in 10 mins . Thing is a lot of fans meet mates we don’t see much of so pre and ht beer is very much part of the social thing . Perhaps a lane for pre paid orders theatre style might take the sheer volume off ? I’m sure many of the CFS are used to pre ordering during Shakespeare 2nd acts etc surely ?

[gandhisflipflop]

I moved from the CFS due to the shockingly slow service and the fact your crammed in like sardines down there at half time. Yesterday though in the longside was just as bad. No pre poured pints, shockingly slow service again. It’s not that difficult to sort out I can’t understand why they don’t pre pour drinks.

Also, the tannoy yesterday again was inaudible.

[Bosscat]

Equally shocking queues ( sans cokeheads) in the longside bars , 40/41 you can just about get served in 10 mins . Thing is a lot of fans meet mates we don’t see much of so pre and ht beer is very much part of the social thing . Perhaps a lane for pre paid orders theatre style might take the sheer volume off ? I’m sure many of the CFS are used to pre ordering during Shakespeare 2nd acts etc surely ?

Could "Exit Stage Left Pursued by a Bear" be the reason for the quick exits then

[tarkys_ears]

Always boggles my mind that folks will happily miss great swathes of the match just for a pint or a pie. Each to their own obviously. It's like leaving the cinema and potentially missing the best bit of the film, just to get a hot dog

"pint or pie" ...Aww, bless him.

[fidelcastro]

I’m sure many of the CFS are used to pre ordering during Shakespeare 2nd acts etc surely ?

Oh definitely. The songs emanating from that particular stand (especially the one about Jack Walker dying from something other than what he actually died from) can only be the work of people who are fans of the bard!

[Rowls]

Its 2-4-1 on Beer from 3.30pm-3.40pm. Its a good idea to try and spread the flow of people. They are thinking of doing the same offer in the Bob Lord but for Werthers Originals rather than beer

They don't sell Werthers Originals in the Bob Lord stand and besides which, we have the good sense to bring our own and pack a flask.

[Rileybobs]

Took nearly 15 minutes to get served at the soft drinks/food kiosk in the JMU yesterday. The Swansea players were back out onto the pitch. Surely this wouldn’t be hard to improve.

[Devils_Advocate]

They don't sell Werthers Originals in the Bob Lord stand and besides which, we have the good sense to bring our own and pack a flask.

Don't shoot the messenger

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

Took nearly 15 minutes to get served at the soft drinks/food kiosk in the JMU yesterday. The Swansea players were back out onto the pitch. Surely this wouldn’t be hard to improve.

This was the one thing under the new owners I thought we’d really see a big improvement in. It also took around 15 minutes to get through the turnstile with the queue outside JMU even with only having to scan a ticket!

[pushpinpussy]

sorry, i needed a sh it

[mybloodisclaret]

Hi, I am one of those CFS chaps who from time to time go down around 34th minute. I am not an alcoholic, and only drink at weekends. I do enjoy a pint at half time, and if you are to be succesful waiting until half time leaves you zero chance of getting served, and impossible to get the entrance / exit such is the squeeze. Loads of big screens to watch the match on so not the end of the world. Just part of the routine.

[JohnDearyMe]

I moved from the CFS due to the shockingly slow service and the fact your crammed in like sardines down there at half time. Yesterday though in the longside was just as bad. No pre poured pints, shockingly slow service again. It’s not that difficult to sort out I can’t understand why they don’t pre pour drinks.

Also, the tannoy yesterday again was inaudible.

Given the owners and board have been involved with American sports where customer service is really good I'm surprised they've not done anything to sort it out at the Turf and bring in a bit more income

[NewClaret]

Service yesterday was shocking in the longside upper.

One lady behind the bar disappeared for five minutes looking for a pie someone had pre-ordered. Just abandoned ship at HT in pursuit of a pie. I mean what the actual!

They seemed to be getting their act together. But yesterday was a shambles again, no pre-poured drinks.

Two points here:

Pre orders should not be allowed. Or as suggested above a single lane clearly marked.

Staff shouldn’t be allowed to go & look for food during the busiest part of the whole service. They must’ve lost £hundreds yesterday in pursuit of a pie!

[4midable]

Terrible service in any stand for refreshments
I get a pint and pie before the game when theres no queue but half time queues are horrific more so now its colder

Just need more staff, more serving holes - pre poured pints/benes

[burnmark]

Used to have no issue in the Bob Lord but realistically if we want a pint at half time we need to be heading down 35 minutes in now.

[CrosspoolClarets]

The problem with pre-pouring is that in a pandemic (and a current resurgence) it isn’t safe to leave them sat out in the open. At that point the punter hasn’t bought it so there will be different health and safety aspects, businesses can only sell food and drink fit for purchase.

[Burnley Ace]

I can’t fault the customer service. I was in the JHU yesterday and when I went to collect my pre ordered pie they didn’t have it. Rather than brush me off with some excuses about being busy, she immediately went to get me one. Top service!

[bfcmik]

I said to Father Jack at the time that I thought the 'dealer now available' text had been sent out.

I went down after the half time whistle, struggled my way through the densely packed throng to the no beer, hot drinks kiosk, queued, got served and made my way back through the slightly less dense crowd and to my seat before our players returned to the pitch. Only issue I had was that the potato pies were sold out and there were only cheese and onion left - remarkedly tasty though!

[Rileybobs]

The problem with pre-pouring is that in a pandemic (and a current resurgence) it isn’t safe to leave them sat out in the open. At that point the punter hasn’t bought it so there will be different health and safety aspects, businesses can only sell food and drink fit for purchase.

Pints don’t need to be pre-poured. They should just have someone at each tap constantly pouring and someone at each checkout taking orders. It’s painful watching someone take an order for a few Bene and hots and then take about 10 minutes to pour them then dicking around for ages taking payment. Serving Bene and hot in the first place is stupid as it takes so long to prepare one.

[4midable]

How do u pre order a pie?

Like someones said have 1 pouring and 1 serving. Thry get that overwhelmed and half of them are clueless

[Devils_Advocate]

How do u pre order a pie?

Either with the people who sell programs or lottery tickets outside the ground

[bobinho]

Only two traps, so much cocaine.

[NewClaret]

Terrible service in any stand for refreshments
I get a pint and pie before the game when theres no queue but half time queues are horrific more so now its colder

Just need more staff, more serving holes - pre poured pints/benes

Totally agree mate. Honestly it’s such ****e service it’s unbelievable. I’d have absolutely no issue not getting a pint if they were doing all they could to provide an acceptable level of service, but it’s just shambolic:

1. Pre-pour pints/bene’s OR get get a machine that does 12 at a time.

2. Get some more staff. I go away and you never ever see one person serving and working the till. There’s 4 tills and four staff!!! We’d serve at least a hundred more people per bar at HT so, say £10 per order = £1k per bar. We’re just throwing away money.

3. Stop pre-orders. Why should people queue jump just because they ordered before the game. If we all did that it’d be carnage.

Tbf, one young lad absolutely works his arse off and he deserves to be commended, but doing one for five minutes is a joke - no management at all.

Did think the Americans, known for their service, would’ve sorted this out by now…

[MT03ALG]

BFC desperately short of ideas re. refreshments etc.
In Germany e.g. SC Freiburg: beer at your seat, 1 euro deposit for hard plastic glasses with interlocking handles so that you can carry at least 3 in each hand, loads of different food outlets (e.g. pizzzas, sausages, Flammenkuchen, Sekt stand, wine stand, beer stand), food and drink available at least an hour after each game etc. etc.

[NewClaret]

How do u pre order a pie?

Like someones said have 1 pouring and 1 serving. Thry get that overwhelmed and half of them are clueless

I asked this question. Apparently anyone can do it by going up before the game.

In principle it might help if everyone could do that while they’re quiet(er) before the match and they were given a ticket to claim and then the staff could pre-pour what they need for them, etc.

But since they don’t do it, it’s just a load of people pushing to the front of the bar in front of queuing folk.

[MancunianClaret]

Why on earth they don't have hundreds of pints ready at half time (like in the Manchester Arena), rather than pouring every one on demand baffles me. Took the lad behind the bar about 2 or 3 minutes to serve each customer when it could have taken 30 seconds.

[Swizzlestick]

I asked this question. Apparently anyone can do it by going up before the game.

In principle it might help if everyone could do that while they’re quiet(er) before the match and they were given a ticket to claim and then the staff could pre-pour what they need for them, etc.

But since they don’t do it, it’s just a load of people pushing to the front of the bar in front of queuing folk.

A good first step would be to stop letting people do that! Mental. As pointed out above, just have a person on the tills, and a person on the drinks. Wouldn’t be surprised if Pace and team do sort this out eventually now they’ve rejigged the Fan Zone area.

[Billy Balfour]

Exodus? Movement of jah people. Sorry, I mean, 'jar people'.

[wilks_bfc]

Don’t what it was like in the other stands but there was a shortage of staff serving in the JMU with at half the tills not being used

[NewClaret]

Don’t what it was like in the other stands but there was a shortage of staff serving in the JMU with at half the tills not being used

Why can they not sort it out?

I have no idea who looks after our staffing and catering but bar putting on San Miguel (which is a step forward, although I’d like to see them swap out Carlsberg for some proper craft beers), it’s not moved forward at all and is arguably moving backwards.

Technology or more staff please, preferably both.

And that’s before you even look at what they are serving.

[Rileybobs]

They only started taking card payments about 18 months ago didn’t they? I wouldn’t hold your breath whilst you wait for the rest of the operation to move into the 21st century.

[4midable]

I asked this question. Apparently anyone can do it by going up before the game.

In principle it might help if everyone could do that while they’re quiet(er) before the match and they were given a ticket to claim and then the staff could pre-pour what they need for them, etc.

But since they don’t do it, it’s just a load of people pushing to the front of the bar in front of queuing folk.

Pointless. Just get a pie when you arrive for sake of 45 mins, or missing 10 mins of end of 1st half

1 guy served me the other day and from ordering to paying and walking away - was more than 5 mins. And that was 20 mins before KO. Just seemed clueless

Been at half time before too and no pies left after queing most of half time

Only worth a pint now as its san miguel as carlsberg was bottled ****

[AlargeClaret]

Must be at least 10-20% simply don’t bother due to queues .Prices are about par and cheap if you think of places like old Trafford CC / Arena / Wembley and almost ANY event catering .
The actual beer choice is passable Carlsberg ( decentish generic lager) Cider - fine / San Miguel ( reasonable euro choice )Guinness . Bearing in mind it’s 20 min of mayhem 5 mins gulp it . Craft beers etc are a nogo in draught “ pull it n swig “ operations though .

[taio]

I'd rather drink nothing than Carlsberg. Probably the worst lager in the world.

[Billy Balfour]

Carling is just as bad. I'd rather have a pint of sparkling water.

[dougcollins]

Those glass 'base pouring' things like they have at Tottenham could be the answer. They're not that hard to get, saw a temp bar with them on at a Rugby League ground.

[Duffer_]

Seems odd to leave the easiest of money on the table whilst talking about exploiting new revenue streams. If the directors aren't prepared to go in the stands to understand their business then they ought to be prepared to engage with and listen to fans. If anyone sees Al in Tesco, perhaps they could raise it with him.

[jos]

Perhaps I should have named this thread ‘Matchday Experience, and how to improve it’

Who can we speak/write to about getting this changed, no one appears to be satisfied about things as they are?

[NewClaret]

Pointless. Just get a pie when you arrive for sake of 45 mins, or missing 10 mins of end of 1st half

1 guy served me the other day and from ordering to paying and walking away - was more than 5 mins. And that was 20 mins before KO. Just seemed clueless

Been at half time before too and no pies left after queing most of half time

Only worth a pint now as its san miguel as carlsberg was bottled ****

To be honest, I really thought the Americans would sort this out. I think I recall hearing Checketts was linked to stadium entertainment, so I thought we might see some big changes here, but the service is getting worse.

Just with San Miguel, which as you say, is a massive improvement. I never see a single person order Carlsberg now, which in itself illustrates how unfortunate we’ve been to be subjected to it all these years, but they just need to get it off now & put something else decent on.

Wish whoever ran the catering, Pace, Checketts and Smith would come & try and get served at HT. Think they’d have a massive shock at how much money they are wasting.

[Burnley1989]

Hi, I am one of those CFS chaps who from time to time go down around 34th minute. I am not an alcoholic, and only drink at weekends. I do enjoy a pint at half time, and if you are to be succesful waiting until half time leaves you zero chance of getting served, and impossible to get the entrance / exit such is the squeeze. Loads of big screens to watch the match on so not the end of the world. Just part of the routine.

Be careful mate, you’re being judged as an alcoholic coke head (yet again) by folk that don’t even sit in your stand, it really does get tedious

[wilks_bfc]

Perhaps I should have named this thread ‘Matchday Experience, and how to improve it’

Who can we speak/write to about getting this changed, no one appears to be satisfied about things as they are?

If we’re going into the “Matchday experience” can we raise again the use of the big screens showing the match we are already watching on a 5 second delay, and not the list of players on the pitch.

With the bookings that Swansea had, it would have been nice to keep track