The end of an era... the less for more approach.
We have been visiting Cisswood House Hotel for many years, on a regular basis (our usual Sunday afternoon treat), enjoying their afternoon tea and bringing friends and family on numerous occasions for birthdays and other special occasions. Sadly, after a recent visit, we won't be back for a long while.
We sat in our usual spot and ordered our 'usual' (afternoon tea). We were surprised to see that things had changed somewhat ; we had half the sandwiches we would usually have and the cakes and scones had changed. That's okay, things have changed now and then over the years & sometimes for the better. Sadly this wasn't the case today.
We were eating our sandwiches, a bit surprised at how few there were, and I noticed that there was a new menu on another table. I had a look and noticed that the afternoon tea had skyrocketed from £13 per person, to £19.50 per person! Sadly, the afternoon tea we had been served was nowhere near as good as the previous visits and it was costing us an extra £6.50 per person! For £13 per person, you ignore the occasionally chipped cup and the cheap cutlery, but at £19.50 per person these things are not acceptable. The thing that was noticeable was that the price had been hiked up and the quality had gone down; the scones were previously lovely but this time they were crumbly and airy and fell apart when cut open, the jam was so runny that it was more like a strawberry sauce (not even thick enough to be a compote) and there wasn't much clotted cream. The new sandwiches were odd (dry ham hock and a strange spiced chutney with the cheese). The new cakes were tasteless and if anything, there were too many! I didn't finish any of mine because they were odd (this was partly my fault because I don't like coffee cake).
We were asked if everything was okay and I said that we were shocked to see that the price had gone up so much, the chap serving us said something about prices and apologised and that was that.
As much as I think change is needed, I think Cisswood have really missed the mark, which is a huge shame. It's usually nice and quiet (relaxing, which is what we need after week-day commuting) on a Sunday and if they are trying to fix this, I'm not sure that they have thought it through by increasing prices. If it does work for them, then I'm pleased, but it is with regret that our regular visits have come to an end. read more