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trail_rat - Member"Whenever I've used a trail centre I've paid parking and used the centre cafe. It helps everyone."
Thats my point. FC charge to ride the trails that the locals built around here.... its no trail centre not even close.
If FC continue to take the piss - then ill take the piss.... FWIW i always prefered to go down , stay for the weekend at Kalzie bunkhouse. Leave the car and ride out onto the SUW @ innerleithen and ride over to selkirk for coffee and cake for then back up and over in a figure of 8 loop for the decent back to inners for cake and coffee.... more of my money into the local economy than into the FC coffers to piss up the wall on grand un needed gestures.
Spot on.
And 8.5 million to build a glass box and a few toilets, someone is massively taking the ****
Get the locals in, let them build and do the food. Job done. They make more from parking as people wont mind parking for something decent and knowing it's run by locals who give great service and food.
That previous post about food at Llandegla. Now that's what a proper chef should look like 🙂
It's locals doing the food at Glentress at the moment so I'm not sure what point you are trying to make.
Most folk avoided the parking charge when it was still the Hub too.
what I meant was allow a local independent run place to run the site, make decent home made food, nothing special just good quality fresh food, decent coffee and good service. It's really not difficult to do. Maybe add a bit of personality and job's a good un.
How hard can that be? Whoever is running the place FC or whoever need a bit of a slap. 8.5 million what's all that about!
Given they have a restaurant just round the corner they couldn't be much more local.
The big issue with the current café operators, is the place is poorly run. Arguments about what the FCS did or didn't promise are irrelevant, because with the current organisation, the café would never cope with even more customers. There is a lot of potential there, you just need to treat the kitchen as a café and not some scaled down restaurant kitchen.
As much as I hate to mention the hub, it ran like clockwork. The peel in comparison is like watching a bunch of headless chickens running around behind a counter, with even more flapping in the kitchen.
For those who remember the hub, how often did you see somebody stood behind the counter like a spare prick at a wedding, when there was a queue?
As for the buildings. I can understand FCS wanted a flagship building using the latest green/eco-friendly building technology, which costs money. But to build the café in a hole looking at either a [s]weedy[/s] natural flora fauna covered hillside or some wigwams just lacks total vision.
stevenmenmuir - MemberGiven they have a restaurant just round the corner they couldn't be much more local.
Well if they cant make a toastie I don't hold out much hope for the restaurant then 🙂
Sorry I thought the FC was running the café.
Need to get back to basic's by the sounds of it. I've been a few times and a few times to the Hub and that was A LOT better from what I remember.
But then I'm a simple person who wants simple things. It amazes me how these things are hard to achieve.
*bump*
Anyone been in since the hydro took over the cafe?
I was in last weekend. Interested to hear some opinions...
We went in the weekend of the Tweedlove International for coffees, had to take it back as the milk had gone off. The staff were very friendly, apologetic and replaced them.
I was in a couple of times when they'd literally just opened, they seem to be going for a homelier feel (artfully mismatched furniture and that), and it did already have a bit of a different atmopshere, disorganised but effective and friendly... but they were obviously still finding their feet so I'm not making any judgement... TBH I was pretty happy with the last guys, and no great fan of the Hub, so I'll probably not be typical anyway 😆
They seem to have done away with 95% of the menu. Hardly anything on offer. Very strange. Also a very strange atmosphere. Bizarre silence. Was also sad to see all the staff gone but I've found out they've gone to the new cafe at Bonys..
So that's why the furniture had changed. Just as disorganised as previously, hope you don't what any ice cream!
I'd say it was a very limited menu but I can't remember what the previous one was like.
I was in on Saturday with some of the Trailfairies. Coffee and macaroni was good, token lettuce on the side was pretty pointless. Food arrived quite quickly but seem to have the same issues with a lack of efficiency. The lady who took my order wrote food and drinks on separate slips and then told the girl what kind of coffee to make which seems to defeat the purpose. Same lady was also having to tell staff to go and clear tables. The weekend before I was with somebody that used to work in the Hub, they were reminiscing about how many customers they could just ask if they wanted their usual order. Changed days.
I got the feeling they're having to basically restart from scratch- I noticed even the fitted floor mats had vanished, on the first day. They said they're starting with a basic menu but will add to it as they get more set up, so I guess we'll see.
The macaroni you had on Saturday is a recent addition, so they're still building up and/or tweaking their offerings, hopefully based on what proves popular.
I like the endurotastic coloured napkins. 🙂 Edit: And the pulled pork ciabatta and the penne pasta.
Any more recent reviews of the cafe now they've had a bit of time to establish themselves? Heading down there tomorrow and if there aren't nachos on the menu there will be trouble!
I was in the new cafe today and can report a HUGE improvement. It was packed, but on a Saturday at 1300 during school holidays that isn't too much of a shocker. We queued for about ten minutes, and the woman did have the decency to apologise !
They had a proper coffee machine !
The menu was pretty simple, "natchos" whatever those are, burgers, hot dogs, baked potatos, soup, sandwiches, toasties, really big scones, some awesome looking cake. Egg and bacon rolls, pre-made sandwiches, pies and sausage rolls from Forsyths, all looked in order to me.
So, the all important toastie test. I asked for a non-standard filling, and they were happy to do it, so no frozen toasties there. Took less than 10 minutes to arruive. And it was nice, and even better: NO ORANGE CHEESE.
Furniture much nicer, better outdoor seats, moved the big fridge that blocked the entrance.
Its not The Hub, but we have to accept those days are over (sniff) but much better than the last effort.
was in there last sunday, had probably the worst bacon roll i have ever eaten. More fat than bacon and in a stale roll. Coffee was nice though
Was in today, they'd run out of potatoes which seems a bit of a schoolboy error but otherwise good. Wee bit of a queue to order but fast service, they'd sorted out their table delivery (well, nearly) with table numbers and that. Expensive though, £8 for a chili and chips, big mountain biker sized portion but still pricey. Pretty happy all in all. Still quite a small menu but maybe still a work in progress. Addition of big tvs showing riding footage of the trails is quite fun, not enough vids on it so it loops a lot but I liked that.
Atmosphere's a funny thing, it [i]felt[/i] really nice today but I couldn't tell you why.
Was in about 10 days ago, two manager-looking ladies seemed to be observing how things were working, so it appears they are taking a suck it and see approach. I had coffee and cake and it was pretty good. Didn't pay for parking though, I was staying in Peebles and rode in via Janet's Brae, which seems to get steeper each time I ride it. My wife does reminisce about carrot cake at the Hub though.
Well we were in today... very disappointed I must say.
Little hot food available at 3pm - no nachos, no chips. Slow service, waitressing girls looked bored, and although it didn't affect me there were MOUNTAINS of dishes and glasses awaiting to be cleaned behind the till. Really untidy looking.
I do want them to succeed though - anyone know how to contact them and I'll give them my feedback?
B
We decided the improved atmos was down to simple stuff. The chairs are better with more soft furniture and don't scrape the floors, so there isn't that horrible canteen style background clanking noise.
Was up there midweek and they did me a pretty decent fried egg cob, tidy scone and a mug of tea. They were friendly enough and there was a few in. Was nowt special but did the job. Overall I would give it [b]a whiney middle aged cockbag rating of 6/10.[/b]