Dave 's reviews
Review of The Decks
30 May 08, 15:47
Don't look for it... 
because it's not there any more! So farewell then to the most expensive burger in North Devon. The best bit was when the waiters would all look at each other, count to three, then take the cover off of your dinner, you couldn't put a price on that. Well, you could, and it was a lot.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Suits You
30 May 08, 15:04
Put the tape measure away
Before I could walk in the door the assistant was all over me with the tape measure! It was like being assaulted by an octopus with a sewing kit. I think they had to be enthusiastic seeing as the clothes didn't really seem to be up to much.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Past Times
30 May 08, 14:58
Don't look for it
Because it's not there any more. Which is a shame really as you could get some nice things in there. They had a bit of vintage style even if the prices weren't all that old fashioned. You didn't much shilling and pence change from your pound.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Marks & Spencer
30 May 08, 14:56
It's not M&S
The M&S brand is all about quality and customer service so why they have a shop like this is beyond me. M&S isn't about end of line bargains and cheap returns. This is just full of the stuff M&S customers don't want and it's not hard to see why...
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Motor World
21 May 08, 13:30
Grim
It's probably the horrible little boy racers parked on the pavement and in the bus stop outside that really puts you off this place. It's a bit like Diet Halfords, a bit smaller and with a bit less than you'd find in a regular branch of Halfords.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Rising Sun Inn
20 May 08, 12:22
Closed
But hopefully not for good: the sign outside promises that it's currently being refurbished etc. The best way to get there is on the Tarka Line: it's just over the road from the station at Umberleigh, and that way you don't have to worry about the parking or the driving.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Barnstaple Music Centre
19 May 08, 14:28
Out of tune
Where's this one gone? It was part of old Barnstaple, and like so much about that town you don't miss places like this until you suddenly find that they are not there any more. Shame.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of North Country Inn
08 May 08, 13:41
Always shut
Whenever I walk past this place (and that's exactly what I have to do) the doors are always shut! I once read a sign in the window saying it was going to be quiet in January so they'd be closed at lunchtimes! It's going to be quiet if you don't open the doors!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Seamus O'Donnells Public House
18 Apr 08, 11:51
An Irish pub in name...
...but not in any other way. They have bouncers outside at night to keep people inside. It always depresses me to see so many abandoned prams in the window when I walk past.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of P V's Bar Restaurant
18 Apr 08, 11:48
Won't be going back
There's a bar downstairs and a restaurant upstairs where the one and only time I ever went there they tried to sell me a bottle of red wine that had quite obviously just come out of the fridge! That said I also know people who love it in there...
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Chicago Rock Cafe
18 Apr 08, 11:45
Grim
This is the sort of place that really does seem to bring out the worst in people. They can call it what they like it's still just a desperate attempt to fill people up with as many fizzy drinks as possible, flash the lights a lot, play bad music too loud and see who can be sick the first.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Britannia Adelphi Hotel
18 Apr 08, 10:20
Wholly unpleasant experience
It had long been a dream of mine to stay at The Adelphi: booked in for three nights and it was a huge mistake. It was noisey, the room was cold and draughty, the paper was peeling from the walls no hot water, and worst of all I woke one morning to find that some ladies of the night had pushed a flyers advertising their services under the door...
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Old Custom House
17 Apr 08, 14:58
It is actually shut...
But it looks like it should still be open because they haven't papered over the windows or anything like that. It's quite an interesting building inside and possibly one of the oldest in the town so it would be nice for it to be put to some use again one day.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Upfront Records & Tapes
16 Apr 08, 15:57
Great shame
It was a real pity when this place went: they guys who ran it loved their music and you could tell that they really had a passion for what they did.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Toymaster
16 Apr 08, 14:48
What happened here?
All of a sudden there seem to be loads of businesses along this part of the High Street that just vanished: did all of their leases come up for renewal at the same time or something?
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Four Two Sixty Six
15 Apr 08, 16:39
Not there any more...
It used to be the video shop. Then it turned into Four Two Sixty Six. And then for a little while it became this nice little Polish deli where you could find all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff. Now that's gone too. What will it be next? Who knows!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Spar Stores
15 Apr 08, 16:14
Useless!
If you can actually manage to find what you want you deserve a prize. If you don't pass out with the shock when you see the price you should get another one! And if you can get the staff to stop chatting to each for long enough to actually bother to serve you then you should get a Nobel Prize!
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of High Street Cafe
15 Apr 08, 14:57
Not nice
It needs a really good clean. It's not even a greasey spoon so it hasn't got that excuse. Because of its location it's a bit dark and dingy too which doesn't really help. If I were to say plastic tablecloth you'd get the picture.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Portobello Inn
15 Apr 08, 13:16
How do they make a living?
When I went in there I couldn't see anyone behind the bar, so I stopped and waited, then I carried on waiting, did a bit more waiting as I was getting used to it by this stage, then gave up and left. There were a few other people in there drinking: perhaps they served themselves.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Butlins
15 Apr 08, 10:27
Scary
I'm glad we were only here for the day: we seemed to be the only people in the whole place without tattoos, and that includes the children. And once the kids have been swimming and had a go on the funfair there really isn't anything else to do. And charging for crazy golf is just cheeky.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Tesco Stores
14 Apr 08, 14:34
Just dreadful!
It's like those old news films of Communist Russia in here. The shelves are always empty! Why open 24 hours a day if you've not got anything to sell? Not going back.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Boots The Chemists
14 Apr 08, 14:04
They annoyed me big time!
Went in there to buy something only to be told that I couldn't as the member of staff who had to tell me to always read the label wasn't available. Had to go back an hour later, he told me to read the label and I walked away very annoyed at such a complete waste of my time.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Rac Auto Windscreens
14 Apr 08, 13:56
Where have they gone?
I just couldn't believe it when I got there and saw the newspaper all over the windows! They should have told people where they were going.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Pendle Stairway Cinema
11 Apr 08, 16:36
Last of the great flea pits!
The romantic in me says that we lost a bit of cinema history when the Pendle finally closed, but it had got really quite shabby in the end. The work they've done on it since has improved it no end.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Tarka Inn
11 Apr 08, 14:53
It's a pub for people who don't like pubs
Why did they ban smoking in pubs when people who complained about it could have just gone to somewhere like this instead? It's bland, it's boring, you wouldn't go there for a drink, only if you fancied something out of the microwave.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Caen Field Car Park
11 Apr 08, 14:07
Too small
Let's be honest, a car park like this is just not big enough for somewhere like Braunton, especially in the summer. That said I don't know where they could put another one. The traffic problems here are awful and not helped by people parking in the street. If you haven't got a driveway or a garage why do you have a car?
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of First Red Business
11 Apr 08, 13:34
It's not the driver's fault at all
But it is First Group's fault. They seem to forget that they are running a bus SERVICE and everything they do is geared toward them and their profits with scant regard for the customer. First Group's train services are just as bad.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Clinton Cards
10 Apr 08, 17:17
You are a card
And at these prices you must be having a laugh. Do you really need to send your cat a birthday card? Do we have to invent occasions like Grandparents' Day? You do if you're Clinton Cards and you want to charge £2.75 a shot!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of W H Smith
10 Apr 08, 17:07
Out of date
I'm not sure what WH Smith is meant to be anymore. It's an old fashioned High Street store that doesn't know if it's meant to be a newsagent, a bookseller, a stationer, a music retailer or something inbetween. Their book selection is limited to the most boring choices possible that you could pick up in any supermarket and I've not been in there since I tired to use their ordering service. Let's just say they didn't order it. But they had no hesitation in taking the money for it...
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of John Menzie (U K)
10 Apr 08, 16:34
I don't think so...
This hasn't been John Menzies for several years now. (Hands up if you can remember those crazy years in the late 80s/early 90s when there were actually two branches of John Menzies in Barnstaple. We were spoilt really weren't we?)
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Lloyds TSB Bank
10 Apr 08, 15:26
Not good enough
Maybe it's just bad luck, but every time I go in here and deal with someone behind the counter it always seems to be the worst day of their life. And the cash machine's always empty. Maybe it's part of their plan. Perhaps they keep it empty so you have to go inside and get frowned at.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of NatWest
10 Apr 08, 14:56
Helpful hint
If you're going away to University open your student account in the city you'll studying in. They'll have a lot more experience with the type of money issues you'll be dealing with. I opened my account here and it turned out to be a mistake. They didn't understand anything about what was going on.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Pizza Hut
10 Apr 08, 14:31
Why are we waiting?
If you like waiting for your food then this is the place for you. If you don't it isn't. Everyone knows that these places try and operate with military precision, so how on earth can it take so long to get your pizza?
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Chichester Arms
10 Apr 08, 11:38
Oh dear.
Not good. Just trying to get a drink here is a bit of an effort sometimes... The bar isn't what you'd call 'well stocked' at the best of times and I stopped going in there after being told one too many times that they didn't have this, that or the other...
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Exeter Inn
10 Apr 08, 10:50
What's happened to this place?
I have lots of fantastic memories of some great nights at this place but in recent years it just seems to have been left to rot... It did get a bit shabby in the end and the last time I was passing it seemed to be boarded up. Let's hope it doesn't stay that way.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Halfords
10 Apr 08, 10:35
What's going on with Halfords?
Why don't they sell the things you need for your car any more? It's full of bicycles and tents! If I wanted a bicycle I'd go to a bike shop! If I wanted a tent I'd go to a tent shop! If I wanted something for my car they wouldn't have it because it's full of bikes and tents! Grr!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.