How one outing left us raging…

… and a customer service masterclass.

Kate Darracott

Jul 31, 2026

trees and plants — Photo by Vanilla Panda on Unsplash

Sorry to interrupt Graham’s recovery story… but something happened yesterday that I just need to tell you about…

Here’s what happened:

Picture the idyllic scene

It was a lovely sunny day, we were in a great mood as we had planned to meet a friend for lunch.

This friend had moved from the UK to the US some years ago, but has always been great at making the time to see Graham whenever he was in the UK, especially since his life changing accident.

We arranged to meet in one of our local pubs.

You see, this is thing Pub landlords, listen up, it’s the guy in the wheelchair who gets to choose the venue.

Everyone else will usually go out of their way to meet them, because they know in the grand scheme of things, they’d rather be the guy travelling further, than the guy in the chair. Make sense?

Anyway, Graham had a physio appointment at 3:30pm, so it made sense to choose a pub near home, so that we could maximise the time we had with our friend… who had flown into London, then taken a train, then a taxi, just so he could give Graham that all important “Keep going mate, you’re doing brilliantly!” encouragement face-to-face, that is so vital to a great recovery.

And breathe…

We are lucky in our village, there are two pubs.

We chose the one slightly further away (a 25 minute walk), The Seahorse, as it has a lovely garden with lots of parasols, to shade us in this heat wave.

It is was the perfect place to have a leisurely lunch on a sunny afternoon.

We set off on our usual route, the back way, on a super-smooth path that goes behind the houses and into the woods.

The birds are singing, the sun is shining.

You get the picture.

We arrive at the pub’s upper carpark, Graham negotiates the gravel, and at last his wheelchair mounts the lovely solid tarmac path leading to the pub garden (which he has rolled down many times before in his wheelchair)…

… and then we spot a new painted yellow line across the point that slopes away…

… they had installed steps!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

We could no longer gain access to the garden.

Our local pub garden!

They had converted what was an accessible place, into an INACCESSIBLE place!

We were apoplectic!

So much so, that we caught the attention of a table full of people on the patio, who readily joined in with our verbal disapproval of the pub’s latest modification.

As we turned around and went back to the carpark to regroup, the punters from table 12 started following us, eager to lend their support.

We stopped in the carpark to gather our thoughts.

So did they.

I could see that Graham was on the verge of a proper meltdown, so I needed to act quickly.

I turned to the ringleader of the braying masses1 and said:

“Look, I’m not going to kick-off. It’s ok, you don’t need to follow us.”

“We both know you’re going to kick-off, and I for one, can’t bloody wait to see what happens next!” interjected my inner-monologue whilst chomping on her popcorn.

The mini crowd dispersed, we gave ourselves a quick ‘there’s nothing we can do about it now’ pep-talk and decided to crack on with lunch as planned, whilst raising our point at the bar.

Luckily as we arrived at the bar, so did our friend who immediately injected some joy into the air and lightened our mood! 👏

I ushered them both off to find a nice indoor table, while I got the first round in.

En route Graham managed to flag down an unfortunate member of staff, and raised his concern over the newly installed steps WITHOUT starting his query with…

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY OH WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS YOU IGNORANT BASTARDS!?!?!?!?!”

He’s so grown-up these days, I thought, whilst swooning slightly.

I too showed my disbelief at the new steps installation to the barmaid, only to be told:

“It’s so people don’t slip on the ice in winter going down the path.”
“PEOPLE DON’T GO IN THE GARDEN DURING THE ICY WINTER!” I tried and failed to contain.
“THAT IS A NON-ARGUMENT!”

Just so you know, dear reader, there is another perfectly good set of steps, down from the carpark to the main entrance that able-bodied people can use, year round, that has been there for years.

Why do we need to be able to choose from TWO sets of steps!?!?!

I then added:

“I know it’s not your fault, sounds like it’s just health and safety gone mad!” to get her back onside.

I really didn’t want to fall out with anyone, particularly if they were going to be serving us lunch.

I ordered our three drinks, grabbed some lunch menus and added some ‘courgette fritters for the table’, as a power move.

YEAH! THAT’S RIGHT! I’M THE KIND OF PERSON WHO ORDERS EXTRAS IN THESE LEAN TIMES, SO ACTUALLY IT’S THE PUB WHO DOESN’T WANT TO FALL OUT WITH ME, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

I think we can all agree, is the subtext of ordering £5.95’s worth of superfluous side dish ‘for the table’.

Health and safety gone mad

That is a phrase we Brits love to use.

This country has gone Health and Safety crazy in the last decade, you can’t even fart in a public space without someone wishing to do an Air Quality Test “for safety reasons”.

England is an old country, with old buildings, so we’re used to establishments not having caught up with the accessible revolution.

Most houses are inaccessible for wheelchairs too, so meeting friends somewhere else has become very important.

I get it, from a business perspective, it’s an annoying expense, and why pay if you don’t have to.

Our other pub didn’t even have a ramp at all, until we bought them one.

And you know what, we were happy to do so, because we know the value of getting inside that pub and being able to enjoy normal evenings with our friends.

Doing anything that feels remotely normal whilst being confined to a wheelchair, is worth its weight in bloody gold.

Sitting around a table, chatting with friends is one of the VERY FEW things that Graham can do where he feels equal to those around him.

This has been a massive part of his rehab, and something we give huge importance to.

So when he rocks up somewhere, that he’d previously been able to enjoy as a disabled person, and suddenly they have closed the doors to him, it’s a giant kick in the teeth.

It’s yet another reminder of something he CAN’T do (yet).

Like…

Walk to the pub.
Drive anywhere.
Eat a meal with normal cutlery.
Dress himself.
Cook anything.
Open a can of drink.
Make himself a cup of tea.
Reset the bloody wifi router.

And now…

Sit at a garden table with his friends in his local pub.

What do I intend to do about it?

The first few people I mentioned this to said:

“Boycott it!”

I don’t want to do that for several reasons, not least of which is that I’m three ‘main meal stamps’ away from a free bottle of Veuve Cliquot, on their loyalty scheme.

No, I do not want to see this pub go out of business, in a sea of bad feeling from the local village.

I want to see this pub survive, and thrive (in these tricky times!) so that we can all enjoy it for the rest of the summer and then into the winter!

But I do want a sodding ramp installed out the back.

Off on a tangent’ish

Before I was a wife/carer, I was happily retired, and then before that I owned and ran a successful e-commerce business.

In that business I implemented a training scheme, so the staff could work towards pay rises… by ticking off specific skills, and training each other up.

I believe this project, was possibly the best thing I’ve ever done in business, it was awesome.

One of my favourite items that the staff had to do, to get fully qualified on the Customer Service section, was:

Convert an angry customer into a super fan.

“Bloody hell!” you cry, “That sounds impossible!”

Not as impossible as you’d think, it turns out.

It’s easier to change an opinion, than it is to form one.

My staff were allowed to issue refunds with their profuse apologies, give discount codes for future purchases, and pop a little extra something into a next day delivery aimed at winning over any upset customers.

By making a huge effort to over-deliver it often caught the once angry customer off guard, to the point where they found themselves leaving you a gushing 5-star Trustpilot review and telling all their friends.

That is worth a bit of extra expense.

Real word of mouth is the best kind of marketing. You simply can’t buy it.

Where am I going with this?

So what I’d like, is to give the Seahorse Pub an opportunity to not only put it right (by building another path on the ample grass available), but also to turn us all into superfans to the extent that we are telling the story to our friends in the surrounding villages, who are then flocking to admire their amazing customer service and courgette fritters.

I will do the heavy lifting by submitting a detailed letter expressing our disappointment and frustration at the sudden lack of garden access, and if you could also drop them a quick note expressing your sadness that:

“Our friends are struggling enough getting to grips with being in a wheelchair after an accident, and now this…”

It might embarrass them into putting it right.

Keep it friendly and nice, I’d much prefer they used the phrase:

“What were we thinking?”

than

“How do we get rid of these angry feckers?”

Here is a link to their website contact form, so you can add your voice, we’d really appreciate it.

You don’t even have to live nearby, the form only needs a name and email address. 😉

Thanks so much in advance for all your help, surely they can’t ignore it if lots of people speak up. 🤞

Until next time!

K8x

PS: Thank you so much for reading this, if you’d like to help please ❤️ or restack 🔄 in the Substack App, this will increase its visibility and hopefully raise a posse! (Imaginary pitchforks optional.)