12 days in march 2014 :

Bolton 4 Rovers 0

Rovers 1 Burnley 2

Rovers 0 B/Mouth 1

ooops!

Restaurants taking staff tips, disgusting in my opinion:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11816186/Cote-Restaurant-takes-all-its-service-staffs-tips.html

I know of a well established Chinese restaurant in the Darwen/Bolton area that takes the tips, the staff never see a penny.

Think I know who you mean !

Tips at ours get shared with whoever is working on the night.

Tips are different to a service charge though as in the article, personally I would not go to a restaurant if I knew beforehand that it imposed a service charge.

Great tasting authentic Italian food is so simple to make, but to do it well you need good quality ingredients, time and patients, a good badic tomatos sauce for example should be simmered very gently for hours withvthe ocasional stir(not just chucking a couple of tins of tomatoes into a pan boiling it up for 20 mnutes and serving it)

And fresh pizzas are a doddle and pretty quick to make once you know how to make the base(which is pretty simple) again its down to good quality simple ingridients for a great tasting topping though.

Patients eh

are you experimenting ?

San Carlos in Manchester is an absolutely superb Italian restaurant, been many times and never had a bad meal, it does exactly what it says on the tin.

We went to Akbars in Birmingham last night which was superb, thanks Imy

They have a branch in Manchester and the originals in Bradford, superb food, packed to the rafters and full of Asian diners which speaks volumes.

They're well know for the size of their nans, they come on a metal spike and in some cases are the size of the table.

2 poppadoms, 2 starters and 2 mains, glass of win and a cobra £34, bargain.

The Royal on Stratford Road started that concept, food was always good as well.

Could be worth a try if it is still there, a group of us used to make regular trips to Brum watching the Rovers and meeting up with one of the gang who was Brum uni,

There used to be a ban on Rovers supporters in one of the student union bars after one lively weekend

I dislike going out for Italian food tbh. I find it overrated and overpriced but I can make an exception for antipasto on a hot day with a glass of fine wine.

The antipasto at Checcos is very good

Went to Checco's in May for my birthday, was very good I felt!

I like Checcos too, best tomato and garlic focaccia ever, could eat them all night.

They now do chicken cacciatore spicy (with chillie) if you ask, loved it last time I had it.

Even if Jordan does get his usual 20-25 goals we're still relying on a lot of players who do not have good goalscoring records chipping in fairly regularly under a "system" which has only ever seen the strikers score with any remote form of consistently.

Who else was scoring our goals before Gestede arrived? We must have had a couple of others contributing. Was it Cairney? Conway? Marshall? I can't remember. All I know is the players we have in the first eleven at present, Rhodes aside, have not historically put the ball in the net regularly... and that should be a huge concern even if we do keep Rhodes.

GB gives it a right good go and does ever so well given the circumstances. You're so negative yoda. Real fans can see what he's trying to do here, y'know.

Now where have I heard that before ?

I don't dispute he's a good player but he's nowhere near one of the best players in the league. He's a solid Championship wide-man and can provide well for goal machines like Rhodes or Gestede, but he's no more than that for me. He's not a game-changer, if he was he'd either be gone by now or would at the very least have had some clubs chasing him.

Are you really talking about GB there ?

In my opinion there is as much of a chance of us getting promotion as there is relegation. We are destined for mid table. We have enough quality in the team to be 8th-12th this season with Bowyer.

Said many times before, when we got relegated from the 1st Division, second division 1st time, PL,

That kind of narrative gets in the players mind, net result disaster

Relegation thread after 1 league game and a predictable early cup exit?

Surely give it 5 league games before the gallows are out? As I've said, a group of 4/5 losses in a row will indicate to me that the manager has lost the dressing room and that would be time for me to discuss relegation as a possibility. That's LL so far.

If this has come around from selling players from the last two seasons of finishing top ten, maybe we should let their replacements get a few games in the league before we write them completely off eh lads.

It's not time for me to discuss this further. If Hudds spank us on Saturday I might open the thread again. Adios

The thread is now open whether you like it or not, quite rightly too

Disgusting!

The question or the plaice ?

see what I did there

I was in Cornwall last week too Abs. Had fish an chips at a pub on the Lizard. It was expensive but the best fish I have ever had in my life. The batter was as light as a feather and the freshly caught haddock just melted in the mouth. It spoiled me for Lancashire fish and chips for ever.

Have you tried Curleys at Horwich

That's true!

The FB is average pub food served in a fancy setting left over from the Red Cat days. The time we went there was nothing wrong but there was no reason to go back again. Same as a thousand pubs.

The Royal Oak has always struck me as being a cut above. Pub food but that little bit better. Good beer as well

The Spinners at Cowling must be near you, how does that rate ?

I've never done it myself like, if I had an issue I'd sort it there and then (or do my best to), before badmouthing on the Internet like a coward first!

Good to hear it K-Hod,

My kind of customer

Really poor do that CLB.

Anyhow, Restaurants tend to live and die by what is on Trip Advisor these days, if reminded of that they are often found to be more accommodating!

Ah yes, the TA blackmailers

Should be 5 Yoda surely? especially with all the resources at their disposal.

Then again the place is so hit and miss I guess its no suprise they've taken their eye off the ball on this.

You would think so, high staff turn over could be the underlying reason, or the area manager not making sure the FSA manual is being adhered to

I see the Clogg only got 3 stars in the latest food hygiene inspection which is poor really, no excuses for that.

FSA ratings

5 = Very good

4 = Good

3 = Generally satisfactory

2 = Improvement necessary

1 = Major improvement necessary

0 = Urgent improvement necessary

Might only be temporary, they will most likely appeal the decision

Heard on the radio there's been anti fracking protests in Preston. So I was thinking where do actual local people sit on fracking in Lancashire? Much of a concern?

Don't know much about it myself but seems to me as there's no industry as such or money coming into this area if it brings in investment and jobs then nothing there's not much else going on. If it was we were sat happily on diamond/gold mines and oil fields there'd be no need to bother fracking but where there's nothing surely beggars can't be choosers.

From what I've gleaned from the news clips the companies seem to say after teething problems there's limited to no environmental impact whereas the protesters cracking on like it'll be Armageddon. It also seems swampy and his protesting mates aren't from the area and just tour up and down protesting.

So either the protesters are right (not too sure about that) and it's a problem or they are just this generations Luddites and hippies with too much time on their hands who are likely to be protesting anything and everything from fracking, hs2, hs3, runways, etc.

Think you nailed it there,

Talking of runways, personally I think Boris island should be the solution

No. I think you missed a word out when reading. I said "it certainly NOT the case" though I agree there should be an "is" in there.

I know you did.

I'm not a mod and have nothing to do with the running of the board. As for going off topic I'm simply responding to Al's categorising all cyclists in the same bracket which is clearly inaccurate. I've pointed out the same is true of car drivers, especially those who often drive certain makes, explaining this doesn't lead me to the opinion all drivers are idiots.

In my experience it is the drivers of Audi's that are the worse, closely followed by Volvo drivers. The worst cyclists are the ones that wear the t shirts with patronising messages on them about being visible.

Yes I'm sure its a bloody nightmare paperwork wise, but clearly the inspectors found a bit more than that:

In the latest food hygiene report complied by Ribble Valley Borough Council, the inspector said: “Various foods, including chips and Jersey new potatoes, were being stored/cooled outside on the steps and back wall, in close proximity to the refuse store.

Yep, that probably cost him 2 levels, so that would take him down to 3, you have to look at the full report to know the reasons why it went so low.

A restaurant near us got a Zero recently (1st time they have done that in our area), arguing with an Environmental Health officer does not go down well !

Not sure why the EHO did not close them at the time.

The said restaurant has now closed though (sign says on holiday for a month)

Only just seen this, busy or not its got to be clean, they don't give cr@p ratings for nothing......

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/13133698.Boss_hits_out_after_inspectors_restore_popular_restaurant___s_rating_from_second_lowest_possible_score/?ref=ar

You can lose ratings for things like not keeping fridge charts up to date, not recording accidents etc, the ratings cover a lot more than just cleanliness these days and encompass the whole business operation.

A good mantra that has helped us maintain standards is, say what you do, do what you say, prove it.

The current "safer food better business" manuals that are issued by the FSA have 10 chapters in them with documentation that needs regular updates, it is a bit like the BS/ISO quality assurance manuals used in industry to prove that you have control of the business.

Generally speaking chefs don't like paper work and can fall foul of keeping up with it. The responsibility though is with the owners, when the chef owns the business it can get neglected. Not many chef/owners can run a food business successfully these days as the paper work can be very time consuming.

Nope it's simply that drivers using these types of vehicles often stand out as idiotic drivers. It certainly not the case, as I've already stated, all drivers of these marques are idiots.

Have you missed a word out in that bit.

I can only presume by the visitors to this thread, shootings in America not withstanding, it's been a relatively slow news for the last 48 hours

Like buses really

Well I visited the thread because I gave a bit of input into some routes in the area, which on a good day are up there with the best in the world for scenery, seems like other posts have confirmed that as well.

being a mod you should know better than to take it off topic

In my own experience the worst drivers do seem to be clueless young kids driving small cars, and goons with their rented supercars driving like maniacs around built up areas.....

Well you have to get the deliveries out on time!

Cricket thread Yoda. Can't you give the chaddybashing a rest on here at least? Next thing the rest of the posse will turn up and this thread will turn into another chaddy witchhunt.

Get a grip Gordon, pot calling the kettle,

Don't accuse me of chaddy bashing or witch hunting chaddy I was just stating the bleeding obvious, if you don't like it you know what to do.

Double standards with your history on here anyway.