Yourmealticket.co.uk News

Stonegate Pub Co list 7 of their venues with dozens of offers

Stonegate Pub Co may not be a name that is as recognizeable as some of the other large "Nationals" - but their many and varied outlets are amongst some of the best known High Street names...such as

Slug & Lettuce ? & Yates Wines Lodge ? Poole & Bournemouth

As well as those we now also have listings for some of their other outlets
The Horns --- Ferndown

and From Bournemouith Centre

Inferno                   ---   Old Christchurch Rd
The Litten Tree    --- Old Christchurch Rd
Bar(Me)                 ---    Old Christchurch Rd

With a plethora of offers from every venue theres something in there for everyone !

See if you can put a name to a picture ?

( Click on the picture to see which venue it is ?) If you get all four correct CLICK HERE IMMEDIATELY

Interested in some Part Time work from home with YMT?

We need someone to help keep venue entries up to date.

By calling the owners of venues featured on our websites, updating their entries with new offers, events and menus you could earn about £10 per hour. It depends how many updates you make in an hour.

Working around a few hours each day - ideally 10am - 4pm but missing most of lunchtime.

Updating the entries is really simple but naturally we would show you exactly what to do.

You need to

Be good on the phone - confident and communicative
Have acces to a computer and be reasonably capable - it is really simple though
Be reasonably organised. Keep track of what you have done and plan to do next

You are not selling anything. You are offereing a service to our subscribers. Simply helping restaurateurs, hoteliers, publicans - busy people - keep their profiles on YMT bang up to date.

Interested - then drop me an email. or call the 0800 number We are Bournemouth based but you may be further afield.

And the Winners are ..

Keith & Ruth Gould from Kinson are our winners

Two FREE tickets to see the Michael Buble tribute night at the Cumberland Hotel, plus enoying a 3 course dinner compliments of the hotel are on the way now.

The £69 prize was awarded to the local couple who to be sure they had the correct answer, they actually went to the hotel to check the sunbeds in question ! and the answer was: Grey and grey with red covers

Well done Keith & Ruth - have a great evening.

New Places to use your YMT Discount Card

Some new shops and businesses just listed that will offer YMT discount card holders offers and incentives ......

Do mention it to your favourite shopkeepers - the list is growing daily

Crow Farm Shop Ringwood

SEVEN Different Indian Take aways

SIX Thai & Chinese Take aways

Dubai Sharwarma Charminster

Youngs Butchers Ashley Rd

Enas Florist Westbourne

Whitemores Butchers Southbourne and also Branksome

Parkwood Florist 3 Shops - Ashley Rd Parkstone, Boscombe and Bournemouth centre !

Chocol8 Westbourne

Peter Treble Butchers Westbourne

Boscombe Fish Market Boscombe

Fruits of the Forest Westbourne

Badger& Bumble Deli Westbourne

Simonis Florists Boscombe

Pizza Go Go Boscombe

Earth Foods Southbourne

Top Taste Holdenhurst rd

Cafe Romeo Boscombe

Harveys Ashley rd Parkstone

Many more will be added over the coming weeks for you to use your new FREE discount card

By all means mention it to any shops or businesses you think may be interested in a FREE LISTING

Another one bites the dust

Facscino Italiano, and Brambles fold

Fascino Italiano, recently opened with a flourish has quietly closed it's doors. The "just off the centre" location may not have helped the seemingly stylish venue, and the current market conditions most certainly did not help.

Bramblesin Broadstone has also closed it's doors, possibly the victim of the Groupon fever that has hurt many unwary restaurants.

As if the the economy wasn't bad enough, the the excellent Fox & Hounds at Winbourne are fighting the toughest of enemies - the Road Works brigade

With roads all around them closed there is now only one access route - a lengthy closure which could quite easily destroy a business that did not have the backing of a major brewery as does the Fox.

Persevere - it's worth the effort !

Trip Advisor ? - Free advice is worth the price

Many restaurants in our area are very unhappy with "that" website, Trip Advisor, so recently the subject of an unflattering investigative TV program.

Some restaurants / hotels etc are simply taking the micky!

Check out the "Top Ten" restaurants in Bournemouth - seriously - now stop laughing - that's the result of "Customer" reviews. Or is it ?

"Free Advice is worth the price"

(I'd like to say I said that but it was author Robert Half)

Whilst I am sure there are many genuine reviews and some of those featured do deserve their place, some restaurants are clearly using the website to grossly inflate their own standing - mentioning no names - but even worse some are using it to malign their competitors. One owner of a hotel was recently heard boasting about using the website to false advantage to another restaurateur, suggesting he join in.

Some dead giveaways for self aggrandizement are:-

Lots of reviews suddenly appearing in a short time, often "one offs"
Lots of reviewers only ever posting one review
Similar phrasing or content used in the reviews
"Visitor Pictures" just happen to be professional standard - a very hard form of photography - "here's one I made earlier"

and of course

A relatively unknown, obscure and often emtpy venue which suddenly has lots of wonderful reviews ! - It's wonderful what can be achieved - with a little help from your friends

Take a good look at the top ten, one of those near the top has 8 of its 10 reviews by "Christian Name followed by an initial" - then take a look at others - virtually none use that name format !

Another has two individual reviews using several identical phrases - once you start looking, it's quite fun, - they are a little obvious in many cases.

We are it seems, a nation of moaners quick to complain and slow to compliment - let's balance that and pass on genuine and positive feedback where earned

One classically unfair comment made about a really excellent town centre Italian restaurant ( I've eaten there 4 times) starts by the reviewer saying they had had two great meals there before . (However on that occasion they didn't post any notices ?) the "reviewer then gets very picky because they weren't offered a pud! - The owner offers them freebies but they still moan !

When you see something that is grossly inaccurate you have to choices - ignore it or try to correct it. I'll leave that with you !

You are always welcome to send us feedback and we make sure it reaches the owners directly.

One great sport with Trip Advisor though is Typos- Try counting how many "restuarants" or "restaraunts" you find. Really, so many simple spelling misteaks !!

Freedom to express views is an inherent part of democracy - however

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter

Winston Churchill

That is how many times he had to stand before being elected !

Sea Front Hotel for Sale ?

The Royal Bath, one of Bournemouth's best known hostelries, is up for sale.

The De Vere Group, owned by Lloyds bank is selling three of its best known hotels, the other two being the iconic Southampton De Vere and the University Arms Cambridge.

The Royal Bath, originally built in Victorian times as Bournemouth became a fashionable coastal resort, has 140 rooms and has had many a famous guest. Indeed, the restaurant "Oscars" is named after the notorious and scandalous Oscar Wilde, well that was how the Victorians regarded him !

The De Vere Gp are intending to use the money to increase their portfolio of 21 Village hotels. Currently they have another 18 in the pipeline and at £19 million per hotel, I guess Lloyds Bank weren't offering a big enough overdraft!

In 1835 Sir George William Tapps-Gervis inherited his father's estate and started developing the Bournmouth village into a resort similar to those that had already grown up along the south coast such as Weymouth and Brighton. Sir George employed Christchurch architect Benjamin Ferrey to plan the Gervis Estate. The Westover Villas were commenced in 1837. Ferrey included hotels in his design for Bournemouth. The first two hotels opened in 1838. One was the Bath Hotel, which went on to become the Royal Bath.

Vegetarian Food - Your Missing a Treat

There's a preconceived idea that vegetarian food is all about nut cutlets and lentil soup ! Mistake, big mistake.

Bournemouth has two really excellent vegetarian cafes - at opposite ends of town - Zoukinis in Westbourne and The Salad Centre Vegetarian Cafe in Boscombe. Their regular customers would soon educate the uneducated as far as food minus meat is concerned. Vegetarian food can be every bit as diverse and delicious as any meat based dishes.

Wild mushrooms from the New Forest are a fabulous dish in their own right – why spoil them by adding fillet steak!

Treat your tummy to a change – and you probably will get some in your wallet, after all veggie food is generally considerably cheaper.

Go on be adventurous!

Look who's just joined!

Peppinos is back, with new owners and a great 30% off deal

One of the best know of Charminsters many restaurants is back on YMT

And - remember, if your favourite venue is not on the website - a few words from you as a customer go a long way - and you could receive up to £100

FJ B joins YMT

FJB Group, operators of probably the best known hotels on our strip of coastline have just signed three of their group up to YMT.

Wecome to the Chine in Boscombe, the Sandbanks and Harbour Heights in Sandbanks.

FJB Hotels is a family owned business founded by Frederick John (FJ to friends and family) Butterworth.

The company's origins are not in hotels, but in theatre, running at one time a chain of eighteen variety theatres throughout England making it the largest, privately owned, theatre company in the country. Tribute to the age of music hall is fittingly paid at The Chine hotel, often used by visiting artists playing at the Royal Ballrooms (now the Opera House) with a magnificent display of photographs of stars of the day.

In the 1950s, FJ recognised the decline in popularity of live theatre and moved his interests, almost exclusively, to hotels. The Company has retained the beautiful Richmond Theatre in Surrey, currently leased to the Ambassadors Theatre Group, for 'old time's sake'.

Over the next thirty years, many hotels were bought and sold, primarily in the Bournemouth area and latterly on the Sandbanks peninsula. There was also one hotel, The Grosvenor, across the water in Swanage, sold in 1985 but which has always held a special place in the heart of the present Managing Director, John Butterworth, son of the late founder.

As well as the four superb hotels, the group also own Boscombe's Royal Arcade and Opera House aka the 02 academy. Plus there's a The Villa de Marvol a Napoleonic Villa in the Dordogne, A language school, a wartersports academy and just to round things off nicely - Haven Star a 40 ft Catamarran !

YMT arrives in Devon

With 30 venues already listed YMT has opened a Devon website, bolting on to the "Wessex" - Next stop Somerset. We will be launching a new filter early Jan which will allow you to search initially by County, then drill to an area - So Dorset will be broken into

Bournemouth Poole & Christchurch
North Dorset
Dorchester and South Dorset
Weymouth and Portland

A remarkable young man

Inspirational, remarkable, awesome are some of the adjectives which have been applied to 32 yr old Bruce Allardyce. He is dying. There is nothing anyone can do about it. His time is now considered in weeks or months. He has just married his long term and very lovely girl friend, Jay.

He is my childrens' cousin, and I hope that I can in some small way pass on a little of the immense admiration I have for an exceptional young man who has been condemned to an unfairly early exit in life by the random brutality of "Fate"

Take 60 seconds and read his BLOG. It may just add a little pespective to your life, it has to mine.

Bruces Father was murdered in the early 1990s and I remember taking him aside after the funeral to talk to him. Bruce, even then, showed a remarkable stoicism which is now amazingly evident in his blog.

Next time anyone feels sorry for themselves, angry at their lot, pxxxed off with their boss, job, bank manager, etc well read this.

Aplogies for not adding a "foodie item" - but sometimes the way people behave in life demands a special place

YMT Franchises. -Earn £50K+ OTE

We are looking for high calibre, self motivated people to extend YMT across the South.. The right candidate will receive 100% subsidy and could earn well in excess of £50K.

Like most things in life you get out as much as you put in. If you are prepared to work an area, develop the contacts and talk to the venue operators then you can do very well indeed in a self employed and a very sociable environment.

We will help but it is your business.

Ideally we would like candidates based around Portsmouth, Chichester, Worthing and Brighton. However other areas adjacent to the current site are also open. If you are a good communicator, like meeting gregarious people - perhaps even involved in the licensed trade, there could be a terrific opportunity for you.

We will set up the website and the area - if you will take the time to talk to the venues in the area.

FACT : Well over 90% of the operators who have taken 15 minutes to look at the YMT presentaion have subscribed.

OTE £50K+

Interested then call on the 0800 number or email admin@yourmealticket.co.uk

14 Old English Inns Join MT

Greene King's premier division of destination venues, Old English Inns have just added no less than 14 new venues to our websites !

Spread across Dorset and Hampshire the GK Inns will add an even greater variety of choice and information on YMT ! - and their meals are great value too!

Take a look at

Cart and Horses KIngs Worthy Winchester
Fishermans Rest Titchfield
Fox and Hounds Wimbourne
Luzborough House Romsey
Queen's Head Burley
Rising Sun Warsash
Royal Oak Langstone Havant
St Leonards Ringwood
The Antelope Poole
The Bear Havant
The Commodore Bournemouth - Southbourne
The King's Head Wimbourne
The Manor Yeovil (Live from mid November)
The Red Lion Fareham

A New Operator takes a slice of the East Cliff

Quantum Hotel Group have quietly, efficiently and very stylishly taken control over three of the East Cliff's Hotels;

The Bay View,
Ocean View and the
Cottonwood.

Transforming them into three very different venues that have recently opened the completely refurbished Cottonwood as the Cottonwood Boutique Hotel– it's very appropriately described the last word in chic, contemporary decadence.

The Bay View Breeze is also given a new lease of life as a budget option with rooms from £40

The Ocean View was also re-designed & refurbished with weddings, family holidays & events specifically in mind. With outside swimming pool & elegant gardens, this 53 bedroom hotel has had a long overdue shot in the arm

Win £100

Tell your Favourite "Eatery" about "YourMealTicket" and win up to £100 *

We mean it! Seriously! Your input as a customer to the restaurant, pub or hotel is ten times more effective than a "sales call".

Behind the scenes YMT has some unique reporting facilities and
instant accessibility that only the subscribing venues can see and use. Over 9 out of 10 elect to join YMT when they have seen "behind the scenes". So you just have to make the introduction - we do the rest.

Here's what you do

Tell the venue management about the website - do make sure though that it is someone who is responsible for the venue

Tell us who you told. Call 0800 988 5355 or email sales@yourmealticket.co.uk. And you could very swiftly receive a cheque for up to £100* to spend however you choose. Prizes are allocated as follows:

Only 1 prize awarded per venue
Not valid for venues already listed
Payable on receipt of payment from the venue
For Full Annual Subscription paid £100
For Full Seasonal Subscription paid £ 60
For Full Subscription paid by Monthly DD £ 40
For Seasonal Subscription paid by monthly DD £ 30

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