Gary Usher leaps to defence of young staff member after ‘vile’ guests visit his pub

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Gary Usher's The White Horse made the Top 100 Gastropubs list. Credit: The Manc Group

Gary Usher's The White Horse made the Top 100 Gastropubs list. Credit: The Manc Group

Gary Usher has taken to social media to publicly defend a staff member at his Cheshire pub after a customer targeted her with a negative review.

The celebrated chef, who is behind the Elite Bistros group that has restaurants across the north west, said that he would happily be blocking the customers in question from booking in again.

Gary took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to show his support of 21-year-old waiter Jemma, who he said is ‘an absolute credit’ to The White Horse in Churton.

His post was prompted by a one-star review of the pub that was left online, which described Jemma as having a ‘horrible attitude’ and that the service charge added to the bill was ‘incredibly rude, conniving and deceitful’.

The negative review also said the portion sizes and the ‘thimble full of gravy’ served at Sunday lunch were ‘ostentatious’.

But Gary Usher himself has now waded in and said that he will ban anyone from his pub who is ‘upsetting any of the team here or in any Elite Bistros’.

He added that the guests had been ‘absolutely vile’ to Jemma during their visit.

Food at The White Horse at Churton, a Cheshire pub opened by Gary Usher. Credit: The Manc Group

As well as encouraging social media users to compliment Jemma – ‘an absolute credit to The White Horse, to her parents and to the hospitality industry’ – he then made sure to offer her tickets to the pub’s next guest chef night.

Gary wrote: “Gary here. Non Polite notice to anyone upsetting any of the team here or in any @Elite_Bistros. I will block your number & details on our system from being able to book again & trust me I do it regularly.

“It’s music to my ears when arseholes end a review saying they won’t be returning but I like to call them to confirm.

“Now let’s quickly compliment Jemma because at 21 years old she’s an absolute credit to The White Horse, to her parents & to the hospitality industry. Jemma I’m sorry these people upset you yesterday & on their behalf instead of working the next guest chef night you can have two tickets to come & enjoy it instead. Much love from us all here at The White Horse X.”

He then added: “Just for more context. My reaction is nothing to do with the ‘review’. The ‘guests’ were absolutely vile to Jemma yesterday.”

One person has replied: “As someone who was looked after by Jemma in the pub I can say that this is bollocks. Jemma was wonderful, polite, professional, enthusiastic. She was and is everything good about hospitality and a massive credit to you all at Elite Bistros, especially in The White Horse.”

Another wrote: “Jemma has served us the last couple of times we’ve visited and has been absolutely brilliant. I hope she doesn’t take to heart what this post says because it is so far wide of the mark.”

And another said: “Makes my blood boil when people think it’s OK to be rude & abusive to FoH staff & to treat them like personal skivvies rather than fellow humans. Once again Gary @GaryUsher_ your leadership & support of your staff are inspirational. Hope Jemma has a great time at guest chef night.”

The original reviewer had written: “After trying The White Horse Churton once again for Sunday lunch, it ended up being just as miserable. A lot of hype about how well it performed as a Gastro Pub etc but once again the reception from staff was poor.

“Jemma was our server and she coincidentally served us on our first visit an equally horrible attitude and my specific issue is trying to add a service charge on to the bill without showing a receipt. Incredibly rude, conniving and deceitful.

“I thankfully asked for clarity and a copy of the receipt only to be shown the same receipt before the voucher was deduced but after much discussion and attempted confusion she reluctantly went to the bar the 3rd time to remove the service charge.

“I do not feel bad removing this whatsoever as the service did not warrant an extra charge, the food was nice but the portion size and additional charge for gravy when you get a thimble full on your meal initially is ostentatious. As previously mentioned by others, we will not be returning and we will not be recommending. What a shame.”

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Featured image: The Manc Group