Thank you for your review, Delia! We're delighted to hear that you were happy with the pre-show dinner service, and the value for money. Regarding the show itself: We're so pleased to hear you enjoyed it, and we agree CJ deserved an even larger audience! Sound quality is usually very good, but can vary from show to show. Usually, touring productions/bands do bring along their own sound equipment and engineers, and they always spend a good while setting up, and sound-checking. We did notice that the balance was a little out, to begin with, but this was soon rectified. Regarding audience behaviour: This seems to be a growing issue among theatres across the country - not just here in Felixstowe. We have seen a dramatic increase in theatregoers arriving already intoxicated/rowdy - or becoming more so, as the show goes on. It’s something that our staff are receiving ongoing training for. This isn’t a position we envisioned our small theatre would ever find itself in; however, we are doing our best to ensure our staff have the training to deal with the issues that arise. We also have extra security staff present, for shows with larger audiences. Lastly: We are very surprised that other theatres you've been to do not allow drinks into the auditorium! Usually, it is the case that drinks are allowed, as long as they're in a plastic cup. Certainly, other Suffolk theatres do allow drinks, and West End theatres do too (Or at least, all the London theatres that our staff frequent!)

Thank you ever so much for your kind review! We look forward to welcoming you back soon :)

Thank you ever so much for your kind review! We look forward to welcoming you back soon :)

We are sorry to hear that you were dissatisfied with your dining experience. Our carpet was given a deep-clean during lockdown, and is vacuumed daily. Our cleaning staff routinely crouch right down, to hoover properly around the base of tables, and no bad smell has ever been detected. As per standard practice, our wait staff did check on your table, to ensure you were happy with your food. Neither mains or starters were complained about, and it is always our hope that any problems will be flagged at the time of your visit, so that we can rectify them. The yellow colourant (turmeric) is always added to our batter - It enhances the colour and taste. Many restaurants do this, and we've never before had someone say that they disliked it. Regarding the walkie talkie incident: We can only apologise if you heard something which was only intended to be heard by staff. Our GM, whose walkie talkie you heard, did go around and apologise to all tables in the near vicinity. Fortunately, no other customers had heard anything - They said they did not know what our GM was talking about! We quite understand why you were upset, and made the offer of complimentary drinks, by way of an apology - which was declined. Once again, we're very sorry that your experience fell short of expectations, and your comments have been shared with all restaurant staff.

Delighted to hear you enjoyed the show - Thank you, Paul! We always ask that customers only take plastic cups into the auditorium – There should never be anyone dancing with glasses in hand. On Saturday night, a few customers had their drinks served in large *plastic* wine glasses. Possibly these are what you saw? (easily mistaken for glass, from a distance). The majority of our shows run very smoothly, and are enjoyed by all audience members. However: Shows of a certain nature do attract a more exuberant crowd, and we do our best to manage this. From the moment the show went on sale, we had this disclaimer on our website: "Please be aware that many live acts will encourage the audience to participate with singing, dancing and standing, which may lead to a restriction of view for those who wish or need to remain seated. If you have such a need, please speak to the box office when booking".

This table booking was made for 5PM, from the very beginning - as per the handwritten pre-order sheet given to us by the group organiser. This was the email response sent by our Restaurant Manager, and we refute the allegation that she was in any way rude. (In fact, the group organiser expressed gratitude to us, in her reply!) “Unfortunately, as this booking has been in the diary for a long time, we have structured the rest of the evening's service around your table, turning away all other customers wanting 5pm and pushing them back to later times in order to ensure prompt and dedicated service to your table. We only run a small two-chef kitchen cooking dishes to order, so we need to be very careful with staggering our bookings etc which is why large tables are always in earlier time slots. Although it may seem like the changing of times last minute shouldn't be an issue: With a full restaurant all needing to be served and cleared by 7pm, last minute changes aren't always viable, but we will always try our best to make things work. With this in mind, I have looked at all our other bookings and spoken to our kitchen team and the absolute best we can do is food being served prompt at 5.30pm but it simply will not be possible to accommodate the change to 6pm at this late stage. Please let me know how you wish to proceed?”

On the day of your visit (Easter Holidays): Both our upstairs Lounge, and downstairs Terrace, were particularly busy. We only run a small two-chef kitchen, cooking dishes to order, but the wait time would never normally be as long as you report. We sincerely apologise. We've checked with our chefs, because complaints of this nature are extremely unusual. There was a mistake made with the order – meaning that the pizza baguette was made incorrectly (wrong topping, we believe). We would never want to send out food that isn't up to our usual standards. Therefore, it was re-made - hence the delay. We're sincerely sorry if this wasn't communicated to you. There's a possibility that regular pizzas may come back on the menu, but for the time being, pizza baguettes are proving a popular alternative.

The toilets you refer to, on the ground floor, are owned by the Council, and are not maintained by us. At the time of writing this reply, they have actually been closed down, due to plumbing issues, and the Council have provided temporary portaloos in our car-park. The toilets here in our building (upstairs) are always kept clean. Regarding your experience in the Restaurant: We see you attended on 12th March, which was a Sunday. There was no show this day, so we assume you came in for Sunday lunch? We do always recommend pre-booking, as Sundays can get extremely busy. However: Our wait times are never usually very long, even on days where we are fully booked - so we are astonished to hear that the service could possibly have taken as long as 1h20? We only run a small two-chef kitchen, cooking dishes to order, but we sincerely apologise if your delay was as long as you say.

Response which was emailed at the time (Feb 2023): “I am absolutely horrified to learn about your experience at our theatre, I read your email in complete disbelief that one of my staff members would treat a customer in this manner. Although I appreciate that this has already happened and I can’t rectify it now, I wanted to reach out and personally apologise to you on behalf of the member of staff involved. I’ve had words with our head usher, explaining to her in no uncertain terms that nothing like this is to happen again and should never have happened in the first place! She was absolutely mortified about the situation and will be having a meeting with her team to ensure this is a one off. I sincerely hope that you give the Spa another chance and allow us to provide you with our usual level of service which you certainly did not receive first time around! We have some incredible shows coming up and it would be a shame to miss out on them after this bad experience.”

Compensation was arranged, and this was the initial email reply we sent, the same day that we were contacted: "We do take all feedback very seriously, and are sorry to hear that you were disappointed with 'The Little Mermaid – The Adult Panto'. This was a touring production, and your complaint has been referred to the production company. We vet our shows very carefully, and do the best we can to ensure high quality. Sunday's show already played at 7 other venues, before ours, to great acclaim. This particular production company have been to us many times before, without any similar issues."