by Hayley Robinson

We're working hard to rectify our mistakes, that’s the message from Paul Noble, the manager of The Coniston Hotel.

The London Road venue had come under fire from Christmas party goers on Facebook.

Postings mentioned up to an hour’s wait for food between each of the three courses, a 40-minute wait to be served at the bar, a lack of staff, poor food, not enough drinks dispensers and over-priced beer and wine.

People who had expected to dine with other groups in the large function room also commented on how they were put in a private dining area to eat before going through to the party room for the disco later in the evening.

Mr Noble admitted there had been problem issues and said: “Since [the new year] we’ve had more beer pumps and coke dispensers installed at both bars.

"We’ve employed a service operations manager, a front office manager and a guest relations manager plus we plan to open both bars whenever we hold a function.

“We ended up having 2,600 people in for Christmas not bad when you think we opened only a few weeks earlier.

“I think you always experience a few hiccups along the way and I believe any new business has initial teething problems.”

Plans to make sure the problems aren’t repeated this party season are already under discussion.

He said: “We plan to have two function rooms running for this year’s Christmas parties.

The private dining area will be turned into a dance floor and the DJ will be in there and the restaurant area will be filled with tables and chairs for people to sit and eat.

The main function room will also have a disco plus tables and chairs for people to sit and eat at.

“Our New Year’s Eve party was a sell out but the restaurant wasn’t used so this year we plan to provide a gala dinner in the main room for adults but the restaurant area will be for families with a disco and a buffet.”