Christmas Party?

It's that time of year - the time dreaded by PAs, the world over: Where to book this year's Christmas dinner.

Every workplace has a different mix of people and requirements, and that's even before the debate on "How much of the budget can we avoid spending on food and get leathered instead"

If you recognise this annual nightmare - we feel for you.

If you're surrounded by the sort of people that will appreciate the Haycock & Tailbar Experience - get in touch soon as many enquiries are already becoming bookings.

And the good news: Book a two course Christmas meal before the 15th of November and it's sticky figgy pudding all 'round as a thank you. Some terms apply, but they're not sneaky, and we will explain them at the bottom of this page.

What is the Haycock Christmas meal? It's our regular menu. It took a lot of work to get it this good - and we don't need to create a lesser offering just to cope with the madness experienced in larger, more commercial outfits.

If you want to book the whole venue, ask questions, or just say 'hi' click here





*terms: offer available to all deposit paying December bookings made before the 15th of November. Applicable booking days only exclude New Year's Eve.

John Bishop at the Royal and Derngate Northampton

It's gonna' be a good'un - so why not book up or call in. You can go pre or after show - and select either steaks and cocktails, or just cocktails, in our friendly little place just over the road.

Even if John doesn't call in this time, you can use the time to tell us some of his best gags..

Date Night Wednesdays!

Every couple deserve a special date night - especially those with jobs, or kids, or parents, or cars, or smart phones, or pets, or those who have perhaps just forgotten how nice a bit of time together can be!

So - we've come up with Date Night Wednesdays just for you. Basically, it's all about a free starter, and a free glass of prosecco with each main course - every Wednesday night. No catches, no hassle - so no excuse for you to not book up right now... BOOK HERE!!!

CHECK OUT OUR FOOD AND DRINK MENU HERE

Tasting the future..

We had a little impromptu brainstorm for the forthcoming update of drinks menu last night - and very productive it was too..

Not only did we develop a range of very exciting newcomers, but we also developed the appropriate state of mind that invariably leads to the forgetting of everything that we created!

Fortunately our cctv has come to the rescue and we can just about make out most of the ingredients that were utilised. Once again, technology comes to the rescue of the humble bartender. We love tech.

We love bar tending too.

Diva required?

We've had a frantic (and franticly fun) few weeks...

...As more people have discovered our little place we've had to really graft to keep up. Having said that, we're not standing still. In amongst welcoming many great customers, BBC's Food and Drink programme, a light sprinkling of celebs (you wouldn't expect us to name names), and a team trip to the Ginstitute at London's Portobello Star - we've been planning some tweaks to the food and drink menu, are about to pimp the area on the first floor, and FINALLY, have been able to make plans to sort those toilets out now that the managing agents have arranged to repair the roof.

We were very pleased to discover that Northampton's Mr Ice Cream, Aldo Gallone, had paid us a visit, sampled our home-made baked alaska and has given it his seal of approval. He thought that the use of Gallone's excellent rum and raisin was the making of the dish - but we already knew that! He did also tell us that our vanilla ice cream was a bit short of the mark - and as he knows more than any of us about ice cream, it's time for a change.

About that Diva. Several people have mentioned that we seem to have an all-male employment policy. Not so - but we would certainly love to hear from anyone who thinks that they could add some extra sparkle to our handsome team.

That's enough for now. Time to get back on it...

Now that's a bit naughty...

Regular followers of our all too infrequent blogs will know that we weren't best pleased when someone put us on Trip Advisor, but we've embraced it and received some lovely comments, so maybe things aren't as bad as we feared....

.. or are they??

We were more than a bit shocked when we got a bummer of a review. Further investigation led us to believe that the person (who has until that day, and since, had no Trip Advisor history) had in-fact never been into our little establishment and, it has since become apparent, probably has a vested interest in giving us a bit of a knock....

It's all a bit bunch of arse!

But - back to those nice reviews. Getting a nice review makes us feel all fuzzy inside. It's nice. But - we prefer feedback at the time so much more. So far, at the suggestion of our customers, we've upgraded our extract fans, introduced a welcome prosecco option while you peruse the menu on arrival, added green beans and salad options to the menu - and even encouraged Albert to go to a proper hairdresser...

So, by all means drop us a review on TA, but always tell us about stuff you'd like to see us do better. We can take it - and we're small enough to change pretty quickly too.

Now all we need to do is get the landlord's managing agents to fix the roof so that we can get the toilets the way that we want them...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186349-d5522495-Reviews-Haycock_Tailbar-Northampton_Northamptonshire_England.html

Review of Haycock and Tailbar Associates

Many of you will know that we at Haycock & Tailbar Associates avoid publicity just so that we can remain a wee bit mysterious - and completely outside the vision and knowledge of people who just won't get it...

Having said that, when we were recently surfing around for some of the better things to enjoy about life in Northampton we came across the NorthamptonGent website (northamptongent.com). Not only did we enjoy a good read, but we also came across a review all about us.

Now, this review was not only eloquent, and very flattering, but it also fully appreciates why we ask our customers to tell only a small number of their friends about what they get up to behind our locked door - which is why we can heartily recommend that you have a read too:

Read it here

2014 Resolutions

A New Year's Resolution is a challenge to yourself to achieve something that you don't really want to do - or that you do want to do, but don't think that you can.

That's enough philosophy for any one blog - so let's talk about something that can be achieved with minimal effort: Getting together with friends for great times. 

As we take no greater pleasure than sharing a meal and drinks with our chums - we hereby resolve to do it even more than we did last year.

We hope that this little thought inspires you to do likewise - and that we hope that at least some of these excursions will lead you to our door in 2014.