Royal Albert Hall catering

[Lord Mersey]

PhilipT

I assume the cutlery was not plastic?

[PhilipT]

Mr Pee: I agree with much of that, especially the bit about cheap supermarket offers, but my original point, which seems to have got lost, was that Rhubarb are charging £10 a bottle more this year than Leith's were last year for the same wine.

Lord Mersey: Quite right - I couldn't fault the cutlery.

[old khayyam]

Referring upthread a little, is it not the case that the doorpersons take a cursory glance into each and every bag before waving you through? If so, i can see people with deeper bags such as rucksacks getting their refreshments in successfully. I'm sure the security are not allowed to rummage.

[PhilipT]

They certainly did rummage on the First Night. They seemed a little puzzled by the contents of my bag - presumably an Oxford B.A. gown and hood (see the "The First Night - a modest proposal" thread) were outside their experience - but since they weren't what they were looking for they didn't mind.

[Chris Newman]

The prices are clearly putting people off in the restaurants. At the two Proms I have been to the audiences leaving the concerts have been invited through the public address system to come and dine whilst in the intervals the bars looked fairly empty.

[cavatina]

So does anyone have any recommendations for anything from Rhubarb that's actually worth the money? I had a salmon sandwich the other night and it was quite disappointing; I don't think they could have made it any more bland and ordinary if they tried. But then, I like really decadent OTT dishes, so maybe it's just my jaded palate. However, in this case, I really do think less was less, if you know what I mean.

All I know is I better start eating something...I had been fasting in order to heighten my senses and get the most out of the music, but half-fainting on the stairs the other night was quite frightening. Terrifying, really...I'm lucky I didn't break my neck and do myself in. What a wake-up call! Agh.

Oh dear...posting at 2AM again? Better call it a night.

[BudgieJane]

I notice the rules about not eating your own food in the hall are being flouted widely, and the miscreants are being ignored by the stewards. So why are they victimising the regular Prommers, and allowing the day-trippers to do anything they like? Sounds like discrimination to me. Not good. I'm going to have to have a chat with the powers that be about this.

[Lord Mersey]

Standards in the Hall are very variable. I saw two people in the Arena with what appeared to be glass bottles.

[Bryn]

I have attended 4 Proms so far this season. Each time standing in the Arena, and each time entering wearing a 30 litre rucksack. On none of these visits have I been challenged of had my bag searched. It always had food and drink in it, some of which I consumed before the concerts and/or during the interval when there was one. It seems that the most aggressive searching took place on the first night, and some of those subjected to searched and who had food and or drinks stolen (or confiscated as the RAH management would prefer to call it) have since received apologies from said management.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Standards in the Hall are very variable. I saw two people in the Arena with what appeared to be glass bottles.

That's nothing. I stood next to two characters each with a pint of beer at the Halle Prom.