Rising Sun — bookings

Taking a booking

Bookings are taken by the house, in person at the counter or over the telephone, and written in one book that lives behind the bar. There is no form on this website and no inbox that answers by itself.

That is deliberate. One book means one version of the truth about Saturday, and it means whoever is on can turn round and look at it while you are still on the line. It also means a booking exists when it has been written down and read back, and not before.

What goes in the book

Six things, in the same order every time, on one line of the page with the date at the head of it:

A name: The name the party will give at the door. If the person ringing is not the person coming, we write both and say which is which.
A number to ring: One telephone number that will be answered in the week before the date. This is the only reason we keep a number at all, and it is what we use if something has to change at our end.
The date: Written as the day and the date together, so a Saturday that was meant to be the Friday is caught while we are still talking.
The hours: From when to when, not just a start. The room is set for the hour before and put straight after, and both of those have to fit the rest of the day.
Rough numbers and the shape: How many you expect and whether the floor is rows, rounds or standing. Rough is fine at this stage; it tells us how the room has to be set and nothing else.
Hatch open or shut: Whether drinks come through the hatch from the bar side or the party walks round to the counter. It changes how we staff the bar that evening, so it goes in the book rather than being decided on the night.

Read back, then it stands

Whoever takes the call writes the line and reads the whole of it back down the telephone. Mistakes are nearly always in the hours or the day, and reading it back is what catches them.
You say yes to what was read, or we change it there and then and read it again.
The line is initialled by whoever took it, so a question later can be put to the person who wrote it rather than to the room in general.
If you want it in writing, say so and we will send the same six things to the address you give from house@dckhospitality.info. It is the book copied out, not a contract with clauses in it.
In the week before, we ring the number in the book to settle the numbers and the hours. If we cannot reach it, the booking still stands as written.

Nothing is held on a maybe. Until it is written and read back, the date is free for whoever rings next, and we would rather tell you that than keep two parties hoping about the same Saturday.

When something moves

Things move. Numbers grow, a date slides, somebody wants an extra hour at the end. All of it is handled the same way: ring the house, and the change is written on the same line with the old figure crossed out rather than rubbed away, so the history of the booking is still readable.

Numbers up. Tell us as soon as you know. The room is one room, so a number that goes past what the shape will take means changing the shape, and changing the shape is a conversation rather than a note.
Numbers down. Easier, but still worth a call: a room set for forty with twenty in it is a worse evening than a room set for twenty.
Date changed. A new line on the new date, the old one crossed out and marked moved. The old date goes back to being free immediately.
Cancelled. Crossed out and marked, and the date is free again. Tell us by telephone if it is close, because a crossed line in the book is seen and an unopened email may not be until the afternoon.
Our end. If something happens here that affects your date, we ring the number in the book. That is what it is for, and it is why we ask for one that will be answered.

On the day itself, come to the counter and give the name in the book. One of us walks you up the two steps, opens the room, shows you the light switch and the sockets, and says who is on the bar side for the evening. At the end the tables go back on the stack and the hatch is shut. What we keep from all of that afterwards, and for how long, is set out on the house notices page.