Joe and I visited Cusworth Hall for the first time today, and were quite enjoying ourselves. It's five or six out of ten for a well-presented museum with displays of local (Doncaster) historic interest, rather than rapture for an historic house, although the building is well maintained with good information boards in each room, but almost no furniture other than the museum display cases.

Cusworth Hall (1)Cusworth Hall (2)

That is we were having a good time until it was time for lunch and we went to the café.

My nephew – a perennially hungry young man – and I wanted proper(ish) lunch: we had even started to order when the woman ahead of us in the queue asked if they took cards. "No," came the reply, "it’s cash only." I then asked whether they took cheques, but the reply was the same.

In which century do these people think are living? I know that the cafe is a separate franchise from the museum (which is council run) but they can’t be running a business without a bank account, so they must be able to accept cheques even if they haven't made arrangements for plastic. The woman ahead of me had so little cash that she ended up buying one ice-cream between her two disappointed children, while Joe and I could scrape only £4.20 between us which bought us a cup of coffee each and a slice of cake to share (all cafe prices, by the way, around 50% higher than at Gainsborough Old Hall which I visited yesterday).

How much custom is the café losing with this short-sighted cash only policy?

How much more is lost in goodwill?

Result? (July 30th)

I emailed to complain, and got a reply from the Museums and Galleries Manager.

Thank you for informing me about this. I share some of your concerns. I have asked staff at Cusworth to look into this and reply to you.

Thanks

Latest Email - Tuesday, August 7th

Dear Ms Turner

Thankyou very much for your comments about your recent visit to Cusworth Hall and Park and our tearooms. Your comments have been passed on to me as I am based on on site.

I was pleased to know that you enjoyed your visit to the hall as the house only reopened in May and we are interested in our visitors opinions of the new museum.

You are correct in supposing that the tea room is a franchise but we work in partnership on the site to try and ensure a good visit for all. I was most concerned to hear that you had problems when it came to paying for your coffee and cake. I was also puzzled, as the tearoom do take cheques but not credit cards. I have investigated your complaint.and discussed the matter with the proprietor, Kay Largent who was equally distressed that you had a problem. Both Kay and myself apologise to you and your nephew and are sorry for any embarrasment and upset caused. You were served by a new member of staff who knew that credit cards were not taken and had not realised that cheques were accepted with a relevant guarantee card. Mrs Largent has addressed this with the member of staff who also wishes to say she is sorry this mistake occured.

Credit cards are not accepted by the tearooms as there are financial implications for each transaction as well as the cost of installation etc. For small amounts this can be a problem and some places only accept cards on transactions over £10 for this reason.

The tearooms do take cheques supported by a card. This information is printed on their menu, however, it may be that you did not see this if you ordered from the board displayed behind the counter and chose your cake from the counter. I have passed your suggestion on to Mrs Largent that it would be a good idea to display a clear sign somewhere so that people are forewarned that cards are not accepted.

We are pleased to have a tearoom at Cusworth for our visitors and people usually find it provides good service. As much as possible is homemade on the premises. The ladies take a pride in what they do and so we are all so sorry about this misunderstanding. I hope that, if you enjoyed your visit, you will not be put off visiting again as we want people to enjoy Cusworth to the full. I am certain this will not happen again and was a genuine mistake by the member of staff who was herself concerned at the error.

Once again our apologies to you both.

In fact the member of staff did go 'behind the scenes' to ask somebody else whether cheques were taken, so the error was made by more than just one new member of staff.