We chose Pokolbin as an overnight stop on our way from the Gold Coast to Sydney for an important ANZAC Day Commemoration.
Unfortunately we chose Harrigans to stay at and eat.
Firstly, the room was so dusty we needed to take antihistamines. The bathroom was dirty with grimy sink plugs and grimy floor. We we so shocked we took photos. While the sheets were clean, the beds were hard.
We went to the Harrigans bistro when it opened at 5.30pm to make a booking for dinner, only to be told by an unfriendly male staff member with a black eye, that no tables were available; when we pointed out the almost empty bistro behind him and the fact that we had travelled 12 hours to give Harrigans our $180 per night business, the black eye person got more aggressive and less understanding.
In desperation from tiredness we asked to speak to his manager and a person with an Irish accent arrived, with the same level of antagonism and rudeness as the black eye person.
A manager with the Irish accent then suggested we sit in the sports bar. When I quietly told him I was an Australian war veteran who suffered from PTSD and couldn’t take the sports bar noise, he came back with “well that’s your problem “ They finally begrudgingly offered us a table but we were so insulted that we left. Then followed sniggering as the manager and the black eye person walked away.
We’ve been travelling the world for 50 years and have never been so badly treated and insulted. We love visiting Ireland and have always experienced legendary Irish hospitality, so Harrigans is a massive disappointment and failure by those standards.
In our view Harrigans is embarrassment to Irish people and an embarrassment to the Hunter Valley.
This place should shut up shop.