Bar staff hit back at bad reviews with new T-shirts

STAFF at a Cardiff bar are hitting back at bad reviews online – by wearing them emblazoned across their T-shirts.

While TripAdvisor and Facebook reviews can be a really useful way for businesses to show off what happy customers think about them, they are also the perfect platform for internet trolls to knock them down a peg or two.

But companies are fighting back, like Cardiff’s Madame Fromage, which wrote an 800-word response and banned a scathing reviewer last year.

Now, BrewDog Cardiff has come up with a new approach to dealing with its haters by getting some of its most bizarre reviews printed onto black T-shirts to be worn by employees.

Sweary critiques include “This is just a s*** hipster Wetherspoons”, to backhanded compliments such as “Come to BrewDog, there are relatively few w ****** here for a Saturday”.

Another points out the obvious, “Unless you’re into beers and trying new ones, this place isn’t for you”, while one reviewer doesn’t hold back, “Over priced pish, f ****** awful, what a company, complete hipster paradise”.

The Westgate Street venue posted a photograph of an employee donning the new uniform on its Twitter page with the caption “New t-shirt day”.

Commenting on the reason for introducing the T-shirts, the company said: “All feedback is important to us at BrewDog, so we decided to put the best of the bunch on our new staff shirts.”

The Aberdeenshire-based chain, which opened its Cardiff bar in 2014, serves a range of beers and ales, including its world-famous Punk IPA, pale ale Dead Pony Club and a 16.5% beer named Tokyo.

BrewDog is well-known for thinking outside of the box when it comes to doing business, after introducing paid “paw-ternity leave” for new dog owners and giving away 20% of its profits every year – half of which goes to its staff, and half to a charity.