The City Adventurers headed to Winchester for Murder57 murder mystery dinner. The appropriately entitled Midsummer Murder was set in the village of Killinton, where resident Amos Wheatley had discovered a strange circle of stones on his land.
After checking into our hotel, we had a quick tour of Winchester before getting ready for the evenings entertainment. We have been to Murder 57 events in the past ( Including Marriage Of Vanessa , Murder On The Dance Floor , The Diplomats ) and have found them well organised and good fun.
Unfortunately, this was not the same.
Yes, it was still a fun evening and the cast did a terrific job. But the organisation and service by the hotel was sadly lacking.
The Venue
We had expected to be in a function room but instead the dinner was held in the main dining room. At first we wondered if we would be sharing the room with other guests but it became clear we had the place to ourselves.
We looked around for a seating plan but there wasn’t one. A large group has taken up residence on one on the tables so we chose a random table nearby. The main organiser from the cast arrived and was surprised that his seating plan had not been displayed. Then he tried to check who was already there and where they should be sitting. Apparently we were in the wrong place and supposed to be on the large table. He moved us to the large table who initially refused quite rudely to let us join them as they were saving places for their friends. He had to explain to them a few times before they would move that they too were on the wrong table. Not a good start to evening.
Each table had been assigned a cast member so we sat next to the reserved space on our table. Watching people being moved around the room, we were reluctant to vacate our seats to head to the bar. However, when one of us did venture there, instead of being presented with a drinks menu or wine list we were shown a line of bottles along the back wall and asked to pick one!
Returning to our table, the waiting staff had started to distribute bread rolls on saucers, not side plates. We were also given bar napkins not dinner napkins.
It did not bode well for the meal and sure enough there were problems with the dinner. Considering we had had to order our menu choices in advance, it was unforgivable that the kitchen did not have all the main courses ordered and that they even ran out of desserts! In the end, one person who had ordered vegetarian was given pork and three people had to make do with ice cream as that was all the kitchen had left.
At the end of the night, the bar staff were asking if people could buy their drinks in cash as they “needed to pay the fruit man” the next day!
What kind of a hotel was this!?
As an aside – the following morning’s breakfast was just as chaotic. There were no serving utensils for the breakfast buffet. Again we had saucers instead of side plates and bar napkins instead of dining room ones. The hot buffet was hardly replaced with guests being told they were cooking eggs. When a tray of eggs finally arrived they were gone in an instant with most of the room missing out. we were told more were being cooked but they never materialised.
We would not choose to stay in this hotel again and are surprised that a company such as Murder 57 still advertise The Winchester Wessex Hotel by Sunday as “a 4 Star hotel perfect for Murder Mystery breaks.” Not only is this not a 4 Star hotel, we have stayed in guest houses with better facilities and much better service.
Back to the Murder Mystery Plot
During the evening we learnt that Archaeologists believed the monument found on Amos Wheatley’s land could rival Stonehenge in significance.
However, although Amos owned the land, a local fracking company also had a claim on the site. Both parties had competing financial and personal interests at play, as did some of the local people. Naturally, this conflict quickly escalated to murder…..
After extensive investigations, the audience were able to submit their accusations. The winning sleuth was The City Adventurers own Ian Thirkettle. Well done Ian for unmasking the criminal.
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