Smith, who took on the site just seven weeks ago decided to go public with her response and has been overwhelmed by the reaction it has created.
A review on TripAdvisor was titled ‘Food was great’ but even though the food, value and service were each rated four out of five, the overall score was a measly one.
The review, written by ‘Jill A’ went on to state: “This pub used to be fantastic and I visited regularly. However, to my shock, there is now new management in place. Whilst the food was very good, my advice to any females visiting with a partner, keep him close by as the management don't mind someone else's partner!”
Smith took to the Black Horse’s Facebook page to respond to the review, stating: “I am no man eater could have given better marks if food was so good.”
The pub is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, giving Smith a chance to ensure reviews from the weekend are good. She told The Morning Advertiser: “I checked the reviews on Monday and saw one saying the portion sizes are less than before but we’ve not changed anything – I know that because I was in the kitchen – I said on Facebook, ‘I promise there has been no change at all in portion sizes’.”
Got to watch your man
She continued: “I checked again on Tuesday and saw ‘that’ review. I was astounded. I worked in the NHS for 28 years and all of a sudden I’m a man eater and you’ve got to watch your man. I'm married and I love my husband more than life.
“I had to do something about it so I went public. I put it on the Black Horse Facebook site because if a customer read those two reviews they would think ‘bloody hell, she’s gone in, stuck the portion sizes down and then she’s going to have your man’.”
The semi professional dressage horse rider who lives on a dairy farm with her husband explained after her horse Dee Dee died in June last year, there was a gap in her life and she decided to apply for a weekend-only vacancy at the Black Horse pub in Endon, near Stoke-on-Trent.
An emergency led to her taking over the kitchen and delivering orders worth more than £1,000 on a Saturday, leading the licensee asked if she could work more hours but she was already working full-time as a health and wellbeing coach for the NHS on Monday to Friday.
Licensee Malcolm Allen retired in December 2022 and Smith was persuaded by her husband to take the pub reins – particularly as she was finding a lot of sadness in her NHS job despite still loving her role there.
She has been busy putting on lots of events along with serving “restaurant-quality food” too – a reason she took on the pub – and has even spent £1,000 to improve the lighting in the short space of time she has been running the Black Horse.
Suspects narrowed down
“I never expected it to go viral,” Smith said. “Life’s for living. I’ve seen too much sadness and if people are laughing or talking about me, it’s giving someone else a break.
“The week before there was idle gossip that me and the chef were having an affair! She’s married and so am I.”
Smith said she has narrowed the suspects down and believes she knows the identity of the mystery reviewer – who she believes used a fake name on the review and is the same person who started the gossip about her and the chef.
A post on the pub’s Facebook has also poked fun at the ‘man eater’ accusation when a live act entertained customers during the easter weekend. Click here to see the video clip.
The Staffordshire pub has 239 ‘excellent’ ratings on TripAdvisor.
