Grinch occasion uproar as supervisor threatened to be ‘dragged out by hair’ over £20 tickets

The Balfour Arms in Sidmouth had hoped to spread festive cheer with their Grinch-themed event, but ended up attracting an online lynch mob who subjected organisers to complaints and ‘bullying’

A pub’s three-day Grinch-themed event was cancelled after just one day after guests branded it the “worst experience ever.”

People were left fuming after forking out £20 per child to be met with “deflated balloons” and “total disorganisation.”

The Balfour Arms in Sidmouth, Devon put on the event but were soon subjected to “trolls and bullying” by an online lynch mob. The manager even claims angry people were ringing the pub threatening to drag her out by her hair.

It comes after the boozer tried to create its own version of the fictional town of Whoville by transforming the pub and outside area into a replica of the well-known story How the Grinch Stole Christmas, reports DevonLive.

However, the festive event was marred with bad weather and received a mixed response. It only ran for one day instead of three, with full refunds offered to those left disappointed.

The Whoville Christmas experience was widely advertised, stating it would take place from December 21 to 23, with tickets being sold for £20 per child.

But one customer said: “You were promised to step into the magical Whoville, but instead we were greeted with deflated balloons and a totally disorganised event. Two very disappointed children.”

Another unhappy visitor added to the chorus of grievances: “Worst experience ever. £60 wasted. We left within 10 minutes. Three seven year old children said it was miserable. Asked for a refund and got nowhere. Posts deleted.”

On the flip side, some attendees reached out with supportive messages and praise.

One said: “I just want to extend my thanks and joy for what you guys achieved today. Fantastic theme, fantastic layout, fantastic engagement.

“Brought my youngest child and he, and us adults, had the best day. Thank you! This was our first visit to the pub and as a result we will be back.”

Another added: “The Grinch was fantastic; so engaging with all the kids and exactly what we hoped for! Thank you to all the staff who helped to make it such a magical day for the little ones.”

A mum, while critical of some visitors’ behaviour, praised the event itself: “My daughter had a lovely time and has been telling everyone what a great time she had. I am so sorry for the amount of abuse you have had and also how some people were abusing their welcome and also the premises.”

The news of the cancellation was shared on the pub’s Facebook page on Saturday evening at around 8pm.

They wrote: “Unfortunately, due to the weather conditions and circumstances, our Whoville event today and for tomorrow is so sadly cancelled. We have put an awful lot of hard work into making this event special as we can and we are absolutely heartbroken to have to do this.

“We have received some severe trolling and bullying in the last 24 hours as well. Somethings have been said that should never be said to anyone. We can only apologise again but cannot control the weather as much as we wish we could.”

They also offered people a refund but the pub’s management revealed that they would refrain from hosting ticketed themed Christmas events in the future. Instead, they will concentrate on free festivities for local kids.

The manager said: “It is just such a shame as we put so much work into everything the last few months. It has been an awful experience.

“We do a lot for the local community and host charity events. We organise free events every Christmas and Halloween. In April we had a princess ball which was attended by 100 children a day and it was a great success, as was our big Harry Potter themed event in September.

“As they did so well that’s how we came up with the idea of doing a Grinch festive event. We made all the Whoville houses by hand and so much went into decorating the pub.

“Unfortunately, the weather was not great on Saturday so the people who were bringing the bouncy castle pulled out which was fair enough. On the day, adults were being rude to our staff and were sneaking children in who did not have tickets.

“The tickets stated entry for one adult per child but we had some families turning up with 10 adults so we ended up with so many people.

“We laid out food for the children but adults were also piling plates with food and eating it themselves. Three days worth of food we bought went in that one day.

“We received a couple of complaints on the day from people and refunded them there and then. One person then shared something on Facebook and a lot of people jumped on it so we switched the comments off.”

They added: “We announced on Facebook the event was cancelled due to the weather but we did get some people turn up on Sunday. We still had the Grinch and Santa outside to meet them and they were offered free hot chocolate. We tried to do the best we could.

“The majority of people have been lovely but the negative comments some people have sent and posted have completely destroyed me. I really was just trying to do something nice. I suffer from severe anxiety. Now I don’t want to go out and feel embarrassed.

“We have also had people ringing the pub with men threatening to come and drag me outside by my hair and saying I deserve what’s coming to me etc.”

“Although people have complained, all you could hear on the day was children laughing.”

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