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to the industrySpeaking out
Campaign pack
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Success Story #1
“I have asked to move to a different table if I’ve been put in a very noisy area, such as close to the kitchen. Good for me and helps make staff aware of the problem.”
Ruth
Success Story #2
“My husband asked for a quieter area to sit in but, as it was noisy throughout the restaurant, they turned the music down for me!”
Jackie
Thank you for joining our campaign to ask restaurants, cafés and pubs to take noise off the menu
Like us – and 80% of the British population – you want to enjoy good food and even better conversation with family and friends. And three-quarters of us would go out more if we knew we’d actually get to have a cosy chat with our companions.
Whether you’re seeking a softly spoken steak dinner or are primed for a peaceful pub lunch, this campaign pack will help you to tackle unacceptable noise levels.
Repeat customers are the lifeblood of restaurants, cafés and pubs. Millions of us, across the UK, want to dine out at quieter venues. If we all speak out, restaurants, cafés and pubs can’t afford to ignore us.
Use the user-friendly information and materials contained in this pack to give constructive feedback when you’re dining out – and afterwards, on social media or those all-important customer-review websites.
Speak Easy campaign checklist:
While you’re there…
Hand over a Speak Easy feedback card and a Speak Easy ‘starter course’ sheet to waiting staff or the manager, or leave them with the bill
Take a photo with your thumb prop
Share your photo and message on social media
After your visit:
Leave an online review (for example, on TripAdvisor), or contact the venue directly
You can order any extra materials from our Information Line
Call 0808 808 0123 or email [email protected]
What’s Speak Easy all about?
Our Speak Easy campaign helps restaurants, cafés
and pubs create a welcoming environment for
all their customers.
New research shows that customers with and without hearing
loss are abandoning noisy venues in droves. They’re voting
with their feet for places that serve good food – and where
they can have a good conversation.
79% have left a restaurant,
café or pub earlybecause of the noise
Nine out of 10 peoplesay background noise is the
number one thing that ruins
a night out
76% would dine out moreif venues were quieter
A starter course for restaurants,
cafés and pubs
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK – PLEASE GIVE TO A MANAGER
Can I have a quiet word?91% of peoplenever go backto a venue
that’s too noisy
CUSTOMER FEEDBACKPLEASE GIVE TO A MANAGER
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Which restaurant gets your thumbs up?
Share this photo, alongside your posts, on Twitter and Facebook, to double the impact – photos and videos really catch the eye when you’re scrolling through!
You won’t have to look too hard in the pack to find your very own thumb prop!
Take this with you when you’re heading out. Then, when you’ve left your chosen venue, take a quick photo outside…
#SpeakEasy
#SpeakEasy
Thumbs up if it wasn’t too noisy Thumbs down if it was too loud
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This is the quickest, and one of the most effective, ways to grab the attention of businesses.
Millions of people use Twitter to speak directly to major brands and organisations. These days, most restaurants, cafés and pubs have their own Twitter account. If you don’t have Twitter, it’s quick and simple to sign up and get started. Just remember, with only 140 characters to work with, keep to the point!
Remember to ‘tag’ the restaurant using the @ symbol. Use #SpeakEasy and ‘tag’ @ActionOnHearing if you have enough characters left!
…and remember to include a photo of you holding up your thumb prop!
Share feedback on social media
14 Nov 2016
Great to eat out @jdwtweet withoutloud music playing. Not only are weregulars, it's also our favourite local!@ActionOnHearing #SpeakEasy
@kgthamKeng-Gah Tham
10 Nov 2016
Family meal @Carluccios so noisyit was difficult to talk to my Dad.Not going back til I can #SpeakEasy@ActionOnHearing
@c_renouf2707Chris Renouf
Some Facebook pages for restaurants, cafés and pubs allow you to write reviews, visible (and helpful) to other users. You can find this function by going to the ‘Reviews’ tab on the venue’s Facebook page. If this option isn’t available, you can still leave a comment on the page – or send a message to the venue.
Make sure that you describe the noise level and any notable sources of noise, such as background music. Emphasise how this affected your enjoyment, and whether you’ll go back if they don’t sort it out...
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Share feedback on review websitesSeveral websites ‘pull together’ customer reviews of the thousands of restaurants, cafés and pubs across the UK. We recommend that you create a profile on some (or all!) of the websites listed below, so that you can share your feedback on noise levels – positive or negative – as widely as possible.
Venue owners monitor these websites carefully; larger ones like TripAdvisor can make or break a new restaurant. Together, we can make sure they feel the noise.
Make sure you talk about:
• the noise level
• the effect it had on your enjoyment of the visit
• whether it has put you off – or made you want to come back.
If you write just one review, post it here:
• TripAdvisor tripadvisor.co.uk
If you have time, submit your reviews to:
• OpenTable opentable.co.uk
• Harden’s hardens.com
• Square Meal squaremeal.co.uk
• Time Out timeout.com
• Zagat (London only at present) zagat.com/london
Other social media tools
The more places you share feedback, the better! Instagram (500 million users worldwide) and Google Reviews – that appear when customers search for restaurants via Google – are well worth exploring.
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Write to your local paper
Local newspapers are always on the lookout for compelling stories about people and issues causing consternation in their area. Writing to or emailing the editor of your local newspaper can turn a spotlight on a particularly noisy restaurant, café or pub – a bit of naming and shaming might be what it takes to persuade them to take action.
Journalists like personal stories. You need to give them all the facts, but you must also be upfront about how your experience made you feel. Discriminated against? Upset, angry or excluded? Of course, if you’ve had a particularly good experience at a restaurant, café or pub, please tell editors about that, too.
Write to complainWe want everyone to be a Speak Easy campaigner. So, if you’d rather write a formal letter than start posting on social media, that’s not a problem! Smaller restaurants, cafés and pubs need to retain loyal customers to stay in business, so a polite explanation of your concerns could be enough to convince the manager to make some changes to improve the venue’s acoustics.
If there’s a particularly noisy venue near you, encourage friends, family and others with a hearing loss to write to the manager. The more letters a restaurant, café or pub receives, the more pressure they’ll feel to address high noise levels – and the more business they’ll realise they’re missing out on.
Think about including:
• the specific date you visited their venue (if this was your first time); or state that you are a regular customer
• the main causes of the high noise level, if you can identify them (such as background music, noise from the coffee machine, or the interior design)
• how the high noise level affected your experience of their establishment, for example, you couldn’t hold a conversation
• statistics! These can range from the number of people in your area who have hearing loss to figures about how many people struggle to hear in environments with lots of background noise. Contact us at [email protected] and we’ll give you data on your area
• helpful advice – tell the venue that, if they contact Action on Hearing Loss via [email protected], we will send them a free guide on how to reduce noise – and will publicise their efforts to bin the din!
Download a free, customisable ‘Complaint Letter’ template from our website
actiononhearingloss.org.uk/SpeakEasyPack
Your address
Restaurant/café/pub address
Date
FAO: The Manager
Dear Sir or Madam,
I visited your restaurant on [date] with my family, to celebrate my son’s birthday. We had
been looking forward to eating at [venue name] all week (we’d never been before), but when
we arrived at [time] it immediately became clear that the meal was going to be endured
rather than enjoyed, especially for me.
We were seated by a speaker system playing loud music. This, combined with the open-plan
layout and hard surfaces, created a huge amount of noise.
Due to my hearing loss, I find it particularly difficult to hear people speaking to me when
there is lots of background noise. As the night wore on I found it impossible to follow the
conversation, particularly when my daughter spoke across the table. In the end I gave up.
It’s such a shame: even though the food was fantastic, I wouldn’t consider coming back to
[venue name] unless you do something about the noise.
There are [insert local figure] people with hearing loss in [your town/city], and 11 million
people across the UK. But it’s not ‘just’ people with hearing loss who would prefer to dine in
a quieter environment. The charity Action on Hearing Loss has launched a campaign –
Speak Easy – that is already attracting a lot of publicity and support. Its research shows that
restaurants are losing out on a huge number of potential customers who find dining out too
noisy. You can read more about the campaign at actiononhearingloss.org.uk/SpeakEasy
If you contact Action on Hearing Loss at [email protected] they will send
you their free guide, sharing tips on how to reduce background noise. They can also help
you promote any work you do to become more accessible to people with hearing loss.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
If you contact Action on Hearing Loss at [email protected] they will send
you their fr fr ree guide, sharing tips on how to reduce background noise. They can also help
you promote any work you do to become more accessible to people with hearing loss.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
been looking forwrwr ard to eating at [venue name] all week (we’d never been before), but when
we arrived at [time] it immediately became clear tr tr hat the meal was going to be endured
rather tr tr han enjoyed, especially for me.
We were seated by a speaker system playing loud music. This, combined with the open-plan
layout and hard surfaces, created a huge amount of noise.
Due to my hearing loss, I find it particularly difficult to hear people speaking to me when
there is lots of background noise. As the night wore on I found it impossible to follow the
conversation, particularly when my daughter spoke across the table. In the end I gave up.
It’s such a shame: even though the food was fantastic, I wouldn’t consider coming back to
[venue name] unless you do something about the noise.
There are [insert local figure] people with hearing loss in [your tr tr own/city], and 11 million
people across the UK. But it’s not ‘just’ people with hearing loss who would prefer tr tr o dine in
a quieter environment. The charity Action on Hearing Loss has launched a campaign –
Speak Easy – that is already attracting a lot of publicity and support. Its research shows that
restaurants are losing out on a huge number of potential customers who find dining out too
noisy. You can read more about the campaign at actiononhearingloss.org.uk/SpeakEasy
If you contact Action on Hearing Loss at campaigns@hearingloss org uk they will send
If you contact Action on Hearing Loss at campaigns@hearingloss org uk they will send
Your address
Restaurant/café/pub address
Date
FAO: The Manager
Dear Sir or Madam,
I visited your restaurant on [date] with my family, to celebrate my son’s birthday. We had
y [ ] y y y y
Talk to us!Whether you’ve experienced the ultimate in ambience at your local bistro, or spent the evening fuming and fed up down the local, we want to hear about it. Go to actiononhearingloss.org.uk/SpeakEasyPack and fill in the short form to let us know where you’ve been and how it sounded. If you’d prefer, you can contact our Information Line – see back page for contact details.
If you’ve run out of cards or the starter-course flyer, you can order or download more at actiononhearingloss.org.uk/SpeakEasyPack
You can also email [email protected] or call 0808 808 0123 and we’ll send you some.
On the cover: Keng-Gah Tham, from Wanstead
Photography credit: Johanna Taylor/Action on Hearing Loss
Action on Hearing Loss is the trading name of The Royal National Institute for Deaf People. A registered charity in England and Wales (207720) and Scotland (SC038926). A1286c/1116
Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID) is the largest UK charity helping people who are confronting deafness, tinnitus and hearing loss. We give support and care, develop technology and treatments, and campaign for equality. We enable people to take control of their lives and remove the barriers in their way. We rely on donations to continue our vital work.
Visit us online: actiononhearingloss.org.uk
Order additional materials by contacting our Information Line on [email protected] or 0808 808 0123.
For free, confidential information about anything related to hearing loss or tinnitus, you can call us on 0808 808 0123, email us at [email protected] or send a text message to 07800 000360.
To find out about our events, news and services, and to share experiences and information with others, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter:
Action on Hearing Loss
@ActionOnHearing