Jacqueline Wake Young: How tensions boiled over about tea at The Dores Inn

Loch Ness restaurant The Dores Inn defends itself after disgruntled customer complains after being charged an extra 20p to have milk with her cup of tea.

By Jacqueline Wake Young

March 30 2024, 6:00 am

The Dores Inn where a row has been brewing over a charge for milk with tea. Image: Shutterstock.

I’ve seen some strange things at Loch Ness but nothing like an added fee to have milk in my tea.

News that The Dores Inn has been moved to defend itself after a customer complained about being charged 20p for milk has left something of a sour taste.

Don’t they understand that a cup of tea is sacred around these islands and if anyone tries to interfere with our enjoyment of it, they do so at their peril?

Is this what we’ve come to in the cost-of-living crisis? Restaurant owners sharing pictures of a piece of paper pinned to a wall to show that customers have been warned?

The Dores Inn menu showing the extra charges. Image: Dores Inn.

I can honestly say, hand on heart, I’ve never been charged extra for the milk in my tea, have you?

Is The Dores Inn charge about cutting out waste?

If it’s about trying to cut down on waste then I have some sympathy.

Only last week I was despairing of all the leftover milk in little jugs after breakfast at a hotel I was staying in.

The Dores Inn has extra charges of 20p for milk. Image: Shutterstock.

I appreciate that getting the milk-to-cornflakes ratio correct takes experience and skill.

It feels wrong to throw out half a bowl of milk after a miscalculation with the Coco Pops, but in our house I’ve found the answer is to simply add more cereal to the left-over milk.

It’s not a bullet-proof solution. One slip of the hand with the Kellogg’s box and you end up having to add even more milk, then more cereal, and the whole thing becomes a vicious circle.

Before you know where you are, it’s 11:30am, you’ve had five bowls of Coco Pops and there’s no milk left for anything, let alone tea.

Did The Dores Inn decide it was time to act?

I wonder if the family who run The Dores Inn have had similar disasters and thought drastic action was called for.

Maybe they were on a sugar rush high of five bowls of Frosties when they decided to discourage everyone else from playing fast and loose with the milk.

Getting the milk to cornflakes ratio right can be tricky. Image: Shutterstock.

I’m reminded of staying in B&Bs in the Seventies, when orange juice was seen as such a luxury you would get a centimetre of it in a glass with absolutely no chance of a top up.

I can appreciate that wasting cow’s milk does seem like a naughty thing to do. After all, it’s meant for baby cows, not humans, and so it’s a precious commodity.

However the 20p charge also extends to oat milk. Who’s going to be upset if a few drops of that goes to waste? Baby oats?

Dairy cows may be understandably miffed if their milk is not treated with respect. Image: Shutterstock.

Dores Inn regulars wade into the debate

Several Dores Inn regulars waded into the row with one asking: “Would they charge 20p extra for milk if someone ordered a white coffee?”

It’s an interesting argument, but I don’t know where it gets us. Are we supposed to get lawyered up and fight for the right to a surcharge-free cup of tea on a technicality?

I don’t know if I’d want to win that way. And what would I drink to celebrate?

Another regular pointed to Starbucks, saying no-one has a problem with them charging £3.30 for a large tea.

Starbucks has a pricing system all of its own. Image: Shutterstock.

It’s an observation that begs more questions than it answers.

Who are these people who don’t have a problem with paying £3.30 for a cup of tea?

And what sort of a loser orders tea in Starbucks?

Don’t they know they could have a White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino or a Caramel Macchiato instead?

I don’t even know what that last one is, but I’d still choose that over tea if I was in Starbucks, if only as a reminder to myself to live a little.

The Dores Inn at Loch Ness is a famous spot, popular with locals, tourists and Nessie Hunters alike. Image: The Central Scotland News Agency.

Storm in a teacup

Another contributor widened the debate by suggesting that instead of complaining about an added charge for milk, customers should “support a local business, maybe get out of the car and go for a nice walk”.

What is it with these exercise freaks? Is it not enough to support a local business, maybe get out of the car and go for a nice cup of tea?

I hope the much-loved Dores Inn knows we’re just kidding around about this as a distraction from more serious items in the news.

In the universal scale of things, this really is just a storm in a teacup.