I've been overseas for a while and returned to the UK and spent a couple of days at an Army Mess 'in the south of England'
A few years back, I was on a 2 week course at 'Defence' unit where students were put into derelict, sorry converted, houses at the back of the Mess. This was mid-November and if memory serves we had a cold snap that produced a layer of frost on the windows that not even the trusty 1250 could scrape off. Unfortunately, we also had no heating or hot water in the houses - boiler issues or such like - which lead to a very very cold first night.
When I went to report the issue to Mess reception (contractorised) I was told that it had been reported and would be fixed within the next 2 weeks. Apparently the contractors thought it was fine for us to stay in freezing accommodation with no hot water. I was lucky and lived an hour up the road so voted with my feet much to the irritation of the course director and the Mess manager. Explained to the Chief Clerk the sudden appearance of an unplanned for and unauthorised MMA bill on my return to unit, which after a bit of nodding, was processed.
As much as I hate to say it, because a. I had some very happy times in the Mess both as an O/Cdt and a JO and b. I do understand how Mess life contributes to the morale component, but frankly the state of most Messes these days is nothing short of a disgrace. You wouldn't let your dog linger on in such suffering, so why do we not just admit that the accountants have won again, Messes are too expensive to do properly and just move to a US-type system of people living off base with a social club on site. As I said, a good Mess will contribute massively to the morale of a unit and its operational effectiveness. Unfortunately all they seem to do these days is depress morale and cause much angst.