Dobbies Garden Centres Reviews 32,063

Had a nice hot coffee and a scone in Dobbies Gillingham today.
Dan & Michael were serving, they are always friendly and chatty.
Well done boys 😊

Sunday lunch today was not edible beef I could not cut the portion they served vegetables were cold . Did tell a number of staff no
Apology was given to me

The place was very grim indeed!

Only came for a cup of tea with my husband, cup was filthy, teapot was filthy! I noticed this when I sat down and lifted the lid to stir the tea.

The place is always leaking, dripping, and in a bad way.

It’s never a great experience when visiting!

The shop floor looks greatly neglected, cleanliness an issue all around the shop.

With such a premium they charge for all the items, you would think that basic upkeep would be something they can accomplish, for the most part you can source what they sell cheaper online or in other local stores like home&bargain, you can have better tea/coffee in a Starbucks or Costa and better food in a cleaner place, even tobys is cleaner.

They have competition all around them, doing what they do better/ cleaner or cheaper so you would think running something that stood out would be a priority but the place has no USP.

Royston is my local Dobbies and I pop in all the time as it’s on my way home from work - and actually spend quite lot of money with them. They have clearly invested a lot in the shop over the last year, however I have a massive issue with the appalling customer service. A couple staff are good, but the vast majority treat you with complete distain (like even your existence is spoiling their day) and some are just outright rude. This isn’t just one off, this is a common occurrence. I’m sorry Dobbies, there are plenty of other garden centres in the area, I can choose where I spend my money and I’m fed up with this. Whoever is in charge of the Royston branch needs to take a long look at what is happening!

A poor experience trying to deal with their customer service team to resolve a membership issue. Repeatedly told me I was not a member when they had taken payment. Then blamed a 'store error', Customer Services Manager was charmless.

I called in at a dobbies on my way home from birmingham last week and decided to try the bargain priced pensioners special
I had fish chips and peas and a superb lemon cake
Oh my goodness!what a delicious meal!the fish was absolutely wonderful,hand battered with crunchy coating and superb white fish inside,the whole meal was a fantastic experience from start to finish,I’ll definitely be going back again,and at only £12 I can afford it every week if I want to.

Bought some shoes from here and Rachel was so helpful, informative and friendly!

My friend and I had a roast dinner it was Luke warm not nice at all. I complained all the guy said was oh I will let the kitchen know

I visit Dobbies Dunfermline regularly.

I also use the centre to collect and return parcels. I collected a parcel on 21st December and informed the lady at customer service that my second parcel needed to be returned as not required. John Lewis had given instructions not to collect it.

After 2 phone calls to John Lewis,
2 phone calls to Dobbies Dunfermline and a visit to Dobbies, my parcel hadn’t been returned as requested!
It should have been returned on 22nd December.
Yes it’s been a Christmas holiday but even so it’s now 12/13 days !!

Yesterday phoned Dobbies again and was rudely told I had to collect it before it could be returned.Turned out I was speaking to the General Manager. If she’s rude to customers there’s no hope.
First excuse was that they’d been busy. I’d been in the day before and it was very quiet.

Even John Lewis confirmed Dobbies should have returned the parcel after not being collected when 7 days was up. General Manager just kept speaking loudly over me.

John Lewis have even spoke to her but the only thing she’s done since is put it through that I’ve collected my parcel!
I’ve not collected it and it’s not been returned.

We popped into dobbies Beaconsfield today because we were in the area, it was freezing not just outside but inside, we looked around very quickly and picked up a few items, when we went to pay the staff were completely freezing, they said they haven't had heat for 4 years in the winter, even their printer wouldn't work it gave an error of too cold.
They were having a delivery of house plants while we were there, and the staff were having to cover them in fleece it was so cold.
There is no way we could spend anymore time browsing it was so cold, but expecting staff to be able to function in that temperature is dreadful, dobbies...you need to do better

firstly re christmas our local dobbies boston tried hard they even got the dulux digby dog to come so kids could see santa and have pictures with the lovely fluffy dog (a real one) sadly i dont think there has been the footfall of kids around this year but it was a lovely try.
re the restaurant. i see quite a few adverse remarks and felt i would like to address some. we go frequently often several times a week. currently the team at boston led by Sarah are really friendly and helpful. its almost like a club as we generally see same faces so cant be bad or we wouldn't all keep regularly returning. not an easy job and as some mentioned probably not best paid but at boston they do try hard. i love soup and sandwich deal but often we take the pensioner £12 meal and cake deal which is a bargain. fish and chips is also really nice crisp batter and good fish not the white fish served in some places to save cost. there are peeks and troughs so its hard to manage the peaks and sometimes there a wait. they might say 30 minutes but its never been more than 10-15 for us. i think sometimes their supply deliveries let them down as occasionally some item not available but we are happy and keep going back as I said so do many others. good overall selection. excellent team

I have visited Dobbies in Wendover for the past few years and have always enjoyed the experience. 3 kids under 6 yrs old. However, this year we chose to visit the Beaconsfield store, which is closer to home, and the experience was extremely disappointing — especially given that it cost us over £50.

The walk-through area was much smaller than expected, despite there clearly being space for a larger and more engaging experience. The grotto where Santa sits was also far too small and could not comfortably fit our family inside.

I had booked months in advance to ensure a good time slot and had completely forgotten that I had pre-paid for the photo. This was not mentioned or offered during the grotto experience at all. Instead, a single photo was taken on our mobile phone by one of the elves. I only realised after leaving that I had actually pre-paid for a photo package that we never received.

Santa himself was very unconvincing. He spoke in a strong Cockney accent and did not stay in character, which made the experience feel inauthentic. He also pulled his beard down while talking and then insisted that Nanny sit on his lap, which made us very uncomfortable. As we left, my six-year-old was visibly shocked by Santa’s behaviour and began questioning her belief in Santa, which was upsetting for us as a family.

The elf who took the photo could clearly see my reaction and spent much of the time apologising for Santa’s behaviour.

Overall, the experience was not what we expected or paid for and was a significant let-down compared to previous visits to Dobbies.

Visit date: 20/12/25

Adolescent zombies obviously forced to perform a pathetic shambles of an underpaid,rude and incompetent service. In the Shadow of an invisible master who clearly doesn't grasp what ordinary people require when they spend the time and money to visit a 6th rate garden center. Watch re -runs of the test card if you want a more interesting day, DO NOT GO!!

The restaurant counter was understaffed and unsupervised, many menu items turned out to be unavailable, and cutlery was missing to be eventually replaced with items covered in drip marks. However the worst part of the experience was the undertrained assistant who decided to take it out on the customer. Asked for a tuna item she said NO TUNA, then asked for another panini she said NO PANINIS, then finally NEED A TABLE NUMBER. It wasn't a loud environment, it was her very poor attitude.
The substitute food wasn't too long coming and was OK apart from the absence of forks.

If you want a warm welcome and friendly customer service, I'd suggest going elsewhere.

No staff on coffee counters, as per usual there are just one person who are run off their feet, I felt so sorry for the young girl serving. Every time we come it is the same, queues a mile long!

Shocking in cafe today, no tea pots or cups or milk. When i asked if there was any i was rudly told no and would have to get them from the otherside where the que was massive! Is the point of having a coffee machine not so people dont have to wait?? There was no one at the till? The tables were rotten and full of dishes. We left our cakes and walked out.

Ordered a traditional breakfast at Shrewsbury branch , "just to let you know we don't have any beans, tomatoes or mushrooms" lol We have 3 big supermarkets within yards, wouldn't it be a great idea for the manager to send a member of staff for emergency supplies , I mean no wonder you are closing stores like no tomorrow

Over a period of many years , this is the first time I have had cause to complain re the restaurant. Today we ordered the new addition to the menu, beef burger with chips etc, the meals arrived after approx 15 minutes, at best the chips could only be described as warm, i enquired , where is the coleslaw, the reply was, the chef said we have no coleslaw, no apology, this meal should have been stated as unavailable. At £12+ per meal, this was unacceptable

Wow, what an absolutely wonderful visit we had to see Father Christmas at Thornbury today. We picked the last slot of the day so it was nice and quiet and we were welcomed by a wonderful happy elf who guided us around the different little games that the children could play and the photo opportunities.
I wasn’t sure how well our 3 year old would take to it but he absolutely loved it and our 8 year old was so excited. Once we got to Father Christmas he was utterly delightful and chatted with them for ages and was telling them all kinds of things, they were mesmerised. We got lots of photos on our phones and didn’t feel rushed or like we couldn’t take pictures like some places and the lovely Elf took a more professional photo and printed it and we had it put in a beautiful snowflake shaker frame which we will absolutely treasure. I just wanted to thank the Elf and wonderful Father Christmas for making a precious memory that will last a lifetime for us and our children. I would absolutely recommend this beautiful experience.