Hillier Garden Centre Eastbourne Reviews Summary

Garden Centre

Pros:

• "This is a BRILLIANT garden centre."
• "A large garden centre that has virtually everything a gardener could need."
• "The garden centre is very well stocked with quality summer bedding, shrubs, herbaceous plants and loads more."
• "Large destination garden centre, excellent cafe, very large outdoor plant area with a huge range of very good quality plants."
• "Fab garden centre. Really well stocked with lots of variety."
• "Lovely garden centre. Well laid out and easy to move around."
• "What a beautiful garden centre & very big."

Cons:

• "Inside feels more like Matalan, with a very small, unimaginative selection of houseplants."
• "The actual garden centre itself can get quite crowded inside, but distancing can be maintained if people actually pay attention to their surroundings."
• "Good quality plants presented in a soulless, sterile environment."
• "It seem that this store is becoming less of a garden centre and focusing more as a shopping centre."
• "It looked more like a food and shopping outlet than a garden centre."
• "It used to be good but not now it's ok if you want to buy a pair of shoes or a coat or some other silly thing I certainly wouldn't call it a garden centre more like a supermarket."
• "The layout is confusing, there were no signs indicating that everything has to be paid for at the two tills just before the exit."

Cafe and Restaurant

Pros:

• "Restaurant excellent service at till, food good, clean tidy tables, floor and toilet clean."
• "The poached eggs were really good, and other half enjoyed eggs benedict."
• "Great cafe with an excellent range of both hot and cold food."
• "The cafe is great with good food and good service."
• "Very nice. Had lunch in the restaurant which was good - freshly cooked and tasty."
• "Well done Hilliers, we had Sunday lunch today Roast turkey it was so good, nicely cooked and presented."
• "We enjoyed coffee and scones."

Cons:

• "The Christmas sale was poor and disappointing."
• "The restaurant food wasn't so good, we had sausage and mash which was nice but the fish and chips were inedible."
• "The service was terrible as were the cheese scones."
• "Really disappointed, the new cafe and servery looks great but the service is extremely painful and slow."
• "The breakfast arrived after 50 mins and was cold and no one returned with a butter portion for the toast."
• "Sadly, after the refurb, the cafe is now huge and impersonal."
• "Restaurant very poor on Sunday."

Pricing and Value

Pros:

• "There are bargains to be had, especially if you join the Gardening Club."
• "Some things are a bit expensive, but it's all top quality."
• "On site restaurant and coffee shop offering excellent food at reasonable prices."
• "Café clean and spacious, reasonably priced."

Cons:

• "I tend to avoid Hilliers because I find it considerably more expensive than others."
• "Cakes slightly over priced now but I suppose it is normal everywhere to pay £3.29 for one slice."
• "The price is too expensive for what you get, the food used to be so good, a couple of years ago, but the standard had really dropped."
• "BUT THE PRICES ARE EXTREMELY HIGH average £11 each for Focaccia or Roll and coffee x4 £45."
• "Went here to have tea and a cake... Extortionate prices. No atmosphere."

Customer Service

Pros:

• "Staff always smiling and quick on the tills."
• "If you have a question or need help there is always a friendly member of staff to assist."
• "Staff are friendly and helpful."
• "Plenty of helpful, well informed staff."
• "The staff in the shops were very happy and helpful."
• "The member of staff who helped us was so good and helpful."
• "The staff have always been very helpful throughout and I would have no hesitation in recommending a visit here whether it be rain or shine."

Cons:

• "Very unhappy with the way we were spoken to on entering Hillier Garden Centre in Eastbourne."
• "Not very dog friendly either, which seems counterproductive for a garden centre."
• "The butcher (older butcher or the two) was so rude and argumentative, clearly has had zero customer service training."
• "Always good to look around when I visit my parents and to have a coffee and cake, unfortunately the staff at the coffee shop were not very customer service orientated and were bordering on being rude to my Mum."
• "Poor service at till."
• "No customer service and no focus in my opinion you have just lost a valued customer 😠"
• "Shocking communication and customer service, hilliers should think about out sourcing their butchery to someone else."

Accessibility and Facilities

Pros:

• "Large car park with disabled parking, full disabled access and toilets."
• "Hillier garden centre is very nice, it's roomy lots of choice very nice staff, very very good for disabled in fact the best garden centre I've seen."
• "Excellent car parking (especially for the disabled customers)."
• "Large free car park."
• "Plenty of parking space and a loyalty card scheme for regular customers."
• "Lots of parking space."
• "Disabled toilet is big enough for a disabled scooter to go into comfortably."

Cons:

• "Being elderly with a disability I found them not very helpful."
• "Tables are too close together, not wheelchair or walker friendly at all."
• "Would have been 5 star but for the lack of any parent baby parking."