Jodrell Bank Reviews Summary

Exhibitions and Interactive Experiences

Pros:

• "Very interesting place, lots of interactive exhibits."
• "Enjoyed walking around the wildlife garden as much as seeing the planetarium shows - one of which was free on the history and narrated by Brian Cox."
• "Amazing place, we loved the exhibitions, which were really informative."
• "Great presentation on the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landings - brilliant and engaging for kids and adults alike."
• "The new First Light visitor experience is brilliant, really interesting and very interactive."
• "There were plenty of hands on science experiments and interactive exhibits."
• "The interactive displays are numerous and provide a great insight into the history of the site."

Cons:

• "The interactive exhibits, whilst interesting, weren’t numerous enough to keep kids amused for long enough."
• "I felt that the interactive exhibits didn't always explain things clearly enough."
• "Poor value for money in my opinion - Jodrell Bank need to up their game."
• "Other than one activity building and a very small play area in the gardens there isn't much to keep the young ones entertained."
• "A missed opportunity. Not enough to keep you busy for too long."
• "Outdoor gravity and centrifugal demonstrations didn't work well."
• "But something is missing. The dome shows cost £6 a person, and they are animated shows for kids."

Cafe and Food Options

Pros:

• "The cafe serves delicious food."
• "Also really excellent cafe with good food and delicious cakes."
• "The café food was delicious and hot, with staff here and everywhere else ensuring good ventilation in these troubling times."
• "Decent cafe to grab some light lunch and a drink."
• "The cafe serves lovely coffees and a range of sandwiches and cakes making for a great overall experience."
• "Food in the cafe is excellent with a good vegetarian range."
• "The cafe is lovely, great food, the staff are super friendly."

Cons:

• "Nice cafe but slow and surly, bored looking staff who correct your pronunciation of items."
• "Food, like most tourist places, is overpriced, though there are good picnic outdoor and indoor areas."
• "The cafe was a bit overpriced £4.50 for a pie, which put me off."
• "We skipped the cafe as there was a long queue."
• "There is a cafe which as with a lot of these places was very overpriced over £7 for drink of pop cake and hot chocolate."
• "Service was very pleasant. However, as there was only one person serving, it was a little on the slow side."
• "Cafe was dreadful. £5 for beans on toast!"

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Staff were so helpful and knowledgeable. They were so engaging."
• "All the staff were very friendly and seemed genuinely interested in the work Jodrell bank does."
• "The staff were very friendly and helpful when we visited and happy to explain things in a child-friendly way."
• "We spoke to the staff who made the trip even more enjoyable due to their enthusiasm and knowledge."
• "Staff really friendly and always happy to help and educate."
• "Happy helpful staff."
• "All the staff were friendly n helpful n willing 2 answer questions."

Cons:

• "Our grandson wasn't given anything despite us seeing children who had arrived later being given workbooks to use."
• "Staff in cafe didn't seem that bothered about serving or the customers."
• "Despite my husband and I clearly needing and using mobility aids we were told that we definitively had to follow the one way system despite there being nobody else there!"
• "Negative was when asked for extra tea bag I got charged for two teas."
• "Then we come to the cafe, very expensive and odd prices and drink sizes."
• "Pity a couple of the external interactive pieces were broken while we were there."
• "Facilities-wise they were struggling to cope with the numbers over half term, especially in rainy weather."

Value and Pricing

Pros:

• "£12 an adult, which are Annual Tickets, and visit free of charge for the rest of the year which isn't too bad to see a UNESCO site."
• "Plus the online bought ticket is for a whole year! Definitely will be coming back."
• "Booked tickets online to get 'Annual entry'. No wait to get in and even caught the planetarium show which we thought we would miss; highly recommended!"
• "If you intend to return get your tickets online as this qualifies for free entry for a year."
• "Best £7.70 spent in a long time."
• "A not too expensive day out which is very enjoyable and educational."
• "Parking is free and entrance fees to the exhibition are reasonable with some concessions."

Cons:

• "That's a lot of money when it's already cost about £50 to get in."
• "The only thing that may hold people back is that the day out was a little pricey, our experience did cost £40 for two people."
• "For £12 each, the last hour of the opening times seemed a bit steep, plus the £4 for the parking on top (in a near empty car park for approx 1.5 hours)."
• "£2.45 for a bottle of coke was the tip of the iceberg."
• "Great place for a couple of hours however I can't score more than 3* as its ludicrously expensive."
• "Not worth the £22 family ticket price I paid for 3 people... providing the garden and play area was closed."
• "Its got a lot more expensive. 1 adult 1 child £24 to get in."