Birkacre Garden Centre Reviews Summary

Product Variety

Pros:

• "Has loads of different plants some which I’ve never heard of."
• "They have tons of stuff other than plants so I usually come out with plants plus some artisan food, Christmas decorations, etc."
• "This is a large garden centre great selection of plants and garden furniture."
• "The garden centre offers a good variety of plants and products."
• "It has everything you can think of, plus a beautiful cafe."
• "A well laid out classic modern nursery, that caters for people looking to potter around looking for plants and garden accessories of which there are plenty of choices."
• "Good choice of sizes and colours of orchid pots and containers."

Cons:

• "Unfortunately it also means their prices are outrageous."
• "I find it personally quite expensive, but tell me of a garden centre that isn't."
• "Some well priced, but the odd eye watering price: £10.99 for a small pot of Forget-Me-Nots!!"
• "Stock is expensive, but there are some nice things for sale."
• "Bit pricey but nice range of plants available."
• "Needs to be careful that it remains primarily as a Garden centre and not taken over with more non gardening items."
• "Unfortunately they didn't have in stock what we were after."

Customer Service

Pros:

• "The girls that served us were lovely and happy and nothing was too much trouble."
• "Every interaction I have had at the garden centre has been outstanding."
• "The whole team were very helpful."
• "Staff were excellent and helpful and the price was very competitive."
• "They really raised the bar on customer service, nothing was too much trouble."
• "Very welcoming friendly staff who go out of their way to help you."
• "The staff are cheerful and helpful."

Cons:

• "We waited at our table for 15 mins and nobody came and our neighbours had received their drinks and waited 30 mins for their meals and were still waiting."
• "Poor service. We were seated quite quickly and were explained to that the cafe was operating on a reduced menu. When we were ready to order, we waited for someone to come to our table. 15 minutes passed and still nobody came."
• "Don't go here for your Christmas tree - staff were clueless, didn't know about tree types, sizes or delivery."
• "Some staff didn't demonstrate much Christmas cheer and we were made to feel like naughty school children."
• "Absolutely disgusting behaviour from the cafe manager Leanne. She is obviously in the wrong job as customer service is not her strong point."
• "Terrible management of the store during a lockdown."
• "The staff were unfriendly, unaccommodating and rude."

Restaurant & Food Quality

Pros:

• "The restaurant provides again excellent wheelchair access and good tables for a wheelchair."
• "The food and drinks served are not only first class but good wholesome portions too and great value for money."
• "Went for lunch today to Birkacre garden centre. As a coeliac the menu was brilliant."
• "Food is lovely in the restaurant."
• "Scone with cream and jam, washed down with coffee (or tea) excellent."
• "The service and food are spot on and I feel very reasonable price."
• "The food was excellent."

Cons:

• "We had drinks and cake in the restaurant which I can honestly say was terrible one of the cakes was stale and had no taste and very dry."
• "Terrible food and service in the new restaurant, bread was dry, my kids sausages were shrivelled up burnt things, nothing nice or nothing that says quality about the food."
• "Breakfast nice but waitress constantly (7 times) wiping her nose on her hand and not washing her hands."
• "Since the renovation the service has become very poor waiting for over 20 minutes for scrambled egg on toast and a full breakfast."
• "The meat had started to dry under the lamps."
• "The chef did admit that he puts the sandwiches under heat lamps before they get taken by waiting staff! Probably explains the nasty dry bread. Food not fresh."
• "The replacement breakfast was microwave d to an inch of its life, clearly the chef was trying to make a point."

Accessibility & Facilities

Pros:

• "Compact garden centre with plenty of stock outside."
• "Excellent wheelchair access throughout the store and garden centre."
• "There is also a small play area for children outdoors should you wish to let them blow off some steam!"
• "Should you need a break there is a very nice cafe with both indoor and outdoor seating available."
• "The restaurant light, airy and spacious with seating outside."
• "The admission of dogs is a bonus as the centre is placed close to some lovely walks."
• "A lovely garden centre with a restaurant however advanced booking is necessary to avoid disappointment. A great garden centre with all the things you need for your garden and even for your rubbish bin. Ample parking space mostly crowded with people during weekend and bank holidays."

Cons:

• "Parking gets busy."
• "Parking terrible, unsafe especially with small children, prams or wheelchairs."
• "The postcode doesn't take you to the correct place on sat nav."
• "However I did note that there is no public wifi which perhaps the owners need to reconsider."
• "Another suggestion is that there should be more disabled parking bays."
• "Difficult to navigate around the garden centre, terrible parking which made us late."
• "Nice place but they need a traffic light system instead of herding about 30 people into a small area therefore splitting families up."

Christmas Experience

Pros:

• "Absolutely fantastic. Christmas displays are outstanding."
• "A very pleasant experience, lovely garden centre, I really enjoyed their Christmas 🎄 grotto. The restaurant and food were wonderful 😋."
• "Excellent Christmas displays, as well as appropriately priced decorations."
• "Visited today. Birkacre gets better every Christmas."
• "Best Christmas displays and activities ever. We were blown away at how much effort has been put into putting the wonder into Christmas."
• "Love it here. Went around Christmas time and there were great displays, lots of things to look at and not too pricey."
• "Gorgeous Christmas display every year without fail!"

Cons:

• "Don't go here for your Christmas tree - staff were clueless, didn't know about tree types, sizes or delivery."
• "Terrible management of the store during a lockdown."
• "Additionally this year all displays were down and the items were out in some form of ‘warehouse’ style which made it feel cheap."
• "Very disappointing today, we have been coming at the end of December for many years... Today it was being ripped down, no access to the new ice cave interior train ride etc the large area at the back seemed like a warehouse."
• "Took our grandson to see the Xmas decorations and displays certainly not a patch on past years."
• "I wasnt very impressed with the inside of the garden centre and was very disappointed considering it had 5 star rating."
• "Complete rip off."