Hackney City Farm — Attraction in London

Hackney City Farm itself is quaint and a nice pocket of farm life in the heart of the city but the adult pottery classes are complete chaos!!! I appreciate you get what you pay for to an extent, standard taught pottery classes are usually over 100pounds but my experience was full of frustration.

There is no set start time for the class, people arrive sporadically and a rationed clump of wet clay is dumped in your hand and you are left to your own devices. When I askied Rob (a cross between Captain Jack Sparrow and Wurzel Gummidge) for the slightest bit of guidance I was met with huffing, puffing and grumbling incoherent instructions.

When you return the following week to glaze your pot you are pointed towards towers of trays of incorrectly dated pottery and in my case my pot was either stolen, smashed or lost. I was then told to take someone elses pot as long as it didn't have a name on it which just perpetuates the problem for someone else.

Improvements can be made to make this a more pleasant experience for all those involved.

set the start time for 7.15pm so that gives the class time to arrive and sit them all down to explain what is happening instead of a free for all which requires Rob to have to explain the same thing over and over.

Clear the work space of all old pottery and explain at the start of the class that if their pots are not picked up within 30days they will be discarded so that provides more space for everyone to work.

create clear labels with the correct dates and keep a record of attendees of each class to cross reference when...

Terrible service at the city farm cafe today. I was spoken to in a very rude and aggressive manner by the young woman serving me, pigtails, grey t-shirt, and came away feeling quite speechless. Firstly, whilst waiting at the counter to be served, I picked up a dough ball from the counter and when the woman saw me she said, in a cutting and sharp tone "did you just take one of those? You do know you have to pay for that?" I had every intention of paying. Then once my order was ready, even though she could see I was holding a baby, she put my tray of food down in an awkward and inaccessible place where i was unable to pick it up.When I asked if she could bring it closer she slammed it down on the counter in front of me without so much as looking at me then walked away. This is not the sort of treatment I expect when spending £25 on lunch in a cafe. It was hugely disrespectful and made for a very unpleasant lunch experience. I had asked who the manager was to speak to someone directly at the time but was unable to in the end. Something should be done to improve staff customer service skills as the food at the farm is great and the farm itself a great place to visit...

I visited the farm on Sunday and left feeling disturbed. I grew up on a farm myself so I’m used to the environment and aware on how the animals should be cared for. Firstly, it’s a busy farm and there was NOT ONE MEMBER OF STAFF around keeping their eye on the animals; children were terrorising chickens, trying to pick them up in dangerous ways, there was also a man being really rough with one of the donkeys, there should have been members of staff around to safeguard the animals and to educate visitors on how they should be handled. The farm was filthy and none of the animals had fresh drinking water, the pens and coups were full of faeces and flies. There was not enough shade for the animals outside and many did not look in a good condition. I picked up one small chicken which was almost unconscious and moved it into the shade, it was limp and clearly unwell, again there were no staff members around to report this to. Overall and more so on reflection it was an upsetting visit, animals should be cared for first and foremost otherwise what is the point of the farm- I seriously hope it’s a non-profit organisation otherwise its clear the money isn’t being...