Dobbies Garden Centre York — Local services in Great Britain

Great little cafe with a bonus garden centre attached!

Like a great deal of the population, I enjoy spending many a morning mooching around garden centres. Leafing through the plants, digging for those hidden bargains, and rooting out the perfect present for green-fingered loved ones. My dad used to take me out to the cafe at Dean's growing up, now I go with my mum of a morning; sometimes just for a wander around and a catch up, occasionally for some bedding plants or a rose as well. Always for a coffee and cake; I got the impression most of the other clientele were in a similar situation - a morning out, refreshments, maybe a plant or two.

Today we signed up for a Dobbies Card. It costs just £12 (!) and for that you get 10% off all plants, a birthday treat, and two free hot drinks every month!! That is incredible value, even if you're just going for the cafe, and not buying anything. Plus I'm sure I got more than 10% off the plant I got my mum! The registration process was fairly straightforward.

The only criticism of the whole place is the random slope from the checkout to the door. Why they haven't done anything about it I do not know. Also the car park is a minefield. I was pushing the empty trolley back to front of the store when I hit a pothole that can only be described as vertiginous, having stopped moving forward, I walked into the trolley and injured my leg. We wouldn't have parked so far away, but my mum was getting her car valeted. £25 inside and out and we left the keys with...

I’m local to Dobbies in York and enjoy the savings with my Dobbies loyalty card which also gives us two free hot drinks each month as a bonus as well as accumulating points on all spending which then generates a voucher to get further savings on purchases, Dobbies have a very impressive range of plants and other garden products as well as an aquatic centre , also selling pet and bird feeding products, I have to say that I find many prices too high when compared to many other competitors eg. supermarkets and larger diy stores and people do compare which will affect sales, I find the cafe prices way too high for cakes, scones etc. And don’t represent value for money, in my opinion. I always check the in store Sainsburys when I’m at Dobbies and will buy something most times, Pauline, one of the ladies in there is very friendly and helpful and always has time to welcome people into the store which does make me want to buy while there 🤣🤣 there’s a chap in there called Dan who is also very helpful and welcoming I’ve discovered that we support the same football team so alway have something to chat about while I’m there . I’ll do think that a look at the pricing policy in some areas would make you more competitive and increase sales. Hope this is deemed constructive and...

Visited the garden centre and cafe today. On the positive side the plants and other products were really good and nicely displayed, I'm afraid that's where it ends. The cafe shelves and surroundings were dirty, if I hadn't already ordered lunch for myself and family I would've left, it looked like there had been a leak in the ceiling which had run down the walls and no sign of it been remedied. The staff in the cafe all looked like they wanted to be somewhere else, no pleasant customer service at all, one member of staff bellowed that someone's tea was ready to collect, and when it wasn't collected a different member of staff walked empty handed to the very last table (which I might add was directly opposite the men's toilets) to tell them their pot of tea was ready!! The food was poor, egg sandwiches were tasteless and no water cress in them also the bread wasn't fresh and it was only 12:30,the pots of tea were okay but that's all. The roof above the indoor plants etc near the tills looked ready for falling down, all in all not a good experience apart from the lovely plants. We won't be back, that cost me £35 what a...