Northampton Garden Centre — Local services in Great Britain

Went there a few months back with family that had come all the way from Swindon with two small children, chose to come here because of the play area . When we asked if the children could go in we were told no as there would be a party being held there in a couple of hours??? Went back there today with my daughter and grown up granddaughter and they were hungry so we visited the cafe. As we had a small dog with us we asked before entering if we could bring the dog with us, the manager said yes and shown us where to sit. We ordered and it came to £25 for two meals and a coffee and slice of cake (Dry). As I was paying the woman behind the counter said we could not sit there as we had a dog with us, I explained we had asked and were told to sit just there. We just got sat down with knives forks etc. when we were asked to leave that table and they would sit us at the very end of the dining area. As the manager was moving the table the girl and older woman who had served us stood there smirking...needless to say the food didn't go down well or the treatment we received. All they had to do was to say sorry no you can't bring the dog in. Where we sat in the first place there was nothing or no one to bother but where they moved us to was right next to the cake stand????? My little dog is as good as gold (and bathed regular) more than what could be said for some of the children in there screaming and running about! Very disappointed with the whole situation that could have been avoided with a simple 'No sorry'. Plants will be bought from Crick Nursery from now on and I will use the Harleston Firs Wyevale cafe who do cater for...

I was looking forward to visiting the newly opened garden centre to see it's improvements over the previous Dobbies. However, my 8 month old baby needed a nappy change when we arrived and were disgusted to find that in the hast of opening the garden centre, they neglected to include any baby change facilities whilst they refurbish the toilets. The only available toilets are a cabin and portaloo outside with no changing facilities.

This is disgraceful for a place with softplay, where parents with small children are encouraged to visit and bring their babies. To not have any changing facility is unhygienic - either leaving the dirty nappy on the baby, or changing the baby on the cafe tables (I chose the latter). Until the toilets have finished the refurbishments (they were in dire need of refurbishment), I can't recommend this place to go with a baby and it seems like management's greed of opening as quickly as possible is higher priority than the hygiene of our most precious babies. We visited 3rd May 2025.

On a positive note, the newly decorated cafe does have a nicer feel and the menu looks quite...

Restaurant is a health hazard! I ordered a fish finger baguette as it was past 11.30 (as we had spent some considerable waiting in the queue and the breakfast menu had finished in that time). When the fish finger sandwich came it was totally cold. I took it back and spoke to the manager. He didn't apologise but just said we will send another one. Second one arrived minutely warmer in places but still basically cold. We then took it back and my husband spoke to the same manager. He never even apologised and was quite intimidating, rude and held us in complete contempt. We could have put it down to a mistake if the second one came out hot, but we think IMMEDIATE staff training is in order on how to heat food in order to ensure you don't make anyone ill and also a reminder that in this climate customer service is even more important (especially as eating out especially at Dobbie's is a tad expensive) and treating your customers with utter contempt does not make someone want to return. What a shame as we came to have a lovely afternoon and treat ourselves to some...