The Haven Ferry Cafe — Restaurant in England

The staff discriminate against disabled customers. I am a carer for a disabled elderly gentleman who accompanied me to the cafe yesterday. For the record of the complaint the incident was at 13:00 on 28th February 2025. My disabled friend was refused service.

I have frequented this cafe for 10 years and have brought my disabled friend there on numerous occasions without issue. However, yesterday we were confronted at the service counter by a rude and aggressive middle-aged woman. I have no recollection of ever seeing her before at the cafe. After I completed my order, breakfast and tea, the ugly character behind the counter berated my friend for not speaking up directly with his order. My friend is late into his 9th decade, is frail, suffering multiple co-morbidities including difficulty hearing, seeing, and speaking. Despite his condition he is able and can communicate sufficiently to order food albeit slowly. His hesitation in ordering was momentary, as we had already discussed and decided he was ordering his usual scrambled eggs on toast and tea.

This disgrace of a woman, after attacking my disabled friend for his hesitation in reading the menu, turned to me with the words "So you're ordering only for one then? Are you two together?". My friend had entered the cafe first, I followed and made my order over his shoulder. We were clearly together there for breakfast, my friend clearly was reading the menu, but she made no allowance and took no care of his obviously disabilities. It was effectively a refusal to serve a disabled person.

Feeling threatened by the overt aggression and hostility, the rudeness and lack of civility, we understood disabled customers are unwelcome, and left. This review will be followed up by formal complaints to the relevent authorities. I request the owner of the cafe to keep the CCTV recordings of the incident. Legal action against the cafe is reserved for all failures to operate lawfully regarding the incident and subsequent to the complaint.

The complaint against the cafe is also served by...

Haven Special Breakfast served all day until 4pm. My favourite, dare I say the best, breakfast served in Dorset. I've made it my mission to discover breakfast options in South Dorset and the Haven Cafe wins. Rick Steins down the road doesn't come close and that's after I engaged the kitchen with what was wrong, then their management, but they couldn't be bothered to correct the horrendous mistakes on their plates. Steins had basic wrongs with the food that would have Gordon Ramsay commit murder.

Alright back to glorious Haven Cafe, the dining room is booth style with comfortable seating and very clean toilet. The staff, I mean the chef and her commis, are awesome. Relaxed, chatty, witty and interested, the staff are the best you could hope for. I breakfast there a lot. The cafe is glass fronted so I see plenty tourists from out of town peer inside to see if they want to eat here. All the time they decide to come in and I see how they enjoy their good decision. Simply a very good place for breakfast, brunch, a sandwich or salad, coffee, tea, or soda pop.

Highly recommended. A very good...

Never been treated so poorly in a cafe. After reading the good reviews we decided to pop in for some lunch before heading out for the day with our 5 year old twins and 1 year old baby. The google info says 'good for kids' so we thought it would be ideal. On arrival we noticed a sticker in the door saying 'dogs welcome, kids must be kept on a leash', which we thought was odd but must be a joke, I now don't think it was. As we walked in we were immediately greeted with animosity, the staff did not welcome us (not even a hello) or help us with a table and we were just stared at. I asked where I could find the high chairs and one of the ladies said we don't have any! then walked out the back leaving us staring at each. We could not believe it. Then had to explain to our twins why we could not eat here and had to leave. No one even apologised. Would highly advise you do not go here if you have children as you will not be made welcome and won't be able to eat unless you have brought your own high chair. The google info needs to be updated asap....