Trading Post Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in Great Britain

Experienced here marred by abhorrent behaviour of manager. On holiday in Brighton, girlfriend and I love to find a good flat white and found this place. A few doors down is a lovely bric a brac shop with a photo machine, and since I hadn't been using cash at all and didn't have a penny I asked the lovely staff here if they wouldn't mind charging me an extra £3 to my card with my two flat whites to give me some change, which they generously did. This was late in the day, the bric a brac shop was closed after our coffee and so I couldn't spend my £3 in the photo machine. The next day after a walk on the pier we came straight back for a coffee, had a flat white on the terrace then went back to the bric-a-brac place to take our photo at the photo machine. Only then discovered that one of the pound coins given to us was a Euro. So I left my girlfriend sitting in the photo booth and ran back to swap my Euro for a quid. The shop was busy, the lovely girl on the counter was happy to fix things but couldn't open the till so needed the manager. Manager then outrightly refused to swap my Euro for a pound coin. I explained that I wasn't using cash, so the money definitely came from here, and, a bit flustered made it clear that I'd been in the day before and that there was nowhere else I could have got this Euro from. The manager then became rude and somewhat aggressive, and flatly refuesed to swap my Euro for a pound coin! She had various excuses, at one point saying it would 'have to come out of tips', whatever that had to do with me, and that I should have come in the day before, which obviously I would have if I'd noticed. A simple mistake escalated to me then becoming nervous and annoyed with not being able to get my pound coin and with an extremely embarrassing situation in a busy coffee shop. I persisted, as I was an am absoutely confident that the Euro came from this shop, and the manager then started to ignore me and serve other customers - quite disgusting and made a tense situation evern worse.

It was a strange, agressive, humiliating experience which completely foreshadowed the the otherwise lovely staff and service in this place, and obviously I can not recommend a single good point about this place given this treatment.

I can only think that perhaps because of the obvious high number of people asking for money on the street in Brighton, and my appearance of having long somewhat dishevelled hair that this manager thought that I'd perhaps found a euro and wanted a pound for a 'cup of tea' - which would be strange as I'd spent £15 in this shop in the previous 24 hours just on coffee and cakes.

Disgusting behaviour - perhaps a sad comment on the attitude of people and businesses in Brighton to the presence of people asking for money. Needless to say after the distress of this moment we did not feel like taking pictures in the photo booth and the next few hours of our holiday taken with getting over completely needless distress...

My partner and I fancied a drink before heading back to London and, being familiar with Trading Post—with my partner having had positive experiences at other branches—we decided to stop by this location. Unfortunately, the experience here didn’t live up to our expectations.

The woman behind the counter seemed visibly unhappy, giving the impression that she’d rather be anywhere else. This was well before closing time, so there was no reason for such a rushed or dismissive attitude.

When she served our drinks, we thanked her as we normally would, but instead of a polite response, she simply placed the drinks on the table in silence, without so much as a smile or acknowledgment.

We don’t expect over-the-top enthusiasm, but even a basic level of courtesy goes a long way. It was a disappointing contrast to the friendly service we’ve received at other branches.

UPDATE - Response to Trading Posts reply:

Thank you for taking the time to reply, but I feel your response misses the point of my original feedback. Suggesting that customers "distracting staff" could damage the experience for others shifts the blame onto the customer, even if unintentionally. That framing is both disappointing and inappropriate — especially when, as you say, “it is never the customer’s fault for being themselves.”

If the issue lies with how staff handle interactions, then the focus should be on improving staff training and responses, not implying that a customer’s natural behavior is “distracting” (we simply ordered drinks, not sure where the distracting part came from?!?). I would have appreciated a more sincere acknowledgment of that, rather than a...

Deeply Disappointing and Insensitive Experience

We had an incredibly upsetting experience at this coffee shop while visiting with our 13-year-old niece, who is terminally ill and in a wheelchair.

After we sat down and spent around £40 on food and drinks, a staff member abruptly told our niece she wasn’t allowed to have the nearly-finished bubble tea she had brought with her. The way this was handled was cold and completely lacking in compassion, left her in tears.

It didn’t stop there. She’d picked the corner off a croissant, and when we asked for it to be warmed up, staff refused. We weren’t asked when purchased the croissant, whether we would like it heated. I ended up buying a second one and specifically asked for it to be heated, but by then my niece was too upset to eat it.

The table we were given was also covered in dirty plates and cups. Despite staff seeing us, no one came to clear it. After five minutes of being ignored, we cleaned it ourselves.

Our niece left feeling humiliated, and we left angry and disappointed. There was a complete lack of basic kindness and care, something you would hope any business, especially one serving the public, would show to a visibly unwell child. This experience was genuinely distressing and should never...