GAIL's Bakery Dulwich Village — Restaurant in London

My 10-Year-Old Son Was Left in Tears at Gail’s Dulwich Village

This morning at Gail’s in Dulwich Village, my 10-year-old son walked in confidently to buy a bacon sandwich, a drink, and a coffee for me while I parked nearby. He’s been to this café many times and felt comfortable going in on his own.

What happened next left him in tears.

Despite queuing up and waiting patiently at the counter, he was completely ignored by a staff member—a woman who served multiple adults who arrived after him, even someone who physically pushed ahead. She didn’t acknowledge him, not even when there were no other customers. He said “excuse me” several times, and she continued to overlook him. In his own words, “I felt invisible.”

After over 10 minutes of this, he returned to the car crying—humiliated and hurt. When I went in to ask why he hadn’t been served, the staff offered a flimsy excuse about thinking he was part of a group of children (a group that, by that point, was already seated and eating).

No proper apology. No reflection. Just a patronising “sorry” and a rude, shouty exchange with me when I asked for our takeaway order to finally be taken. They waived the cost of the coffee—an insulting gesture, as if a free drink could make up for the emotional impact on my son.

This wasn’t just bad service. This was exclusion, pure and simple. Whether it was because of his age or other assumptions they made about him, he was treated as if he didn’t belong. That’s not something I’ll stay silent about.

Children deserve to be treated with respect. They deserve to be seen.

I’m sharing this so other parents are aware, and so Gail’s takes real steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again—to my child or...

Very good cinnamon bun, good latté. There were two important things that I think can be improved, though. They had happened twice to me already so I think I need to express it here now. Staff were always in a hurry to clear the tables up and it happened to me twice - my take-away coffee were collected while I was away getting a glass of water! The first one happened approximately 4 months ago and the second one today at around 3:25pm. The staff in both ocassions did not acknowledge or even apologised. The staff today actually murmured when I turned away that he was only doing his job; he should have told me face to face.

On two separate ocassions, I came in in the evening or late afternoon to get a cinnamon bun and coffee. I saw the staff (first incident a staff with a head gear) picked up the cinnamon bun with his bare fingers; he couldn't be bothered to use the tongs! I asked for a replacement bun picked up by a pair of tongs. One late afternoon or summer evening, a barista (when I requested for drinking water) held the jug right on the spout!!!

These things are very critical, these practices have to be seriously re-evaluated.

By the way, I found it odd to be served with cold scones (in Dulwich Village, London), Gail's cannot heat the scones up for some food safety reasons. When scones are less than a day old - hence not leftovers and are kept or handled properly by staff (with tongs not bare fingers) i wonder if it is really a big issue to heat them up especially if these are eaten up by customers...

Came here to talk to a friend about some design work for our new church in Peckham (Bridge Church Peckham). I had a flat white and salted caramel dessert. He had a fruit tea. There was so much more we could have had. Very little of it would have been good for us! But all of it would have been delicious. You're not going to get a lot of help with your five a day here. But you will be tempted by a whole load of baking. The ambience and vibe of the venue is very Dulwich Village. And that's not a bad thing, honest. There was a bit of a mix of people enjoying their refreshments but mainly generationally rather than ethnically. The seating is comfortable but close. We were pretty comfortable talking about what the church is and what it's trying to do but others might be wary of their conversation being overheard. There's not much that Gail's can do about the shape of the building but, for me, the seating arrangement is just a little bland. However, it's not going to stop me coming back. There's free parking in the roads around. It's a village after all! It wasn't horrendously expensive. But it's not Gregg's! And I've become innoculated to the cost of a flat white. But I'd recommend. Go....