Dobbies Garden Centres - Preston Reviews 369

One star for being open.

Restaurant is a let down due to being told it takes 15 minutes to make a brew, and to then que for 20 minutes while having to dry our own cutlery.

The 50% sale is a farce. Nothing is labelled correctly or in any sort of order.

A very disappointing visit. I doubt we will be visiting again

IT not longer seems like a garden centre full of everything but gardening items

Visited Dobbie's at Preston today, very disappointing. The whole place was freezing cold, plants were so very expensive. The restaurant was chaotic, no staff to serve you. The whole place felt cheerless, especially when so near to Christmas. We feel that it is running up to closure. Will not visit again.

My family used to be great fans of our local Dobbies, in the last year or so it has changed so much and is now a shadow of its former self. There are stains all over the floors, cobwebs on the ceilings and many empty shelves. It really gives the feeling of a business about to close. In the cafe the seats are worn and cracked, the menu is limited and the beverages less than appealing. The hot chocolate was more like hot water with a hint of chocolate, the scones are bitter tasting and dry. It is now December and Dobbies used to be brilliantly festive, there is no centre piece this year, just a haphazard selection of generic and cheap looking decorations stacked warehouse style with little consideration of a display. It lacked any atmosphere. So many other departments had great gaps in their shelves which gave an end of line feeling to the items there. The food hall is now run by Waitrose, again great spaces with no products. A collection of chest freezers with very few items inside (one had four items in it and one was completely empty) and yet they were all powered up which seems environmentally wrong and a waste of money. The day we went the boiler was broken, the store was so cold and it was not a pleasant experience. It was a depressing experience.

Was pleasantly surprised to see that the store had a good selection of Xmas decorations to rival a nearby competitor. The store was bright and welcoming. We had coffee and a nice cake but the cafe area is sadly looking a little tired but the staff were warm and welcoming. Also managed to bag some bargain bulbs -=always a bonus!

Had our free drink thank you , the garden area was getting ready for Father Christmas.

Preston branch. Bought new slippers from Pavers, good service. Bought a jacket in Joules, no service. Bought books for Fylde Xmas present appeal.
Building very cold this morning. Had to keep coats on in the cafe. Poor choice of tray bakes. Worst of all was the music/advertising loudspeakers - too loud, too intrusive. I just wanted to get out as quickly as possible, which is surely not what Dobbies want. I complained to two staff but both seemed to just shrug off my comments. Music played in stores should be instrumental not vocal (we want to concentrate on what we are doing) and quiet so you want to stay, not run out screaming.

Great staff

We have a Dobbies card&go to the restaurant for our free drinks & usually food to.always have a look around & buy something.love Cotton Traders&Regatta

The variety of products available in store was good and the overall cleanliness also good. The entire store was made accesable to all. The cafe had a great menu and cake selection. We tried the triple chocolate cake, biscoff cheese cake and plain scone. The cake was delicious, the scone was fresh and light and the cheese cake was scrumptious. The pot of tea had a lovely strong flavour however, the hotchoxlate let it down. It tasted OK but I have made much better at home with cheap cocoa powder so ot was just below average! The table was clear of mess and dirt but very sticky... all in all a 4 star experience.

Lovely day out meal which was freshly made free coffee with my points .Thankyou Dobbies.
Visited ready frozen meals to try from food hall .
Great ideas for Christmas from the gifts 🎁 department looking fab so all in all well done Dobbies🙏

Picked up a few bargains, and very much enjoyed fish and chip lunch - nice light, crunchy batter.

Got a drink and a scone with my freind sat there quarter of a hour waiting for scone. I went to till only to be told did they not tell you that you had to get your own scone I said no. So needed to buy another drink as drunk the first one

The service at the cafe is awful. We generally go at quieter times yet the staff are unable to cope. The cafe looks like a staff canteen and the out door space is awful. Seeing it is a garden centre I would expect planted up beds, not weeds. The coffee is good though. Very few plants in the garden centre, I know a lot of this is due to the time of year but it looked desolate.

The range of products was extensive and of good quality. I wasn't expecting to buy any plants at this visit, but the value for money meant I did. Combined with the good choice of food in the café, it was a very good day.

I had lunch and bought some garden things. Lunch was delicious (scampi and chips). All the staff I encountered were friendly, helpful and very professional, a credit to the company. I’m a wheelchair user and found the store very accessible