Dobbies Garden Centres Reviews 32,058

What a complete waste of money for the Santa experience for my grandson. Santa didn’t break a smile and hardly said a word to my grandson. £16, I would rather have taken him to a shop to get a decent gift instead of a cheap little game. So disappointed for him. Now I know why it was so quiet and we were the only people seeing Santa. Never again!!

Product failed within 24 hours. As I purchased online via click & collect Dobbies were unwilling to support in any way unless I went back to the location I collected from (hours away as collected after a business meeting)

Went to visit Santa Paws at Dobbies Sandyholm (Clyde Valley) yesterday and was shocked at what a poor experience this was for the money! We took our 8 year old son, new baby and elderly dog hoping to get a nice photo of all 3 together. On booking you are requested to list 3 hobbies/toys each child/dog enjoys. None of them received anything that they liked (surely a squeaky toy isn't hard to find for a pup-related event?) and in fact our 9 month old baby was given a toy for age 3+ . I'm glad we opened the gifts there and not whilst at home! I managed to complain to a manager who said all babies should get a cuddly toy, and he rushed off looking stressed and muttering about wrong gifts being given out. Our 8 year old son also received a gift for age 3+, a marble maze which was definitely more for younger children. Add to this a Santa Claus who's costume was appalling, visible elastic from his beard stretched across his cheek, elves who looked like they would rather be someplace else and didnt even want to pet the dog, the only excited one amongst us! Would not recommend taking young children here unless you want to spoil the magic of Christmas and get lots of questions asking if Santa is real. And worst of all we spent around £55 for the pleasure! We had to actually pay another £10 to get our photo with Santa!!! Dreadful. Go to one of the many other garden centres in the Clyde Valley who are head and shoulders ahead of this establishment for Christmas events.

I go to this garden centre on a regular basis and travel 20 miles to get there and always have a good experience.
I went on Friday 19 December 2925 and was horrified on entering the gents toilet to see the urinals which looked disgusting compared to the store normally
I was intending to upload an image but was unable the urinals we’re stained brown

We visited Santa's grotto and I must say, the very smiley elf who welcomed us was the start of a magical tour for my 5 year old. Fishing, ice hockey and making food for the reindeers was just some of the activities we did before visiting Santa. We thoroughly enjoyed our time and found the staff to be exceptionally friendly and happy to see us. Thanks for a memory im sure my boy will cherish for many a year.

I made a mistake and booked 1 child today to meet Santa and the other 3 children 2 weeks ago. We turned up today & the staff and manager were amazing even though it was fully booked. It would have ruined Christmas and would have been all my fault. But they bent over backwards and everyone was so welcoming and friendly!! They helped the magic of Christmas even more. Thank you so much.

Fabulous store wonderful staff
From door to door a warm family experience telford store is amazing friendly place merry Christmas to you all

We went to see Santa and they gave gift with no marbles in which is meant to have marbles in

Rubbish Wrapping Paper - Over priced, poor quality products

The staff where lovely BUT the “living” Christmas tree I bought which was supposed to keep its needles dyed dispite watering it daily
A week till Christmas and I think it will be needless by Christmas Day.

I booked two Christmas lunches here over the festive period. At the first lunch the general meal was ok but the sprouts were very overcooked and grey looking. I later had stomach cramps which I think was the sprouts. The Manager and most of the staff were working hard but the service was slow with one waitress scrolling in her phone and eating food from the service desk. We were so disappointed with the meal that my husband sent a complaint. In the complaint he said that I had paid a deposit to go with friends the following week. We were told that the complaint would be passed on so assumed it would be acted on. The following week I visited with friends, again the Brussels sprouts were overcooked I asked for a replacement veg and was given peas which were fine. The turkey was dry and again the service slow. After years of coming to Dobbies as a member I will not be eating a Christmas meal here very disappointing. My husband sent a follow-up complaint but heard no more.

Went in the Southport Dobbbies and the restaurant needs serious reorganisation. Firstly it is confusing with all its different counters … one for hot, one for cakes and tea &coffee….one in the middle for extra cakes…one on the side for drinks and another hidden at the bottom end for serve-yourself tea and coffee. There was one poor woman on the cakes, tea & coffee side where a big queue was building up because she had to operate the coffee machine. Would be better if customers served themselves with the cakes because we had to wait for her. If we didn’t want the special coffee we could then go directly to the self-service tea/coffee at the end. This woman was run ragged and clearly very stressed out by practically throwing the cakes and drinks onto the tray (not her fault). They should have had two people on there. We were not impressed at all.

I bought around £10 worth of Christmas decorations, one very fragile - to the extent that 3 on the display were already broken. At the till I asked if they could be put in a paper bag and the glass one perhaps in a bit of bubblewrap to be told that would cost me another 10p! I didn't have my Dobbies card with me but going on past experience asked if they could trace it on my postcard - to which I received an abrupt 'No'.
This morning I bought a decoration in a charity shop which was immediately wrapped without my asking.

We called in for a drink and a snack. The table close to us looked like a chimps tea party had been there. Cake all over the floor,no attempt made to clear it.
Cakes didn't look that great, no sultana scones. Poor lady on the till was doing everything, hence the long queue. Most people ordered coffee which takes time to make. Although she was overworked she was extremely pleasant and not fazed by the situation. Young girl popped her head round the corner but then continued talking and laughing to someone else.
The whole place is soulless.
It needs a manager capable of organising the available staff.
Will never go again unless I hear that it has improved.

I would like to say Eve was so polite and helpful and is a credit to the company.

Dobbies cafe was terrible service, waited more than 20 minutes before walking out as no one would take our order, it wasnt even busy either, people arriving after ourselves was served with drinks and orders taken, appalling service, staff stood talking amongst themselves while people are sat waiting for their order to be taken and drinks served

Took my granddaughter to see Santa with the elves yesterday
What a fantastic experience, the elves were lovely and Santa was so friendly , they chatted and laughed , nothing was rushed
We took a few lovely photos
They made the whole experience amazing, well done the team at Dobbies , Swindon

Santa Paws, went today to Santa Paws, paid £25 for 2 dogs, me and my sister had a dog each, was given very short opportunities to take pictures, no Sniff-ari or none that we were show, no Obstacle course or again none that we were shown, the elves rushed us to get into Santa as quick as possible to get us out the door, should have had 20 minutes and didn’t even get 10, wouldn’t recommend.

The location, which boasts considerable potential, was discovered to be in a state of disarray upon our arrival. We had previously reserved the soft play area for our son at 11:45, yet there was no verification of payment upon entry, and self-entry into the play room was permitted. Regrettably, he was unable to access the play room due to overcrowding, with an excessive number of children occupying a confined space. The delay in getting drinks from the cafe was also noteworthy, taking 35 minutes for a simple water and coke order, despite the line not being excessively long. Furthermore, the mini train to visit Santa did not provide advance notice of its cash-only payment method, leading to a lengthy queue of over an hour, only to discover this fact at the front of the line. It was disheartening to observe children playing in the car park and on a pile of rubbish and wooden crates, given the apparent lack of risk assessment. The overall impression was one of disorganization and chaos.

Sadly this garden centre has really gone downhill. The products for Christmas are poor quality and the displays are really mediocre compared to other garden centres. The toilets were not very nice and the cafe was absolutely disgusting, filthy tables, filthy chairs and the area where they were making drinks was so dirty it didn’t look like it had been cleaned properly for weeks. I won’t be visiting again.