Bhn Garden Centre - Chelmsford

We used to frequently eat here for lunch before the renovations. Sadly, since reopening, the prices have gone up and the quality seems to have gone down. We arrived for lunch with our kids, and it was so cold in there. I asked a staff member if there was heating, to be told that there wasn’t any (the air con units apparently don’t do heat). If that’s the case, they’re going to be in trouble when the temperature really starts to drop. The breakfast was ok, but not very hot, and the price for a tea cake and jam was ridiculous £3.60, plus an extra £1.40 for a tiny pot of jam. So £5 altogether, which is shocking when you can get the same thing for a couple of quid in most other local garden centres/cafes. The kids meal options are again very pricey for what you get compared to other local places (Hyde hall etc), with the quantities being very small (half a sandwich). We really wanted to support this place after they reopened, but sadly I don’t think we’ll be returning. It’s an expensive meal out for a garden centre.

We stopped here for tea and cake on Saturday. The queue was long i queued for more than 10 minutes and shortly after, it had more than doubled in size. Service was extremely slow with only one person taking the orders but lots of other staff milling around not seeming to do much. She clearly was harried and stressed and it showed in her manner to customers. The food when unceremoniously dumped on our table was inedible. The scones looked anaemic and the lemon drizzle cake looked a soggy mess (and I was told, from past experience, was indeed soggy) so I tried the bread pudding. It was absolutely awful stodgy, wet and tasted dreadful. One of us had a toasted tea cake which was thin and unappealing. Since being rebuilt this is a huge space and, judging by the queues, could be really successful but I would really advise avoiding this coffee shop.

Popped in to see how the new cafe is. Not impressed at all, which is a shame because I’ve been looking forward to it. Ordered a scone and coffee, the scone had mould on! Not impressed with the response from staff either, quite abrupt.

The coffee shop has not been open long since the fire so we thought we would go and have breakfast as we used to I’m afraid it wasn’t a patch on the old breakfast, my wife asked for poached eggs on toast sorry we can’t do that you have to have smashed avocado as well ? I had the English breakfast which consisted of two sausages two fried eggs small portion of beans, two rashers of undercooked, bacon and mushrooms that look like they hadn’t seen a frying pan or any butter. Just warmed up under a grill and were very unappetising and a hash brown, which is not English, but American no tomatoes, no black pudding no sauces on the table or offered you have to go back and ask at the counter and they are hidden underneath very disappointing and a total cost of £23.20 Great Garden Centre, but the café needs sorting out

There were a lot of different plants here and we did buy some and a couple of gifts. Overall the garden centre is really nice, it was the coffee shop that rated 3*. Asked for a basic cheese baguette, told sorry we have new staff and they can only do what’s on the menu. Really!! Grated cheese and a baguette. One of us a wrap which was liked. Two of us had cross cut chips which were nice but not what we had wanted. The waitress first bought out the drinks, put the tray on the table and walked off then same with food. Not a word uttered at all. Yes she was young but that’s no excuse for what she did. Drinks not bad