Summerseat Garden Centre - Bury

Jason S.

I was in the area and decided to pop into Summerseat Garden Centre—and I’m so glad I did! Plenty of parking out front, which is always a win (no circling around like a vulture looking for a space).

Inside, the shelves were well stocked, and the plant selection was impressive. I picked up a couple of rhubarb plants—healthy, strong, and hopefully ready to fuel a future crumble or two. Prices were very reasonable, which is always a pleasant surprise in a garden centre!

I didn’t get a chance to visit the café, but it was busy—always a good sign. A place packed with people and cake? Probably worth a visit next time.

To top off the experience, as I was wrestling with a bag of compost, a young lad collecting trolleys stopped what he was doing to help me load my car—a small gesture, but the kind of customer service that sticks with you.

All in all, a great visit—friendly staff, good prices, and a fantastic selection. Definitely worth a stop if you’re in the area!

Susan H.

Great place to visit at any time of the year. Great selection of seasonal goods and gifts. Have fresh vegetables, cheese, pie's and meat stalls. Cafe serves amazing food and drinks. Great to visit at Christmas with the children

Jonathan B.

The food was nothing to write home about, but the service was truly dreadful. We felt completely forgotten. The wait for our food was excessive, we had to actively seek out staff to order more drinks, and the lattes took an astonishing thirty minutes to arrive. It felt like we wasted an entire afternoon.

Wendy B.

We visit the cafe on a fairly regular basis, at least once or twice a month. Like another reviewer mentioned, the food is really nice, and initial service is good, in that they take your order quickly. However, because you have to pay immediately when you order, once they have served you your food, you are abandoned. Nobody asks how your food is, would you like more drinks or desserts. Trying to attract the attention of the waiting staff to order a cake or another drink is impossible, and we gave up and left. The upshot of this, is that you leave feeling a bit dissatisfied, and the restaurant don’t have the benefit of the additional income that we would have spent.
A suggestion would be, that you open a tab for your table, as I imagine that they have had issues with people walking out and ‘forgetting’ to pay.
Also, staff need to focus on following up at the tables when it is clear that customers have finished their main course, and ‘selling’ a dessert or more drinks, thus, I imagine, making the customer experience better and making the restaurant more profitable with less waste at the end of the day ie, not throwing unsold cakes away.
I do hope the management read these comments, as I really just want to have a great experience there.

Isobel D.

Mixed opinions on our experiences here, it is a lovely garden centre and the food is really lovely. However, been a few times lately and have found the service to be really lacking, slow to be served and have had to ask multiple times to order another drink or have plates taken.

Also felt that being asked to pay at the table every time you order, for the food, then for a drink, then for the cake, all at the time of ordering was a bit uncomfortable when you’re trying to have a catch up with friends and family. And then on top of that not being allowed to keep the sugar pot on the table when ordering 5 coffees, made us feel uncomfortable again.

I would go again as the food and place is lovely, but it would be nice if they could consider customer experience a bit more going forward.

Graham B.

We visited over Christmas and was disappointed to find that they’d abandoned cleaning the tables in-between changeovers. Our table (and the surrounding tables) were dirty, so we left. My wife and I were very unhappy because normally, it’s nice and the service is good. I appreciate Christmas is busy, but the cleanliness standards should be consistent.

Darren W.

Lovely shop experience but the cafe? Asked to sit and wait by a server. Waited... and waited a lot more. Finally flagged someone. 2 coffees and a scone, please.
Then waited....and waited. Flagged someone again. We ordered ages ago, please. Sorry, I'll go get them. 2 coffees arrive. No scone. Waited....and waited. Flagged again. We ordered a scone. Oh, sorry. Came back, won't be long 😩 Finally arrived. Coffee cold now. No knife or napkins. Took some off another table. And to think we were just talking about taking the family for a Sunday roast one day. Don't think so. And it was quiet. Not paying £20 per head with drinks for that nehelect. Too many kids, I'd say. Heads in the clouds. Just put back what I was going to buy and left.

Samantha D.

We went today for lunch. We arrived at 12.15, was served quickly. However, the wait between main and dessert was 1hr 15mins. Only after asking 3 people, "Can we please have my main plates removed and order dessert". On these 3 occasions the staff were rude and did not apologise at any point for the service. There was only had 1 person taking orders, 1 person serving drinks and 2 people clearing tables. Clearly not enough staff for such a large cafe. Therefore I will never be coming back. On the plus side the food was lovely.