Dobbies Garden Centres - Ayr Reviews 546

This particular Dobbies in Ayr, looks like its been here quite a long time and is in need of renovation. There's rust on the supporting ceiling beams, flaking plaster and obvious signs of damp ingress on the walls. The chairs in the café are tatty with the faux leather worn off the chair arms. In the clothes section the edge of the carpets to the hard floor have different types of sticky tape obviously applied at different times to address wear and tear. Gives the impression of under investment which doesn't go well with generally pricy clothing. Compared to the local Dobbies at Carlisle, this branch needs some tidying up and some cap-ex applied. A disappointing visit.

Shocking in cafe today, no tea pots or cups or milk. When i asked if there was any i was rudly told no and would have to get them from the otherside where the que was massive! Is the point of having a coffee machine not so people dont have to wait?? There was no one at the till? The tables were rotten and full of dishes. We left our cakes and walked out.

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.

I am a Dobbies customer and have a reward card. My local branch is the one in AYR. My wife and I decided to go for lunch. Arriving in good time, just after 12:00 we joined a small queue ( two people serving) after a short period the staff presence dropped to one despite the queue growing significantly. Eventually another member of staff appeared and started to everyone in the queue if the wanted cakes ( everyone was queuing for lunch. The queue continued to grow. Eventually we got served( 25 min). There was no level of supervision or support. It even got to the stage that there was no trays and none forthcoming.

We approached the manager ( Andrew) to discuss the situation. His immediate attitude was to go on the defensive. His response was 25 minutes was good it’s usually 40 min. Rather than waste time , our lunch was getting cold . I suggested he came and speak to us when he had time . He eventually did . Again I was polite. Despite this he was spoiling for a fight. Continued to give the impression he didn’t care, saying his staff were great.My issue was about him not giving them the support they deserved. He then made a throw away comment about the increase in the number of Dobbies cards being purchased !!! His final comment was the Senior Management were coming to the branch on Tuesday next week.

A number of other customers nearby witnessed the exchange and were shocked by his attitude.

I am very disappointed

Went for breakfast 1/10/25 can say was disappointed having been many times. Was told it was like for like with breakfast items which never has happend before, so had to take stuff we didn’t want! Young girl served us hadn’t a clue what she was doing waited 5mins for our eggs and had to say to her oh yes I forgot , everything overcooked potatoe scone was rock solid ! Only thing I can say was coffee was lovely and warm

when we visited it took 35 minutes to get a main course from the kitchen. My wife had hers finished long before my food appeared. We did receive two free coffees and pieces of cake in compensation which helped but should not be necessary. The garden displays are falling apart with rotten wood hanging of tables and screw s and nails are sticking out. Not a good display from a national garden cr.

Two ladies working (Dobbies Ayr ) in Cotton Traders so helpful and pleasant to deal with in my search for a pair of chinos.
Thank you both.

We travelled for nearly 2 hours& 3 sets of road works to Ayr to buy some aquatic plants only to be told they did not stock them. There site does not say this only that they are stocked by Dobbies. We then drove back. Very disappointed. Will not be going there again.

Garden furniture - On 12th April I ordered some garden furniture. I received notification that the delivery from XPD would take place on April 25th. It was marked as being out for delivery at 10:27am however it did not arrive and appears to have vanished off the face of the earth. I then experienced a number of frustrating weeks while Dobbies assured me that they were chasing up the consignment but to no avail. Eventually I asked for a refund but that has not happened either. I was offered a shop soiled set of the same garden furniture from the shop floor for the same price as my brand new set. Almost two months later, I am still furnitureless and out of pocket by a considerable amount, especially for a pensioner. I am not happy! Dobbies needs to reconsider its courier services. While the courier has failed to deliver the furniture, Dobbies has failed to chase up the consignment / sort out the refund in a timely fashion.

I ordered a Sahara barbecue on 10/4/25 at the Ayr store as it was discounted by 20%. The barbecue was delivered at 07:00 hrs on 24/4/25, {what a time for pensioners to receive a delivery} but the delivery driver noted that the box said Box 1 of 2. After searching the contents on his truck and the delivery note he pointed out to me that he suspected I only got half of my delivery. He told me to contact Dobbies and they would fix it out.
Dobbies Customer Services was worse than useless and a week later I still do not know when or how I will receive box #2. My barbecue is half built awaiting delivery of the remaining parts, All packing materials have been taken to the council waste management site.
As of 30/4/25 I have instructed Dobbies to cancel my order, pick up the partially built barbecue and refund the near £500 that I spent on the purchase. As you can guess, I am a totally disgusted customer.
Please note that this review is directed at the Dobbies organisation and not the Dobbies branch in Ayr.

Date of experience: 30 April 2025

I was overcharged by £6.50 in restaurant, this can happen , but having to wait 15 minutes for a refund and finally being attended to by a sour faced individual who didn't have the manners to apologise for the mistake.

I'm not a gardener so needed advice in the Ayr store. Fortunately I approached Pierre. He was knowledgeable and friendly. He made choosing plants for my pots so easy. After a couple of questions he took me to what I needed and gave advice on how to care for them. Pierre is great asset to Dobbies, Ayr. Thank you for your banter!

We have visited Dobbies in Ayr several times since moving here and the service and help from Dobbies staff has been outstanding every time. We are not expert gardeners and they helped us buy a great battery charging lawnmower and strimmer (and showed us how to use it) long extension hose for watering, lawn feed & various plants and shrubs. Two years on everything has grown and the equipment still working well. The garden and lawn looks great. Five stars and a big thank you.

Nice clean garden centre. Nice helpful staff and good car parking.

The service instore was good plus 20%off but later discovered that online 30% off .I do think customers should be made aware of this then it will be up to them to shop instore or online . I work in sales and customer service and how annoying this can be to customers .
Plus the fact several parts of it was damaged when they arrived .

Cashier was so nice and was very friendly.

Lovely bright stores, great variety of goods. Excellent cafe.

Service and product excellent. Staff member (Kiera) really helpful.

The garden centre is perfect the plants etc are of high quality and the staff are friendly and helpful here.
As for the cafe, the service is slow, the counter sections are badly arranged ie get a cake or snack at the first counter then queue for a hot drink at the last counter by this time the hot snack is cold. Tea/coffee machines not working. Staff need to speed up and finally that pay at till is not near adequate enough to cope again with the queue.
God help you if a bus party is in front of you! 😄

Visited Dobbies in Ayr Scotland couple of months ago.Had to complain to management and CEO about state of toilets at restaurant .Needed to use disabled toilet ,Standard of hygiene below par and discovered the lock was hanging off the door. Forced to use able bodied toilet .Cleanliness no better Build up of grime in general not acceptable .Was assured local management would address the issues. Visited yesterday .The disabled toilet had the lock repaired. That was the sum total of improvements. …..but the WC was completely choked and disgusting ! Forced to use able bodied toilet. Sum total of improvements. ….nil.The build up of grime remains untouched. Other Dobbies have exceptional standard of toilets .The Ayr store ..unacceptable and clearly can’t be bothered taking action on complaints .