The Works Stores Limited Reviews 1.370

I've purchased lots of art materials from The Works for my daughter's school using their internet site. Very good value art materials
Sadly they have terminated this service and I will have to find an alternative as I'm unable to carry £30/40 worth of art materials from my local shop.

Big shout out to Hannah at the Bury St Edmunds Store 0712 very helpful & professional in a busy store, excellent customer service, thank you from a very satisfied customer, Greta 😊

Just went to the Taplow store today. There was one member of staff who was so lovely and helpful, the extra effort she went to really made my day and I was only after an extra roll of sellotape! Thank you.

Just had an email to say no more click and collect for books (that's the only thing I use The Works for). And on contacting them you won't even be able to order the titles you want from a store. My nearest stores are over 10 miles away and have limited paperbacks so I have always surfed all the titles on line and click and collected them from store. This is so disappointing, probably won't be travelling all that way to store to find no titles I really want.

Edit: I'm still being bombarded by emails from them telling me about products and what is the point of this when the nearest stores to me only stock a small range of anything?

Can't believe they are closing their website for ordering. It's the only place you can actually get what you're looking for. The shops never stock the books in the stores. Same with their craft supplies, always got them online, never in store. Slightly old fashioned to close a website while stores are still open with only a fraction of the good stock. Disappointed I now need to spend my money on other websites.

Now they have ended click and collect as a disabled customer they are no longer worth the effort to order from them . Their courteous staff would always bring my order to my car when parked outside by prior arrangement. Might as well go online and use Amazon hope it was worth the effort to alienate customers in these trying times

Have just received an email to say you have finished with on line orders. So glad we have a local shop to go to. Always a great store to shop in.

Kirsty in Beverley store was so so amazing, it was the 1st time we visited the store , loads of stuff to buy at reasonable prices and we were not too sure what to buy but Kirsty went around the shop to get some stuff for us and also gave good recommendations on what would be appropriate the kids age range. Kids were happy. And many thanks to Kirsty , was very friendly, professional and attentive.

Visited the store in the past few fays wanting some books from the LGBT section to find there is no section of these books. When I asked a staff member they explained to me that they don't put those types of books out and that they are kept in a box in the store room. I asked why and they said the store manager Aran doesn't like books like that being on the shelf on the shop floor. I have never been to a store with such discrimination about books of this sort. This is a serious problem for a large company like the Works. On another occassion visiting the shop I witnessed a staff member called Emma swear on the shop floor. If I could give zero stars I would. This was the worst shopping experience I have ever had. DO NOT SHOP AT THE WORKS IN HIGH BARNET!

This is a review for The Works - 86 New George Street .
My experience in there today being helped by Lynne and Sam ? Was truly second to none!
professional, warm and friendly with a fabulous product knowledge … truly a pleasure to visit the store .
Having shopped in both stores in Plymouth … this store should be their flag ship .
Cannot thank them enough and will now be a frequent shopper !

We placed an order on the 26th of January for a click and collect item. Click and collect items, as stated are supposed to arrive at the store within four working days.

Around one week after we ordered, we had received no email to say the order was ready to collect, so I contacted The Works customer service just to be told, sorry for the delay, and that they would resend the item.

We were provided a tracking number for the second item from Evri. Evri are so incompetent that they tried on two occasions to deliver to the local Works store after their hours of trading.

We contacted customer service around 5 days ago, and they said they had contacted Evri, and that they were awaiting a reply back from Evri.

It is now one week after the last tracking update from Evri, so I decided to recontact The Works customer service, just to be told:

"Thank you for your email

We have investigated this with the couriers Evri and they have confirmed that your order has been lost in transit.

As this is the only courier company that we use we have issued a full refund.

We sincerely apologise."

Now it took me to contact The Works to find this information out, even though The Works knew this information going by the wording of their email.

This was the first (and it will definitely be the last) click and collect experience from The Works.

The Works please ditch Evri as your delivery partner, as they are incompetent and treat parcels like dirt, and also, the Evri employees in my area are known to steal and open and remove items, and then dump the empty boxes, and also when they can be bothered to deliver them, they dump your parcel on your doorstep, and class this as being delivered, even though anyone passing by could pick up your parcel and steal it!

Purchased a whiteboard from the Carlisle store last week, moody atmosphere inside the lacklustre store and the staff member couldn’t really be bothered to help. Arrived home and saw the whole back was made of cheap cardboard and cleverly covered over to disguise it. Unfortunately, I was never offered a receipt and wanted to return it as it was about to break after just 5 days. Called customer service who first of all put the phone down on me and the second advisor went into a mini argument about how it was my fault I didn’t get a receipt and all they could offer was a gift card, not even willing to accept my banking app of the same value. Terrible service and cheap and nasty products.

Turned away from the store at Trentham gardens as I had a £10 note.. and my bill came to £2! As they don’t like giving out too much change apparently

Absolutely disgusting, no business should turn away money!
It’s not the customers fault that they don’t have much change

Not the best for stationery, considering it's a stationery store! Very limited materials for crafting, beyond wooden boxes and canvases. Not bad for notebooks, but other than that, I don't feel like I miss anything if I don't go in (or online). A shame really. I feel like at one stage the company were doing quite well (at least in our town), but it just hasn't held up over time. Far more options on other sites, as for the actual stores, how can we save the high street when the high street no longer has what we need?

Great service today by Sean MJ.
Very helpful and gave me a great idea to protect my book. Great service and so helpful I will definitely come to this shop again!

I purchased one of The Works own jigsaw for a gift.
It was missing 10 pieces and had 4 duplicates.
I complained and asked for a replacement to be sent to me so I could post it on to replace the gift.
They did not help at all and said I would have to return it and the manager of the store might refund under his discretion!.

I wanted two boxes and visited their stores in St Neots, Spalding, Peterborough and Huntingdon. All were out of stock. When I went into St Neots they suggested ordering on line so I ordered 2 for click and collect at about 2200 one evening. Early the next morning I received a message to say they were ready to collect - only they weren't ! Later in the morning I received a telephone call from St Neots to say they were not there as "the computer" said they had 8 in stock but they didn't have any. ( probably the same reason all the other stores didn't have any ! ) They suggested I place another order on line for click and collect, which I did, and they gave me a refund for the 2 boxes. I am still waiting for the boxes and today I received an email asking me to give The Works a review. I did so, with it being as above and I am still waiting for the two boxes I have paid for but don't yet have. Clueless and inefficient company.

I used to buy so many things at The Works, but lately they've stopped all the great deals, great products and deem to be competing with stores like WHSmith instead. Well, If I want that, I'll go to WHSmith.
When they do have sale items, they apply lots of stickers to them. These stickers have the strongest gliue known to man. Trying to get them off will almost certainly wreck the product.
Such a shame. I really miss how The Works used to be.

I have gift cards that expired due to health issues I was unable to use and was told quite bluntly that there was no way that I could get these replaced. Not good customer relations.

A big shout out the three staff (female) that helped me at the Newton Abbott store on Saturday 24th January 2026 - they were so amazingly helpful even helping me carry my goods to the car (as one staff member had finished her shift). They were knowledgeable, patient and very caring . Great examples of fantastic customer service in retail . Thank you from Charlotte H.