The Bakery

Wow… Well… What can I say… I’ve been here loads of time for cakes, biscuits and pastries, but that was always straight off of the shelf. For my girlfriend’s birthday I decided I’d get her not one but two custom made cakes.
Pam really likes Fresh Cream Gateaus so, I asked them to make her a small one along with a custom shaped flower cake (she loves their flower cookies so it’s basically a massive cake version).
She’s allergic to nuts and had given up chocolate for lent (I told them both of these things) and was assured that neither of these two ingredients would be anywhere near the two cakes.
Two weeks go by and I go back to pick up my cakes. First of all I’m shown an amazing fondant covered flower cake with bees and accents and loads of amazing detail — they hit the nail on the head.
Next I’m shown the fruit covered fresh cream gâteau… It looks beautiful… BUT, it’s covered in nuts. It’s the day before her birthday and I now have a cake I’ve paid for and can’t use. After some discussion with the staff in the store (there were no gâteau makers in) I took it away with me, I planned on showing it to her mum and seeing what she said.
I managed to get both the cakes home and was promptly told by my mother-​in-​law that it wasn’t allowed in the house, so on the phone I go. After a brief chat I was told I could take it back for a full refund — not great but better than nothing.
I made the journey back to the bakery and spoke to who I can only assume to be the manager who made a comment along the lines of «well, there’s nothing in the book to say no chocolate or nuts so you shouldn’t have ordered it.» If I was told any of that at the point of ordering then I obviously wouldn’t have placed an order for something that HAD to have nuts or chocolate for my girlfriend that is allergic to nuts and had given up chocolate.
Either way I managed to get a refund for the gâteau but for the return service and attitude of the manager alone I can’t in any good faith give them more than one star. I’ll probably still buy from them but it will only ever be from the cabinet.
Despite the fact that they made a really good custom fondant cake, they managed to HUGELY mess up 50% of my order. I don’t have any faith in their ability to take an order and follow it through to completion. As we cut into the fondant cake there was a genuine concern that they’d made it chocolate. It’s not a nice feeling to cut into a cake and feel tense. I would never want anyone to be in that situation again. I’m lucky I didn’t just order the gâteau as I would have really been left in the lurch the day before her birthday.
I’ve shopped here loads of times and this whole experience is just really disappointing. I can’t recommend them.

I gave this bakery a really high review last time, partly out of nostalgia for their soft rolls and crunchy biscuits, and partly out of location as it’s right opposite the station. But I’m going to have to reconsider based on my last few experiences and it’s heartbreaking.
The first experience was when my boyfriend ordered my birthday cake from them. They seemed to be really big on custom cakes on their Facebook so he had high hopes and I had high expectations when I heard he’d ordered from them. And I wasn’t fully disappointed, to be fair. One of the cakes was amazing. Really was. It was colourful, beautifully decorated and tasted lovely. But it wasn’t the colour he ordered. He specified purple and turquoise because I’m a redhead and they’re the colours I wear most, and they gave me a big orange cake.
The second one, despite him specifying no nuts or chocolate, came covered in nuts. I can’t eat nuts. I really can’t. When he complained, they were stroppy and the woman behind the counter said she was only giving a refund because it’d already been agreed, in a way that made it perfectly clear that she disagreed. Despite it not being what we ordered. It was actually quite rude.
But everyone has an off day. So we tried again today.
This was the first Sunday they’ve been open and to be honest? I think they should stick to having Sundays off.
We went for some biscuits and their new strawberry tart. But already we felt disappointed. Unlike their usual offerings, these biscuits were plain. I mean, seriously, plain. The heart-​shaped one was covered with a plain white heart-​shaped slab of icing. The clown biscuits were sloppy and the icing differed in size. The Viennese whirls had no cream or jam inside and the chocolate tasted of nothing. And as for the strawberry tart, it was so soggy I couldn’t even get it out of the tin and the red goo (I refuse to describe it as jelly or jam or whatever it was supposed to be) on the top tasted exactly like cough syrup. Gross.
Whatever you’ve done, Bakery, reverse it. It isn’t working. Go back to the days when you put time and effort into decorating and finishing your products. I miss you and how awesome you used to be.

The Bakery on Pickford Lane is a great place for any baked goods you can imagine.
The Staff are very friendly and experienced and will get you served as quick as they can.
I would go to the Bakery any day of the week over all the high street chain «fake» bakeries that lay around town.
Their bread is so fresh and tasty, and i am a sucker for their farmhouse loaf. Their fresh cream cakes are to die for, as well as the remaining of the cakes they have to offer.
Also, warm cups of tea and coffee can be found here.
The Bakery is a prime example of why traditional family bakeries are better than chain bakeries and a reason you should continue getting your fresh bread from here.