May 2022 by Matthew J
I have visited this Starbucks many, many times over the past few years whilst studying at University! It is predominantly used by University students (and staff), although it is open to members of the public also. Consistently, this place provides friendly and efficient service. The staff (mostly made up of students) are always really nice, helpful and slick when serving the many customers who pass through this place. Normally, there is always one bad member of staff in every crew, but not this place. Certainly, the staff they have at the moment are brilliant and clearly enjoy working there - a sign of good management! This Starbucks also has a good selection of snacks, pastries and drinks and the staff ensure to keep place spotless, despite the high volume of customers. Rarely will you see plates and cups left on tables. The prices and selection are standard of Starbucks. In my opinion, the sandwiches are a bit expensive and not the best value of money, albeit the staff have no discretion over this. This place tends to get very busy, particularly at lunchtime and early afternoon, although you can normally find a place somewhere. The only disadvantages are that, owing to the sheer number of customers, the selection can deplete quite quickly, leading to this place not stocking quite basic items sometimes, for example they once ran out of English Breakfast Tea, which was a bit surprising. Also, the air conditioning is a bit too profound, especially when they've got the doors open, meaning it can sometimes get a bit cold sat in there and you have to resort to putting your coat on! Also, on one, solitary occasion, the staff went round telling people who had finished their drinks to either buy something else, or leave, which I thought was quite unfair considering many people use this place to study with a drink. As mentioned, this only happened once, but I thought this was extremely counterintuitive for business and retaining custom from University students. I like to think they've learned from this, as trying to herd paying customers out the door never ends well. I think the staff were under instruction to do this, rather than this being their conscious choice, but you may want to bear in mind that this may happen to you when this place gets busy. Overall, I would still recommend this lovely, friendly coffee shop to anyone. If you are a University student reading this, or indeed a member of staff, note that this is an excellent place to set up your laptop and study, especially when it's nice and quiet in the mornings. Many of the tables are proximate to plug sockets, which is ideal also!
