Noooooooo! Not Patisserie Valerie!

[tectonicplates]

"Patisserie Valerie on brink of collapse" - www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45824285]

According to the article they also own Baker & Spice and the Flour Power bakery, neither of which I realised before.

Our local branch stopped serving savoury food. The decor is horrible and I agree that their cafes are dirty. We haven't visited one in years as a result. I used to feel sorry for the staff because the place seemed to be in such disarray that even the motivated ones were defeated.

Not saying I don't feel sorry for the staff who will lose their jobs - just not feeling sorry for the founder. It sounds like the business would have gone under anyway from what everyone else is saying.

Wait, what? They were pro-Brexit? How or why on earth would a company whose name is bloody FRENCH be pro-Brexit?? Unbelievable. The oxymorons of Brexit will never cease to amaze me!

So much choice for lovely cake shops in my town. I can never understand why anyone goes in there, it looks grimy and dark inside and the cakes look like a big mush of cream.

Their attempt on patisserie creations is at best laughable. Please try some proper continental patisserie goods and not this crap.

I have all sympathy as the PV founder is a massive Leaver. Just desserts, buddy

I've had the displeasure of working with him and he really isn't a nice bloke.

I’ve been boycotting them as well so won’t miss them personally.

Pretty stores though

Very sorry for the staff, but there has clearly been some shifty stuff going on. Whether just ou and out theft, or whether money moving around to fill holes from crappy performance, we can't be sure yet. Their cakes are crap tho - they used to be good about 8-9 years ago.

Can't say I am sorry for the main shareholder tho - rubbish idiotic leaver who has crapped on his many many European staff.

DH and i had our wedding cake from them, it was lovely but we are talking about 15 years ago and they only did them from one of the London shops then i think. I tried a cake recently from there and it seemed more style than substance.

They opened one in Lancaster not so long ago. We went down and thought we'd test it out. Bit bland. I was surprised at how dirty the place was, despite its new-ness. A shame for anyone who will lose their job. A shame for high streets with empty shops again.

I'm not surprised, I've been to the one near us - and it's in a crappy spot in the not-so-good shopping centre of the two in town. First time our order came out in bits and pieces, and bits were wrong. And then the waiter sat down at the table with us to sort out who had ordered what and what had arrived, and what had been sent back, and what we actually needed to pay for. Second time it was the same but without the sitting down over friendly waiter. Haven't been back.

All kippers and curtains as far as I am concerned. Looks good but not great underneath.

Went in for afternoon tea and prosecco was on the menu for £5 extra. However, according to the waiter only 5 shops in the UK serve prosecco with the tea and this shop wasn't one of them (so why not have amended menus?).

The sandwiches had been hanging around a bit too as they had started to curl and harden up on top. Very disappointing.

waves to bobbin in Lancaster

It’s down to accounting “irregularities”, not crap product.

But hasn’t anyone made the “soggy bottom line” joke yet?

waves back at Ihopeyourcakeisshit, from a bit up the road

Can't say I'll miss it. Never been in the one in our local town centre - there's too much good competition from independents close by. Have been in the one in another city a couple of times (because the city is severely lacking in independents) and it looked full of promise but was sadly lacking in delivery.

Always sad to see an empty shop on the High Street and people without jobs but other than than I'm not really bothered.

Have the news articles said who their auditor is? I haven't seen it mentioned

Took one of the dc as a birthday treat when it first opened and they ordered milkshakes. I was expecting something social for £3.95, but got a regular tumbler with milk and Crusha . I just buy the odd thing from their counter in Saisburys now.

Cakes that look fantastic but taste of very little.

Violetroselily, I think it's Grant Thornton acting as their auditors. 2017 sales and profits were up. £20m profit on £120m sales. But they have cut costs.

A new one has opened near us. It looks a bit like Little Chef. We went in, looked around, came out. The one in Beverley is nice though.

Their Earl Grey Tea is appalling.

The only time I've ever been in one my strawberry tart was rock hard and still frozen in the middle.

I don’t get Patisserie Valerie - there isn’t one close to me so going to the closest outlet is a rare treat... first time I went there I thought, ‘ooooh’, because the cakes in the display look gorgeous, ditto the sandwiches... but three times I’ve been and three times I’ve been distinctly underwhelmed - first time I went I had a cookie and a milkshake - milkshake nice, cookie stale. Chalked it up to one bad experience, returned, sandwich was dry. Returned a third time and ended up with a dry sandwich and a coffee that looked as if it had been served off of a child’s tea set

I really really WANT to like it, as you can perhaps tell but I swear... the cakes etc in the display case are the best of the bunch! Deceiving.

Sad for the staff, though.

Their cakes look better than they taste and it’s far too overpriced. The staff in my branch are not very attentive even if there’s only 3 groups of customers.
There are many other non chain coffee shops I’d rather go to than Pat Val’s.