Gail's Bakery

[Ringgogo]

Do you have these near you ? Just sat in one - what an utter soulless place !

Lovely pastries but what a hype !

Remind me not to visit again

I went in our local one and you are basically sitting in a corridor. Wouldn’t go again. So over hyped

They’re not designed for people to linger. If they were comfortable they’d had people with laptops and headphones hogging a seat all day in exchange for one coffee.
Hard seating, lots of noise, odd layouts - it works for them to move people on after one item.
That said, there are some hardcore laptop users at ours who will absolutely do a conference call amidst the chaos.

The queue on a Saturday morning outside the one near me (not the closest one but neighbouring one) is huge. It’s like covid times!

It was cool when it first opened in London in chic neighbourhoods but now it’s everywhere it’s completely lost its appeal. Does that business model really work? Stay small is surely more sustainable. Most of these new branches won’t last

They do have a strategy of some sort.
https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/interviews/tom-molnars-simple-mantra-at-gails-doing-bread-better/702741.article

Their coffee is gack but I like the consistency of their pastries from store to store, you know what you’ll get.

We have a Gail’s near us and I love their opening times 6.30am - 8pm.

Coffee is average at best, but their wasteless sourdough bread makes the best toast.

Cinnamon buns and rosemary potato bread are lovely. Everything else is massively overpriced even if it’s nice, and the cafe bit of ours is the worst in town - like a college canteen. I have no idea why they are always busy when we have a zillion independent and small chain alternatives.

I wouldn’t expect soul from a chain

Have tried a couple of different ones and found their pastries crap. I don’t get it at all. I find it particularly bemusing that they seem to do well in London where there are plenty of much much better bakeries

I don’t think they are tbh

My nearest one recently got a one star food hygiene rating so I won't be going.

Yes. It replaced my NatWest ☹️. Shan't be wasting my money in there. Full of DFLs....

The owner of Gail's is a climate change denier so I avoid it (even though I love their feta and spinach pastry roll!)

It is overpriced, the hot chocolate portion sizes are stingy and it doesn’t taste nice, and the atmosphere feels like being in an IKEA play kitchen (not cosy at all)

I don't get it either. Hugely expensive, unimaginative and really not that good. Their gluten free loaf is over four quid , tiny and seemingly made from boot leather

Can’t stand Gail’s.

The very epitome of smug gentrification, a major chain masquerading as artisan, wildly over priced, “there is a Gail’s” now a justification for inflated house prices and middle class colonisation.

They attract people who can afford £8 for a microscopic cake and mediocre coffee, and it becomes a self serving upwards spiral.

Our independent cafes and bakeries are struggling. Soon we will be completely divided: yummy mummy theme parks of Waitrose and Gail’s, and deserted high streets of charity shops and homeless people.

And I speak as a middle class fan of cake.

Perhaps worth starting a thread to big up your local cafes that do outstanding coffee and consistently high quality (not mass produced) cakes and pastries for reasonable prices? I love trying new recommendations, but sadly when I tried our local cafes I had one undercooked croissant (raw inside), one dry zucchini muffin, and a really nice cake but with awful coffee. There is a bakery I travel 20min for but they don’t have seating and the queue is usually 40min.

I like our local one. I’d only go for a treat as it’s pricy but I think their food is tasty and fresh. If people don’t like them then surely then they just need to go somewhere else. I’m not sure why there is anger over it. There are loads of chains I don’t go to. I don’t ever choose Nero’s, Starbucks or Costa but I don’t feel annoyed by their presence.

I did once overhear someone who worked for Gail’s talking about their sausage rolls and how the ingredients are really good quality. I don’t know if that’s true though.

Gail’s is very trendy right now, give it time, and it will blow over. It seems to be heading towards being more like Pret.

I sometimes used to go into the one in Beaconsfield on a Sunday (it was about the only place open) . Food and drinks were good but pricey. Staff were useless and the cleanliness of the place on a Sunday afternoon was disgusting. I assume the weekend staff hadn't had the concepts of brooms, or clearing tables, explained to them.
I've just looked at their TripAdvisor reviews...

Their coffee is crap. Their almond croissants are a day old and they don't accept cash.

My local one is always busy but the seats are so uncomfortable.

Their hazelnut spread is lush though. But it's a tenner.

The one in Teddington is dark and dingy, reminds me of a cave. We looked in and went elsewhere.

Took my elderly Mum for a loaf she spotted in window, she nearly passed out at the price and did not understand why it was card only payments. I don’t think it’s that great.

Despite being near a fair amount of Gail's branches in London, I have only been to one. It was in the dying days of lockdown and I had booked a visit an exhibition at a local museum and decided I would treat myself a fancy sandwich to eat in the park afterwards. I saw there was a Gail's so went in, all the sandwiches were rather toppy price wise for the size (sort of medium buffet sandwich sized). So i went to the park cafe instead.

I have not felt motivated to do a return visit, especially seeing as we have a very good local small chain of bakeries that do excellent cake and sandwiches.

Yeah, sadly they don't take cash ... 😕