to think that £4.50 is a ridiculous price for a scone?

[emsyj]

I have just been to a new cafe that has opened on my local high street (small town in the north west, not a big city, not central London - just a bog standard local high street).

There were 4 of us and 3 tried to order carrot cake. The waitress returned a few moments after taking the order to say there was no carrot cake left, all they had was Victoria sponge or scones. So without the benefit of the menu in front of us listing the prices, two of us went for the sponge and one for the scone.

When it came time to pay, the person who had the scone was charged £4.50 for the scone and another £2.45 for a black coffee. I thought it must be a mistake so went to ask if it was right and the cafe owner was quite aggressive in saying that yes, it was £4.50 for the scone because they are 'baked fresh every day with locally-sourced ingredients'. I said I thought that £4.50 was a silly price for a scone, even if it were embellished with gold leaf.

So AIBU? Needless to say, we won't be going there again which is a shame as the cafe is seeking to be family-friendly with buggy parking, lots of high chairs, paper and drawing stuff for the older kids etc and we had high hopes for it being a nice weekly meeting place.

tevion were you in 'arrod's caff?

It was a seaside cafe in wales nothing special at all.
The waiter said we do have some cheaper cakes at £2.50 and he showed me the smallest thinest slice of fruit cake you could ever imagine.
We left found another cafe and paid £1.50 for a lovely big slice of gateau.

very dear!

Saw something on the news the other day about afternoon tea becoming popular again, and I am sure it was mentioned that a selection of cakes for a few people (not sure if they said how many this would be for) would be over £100!

£5.80 for a dozen scones here

I know Hoylake well and I am that a pretty ordinary cafe would charge so much. You should've shouted 'At least Dick Turpin wore a mask' and waited to see if the owners possessed that famous Scouse sense of humour

I also agree that the prices at Bents nr Leigh are

Keep yer fancy prices down South if you please

No, but it is a ridiculous thing to post about! Get a life.

Ah Gorgeous, charming as ever I see, have they kicked you out from under your rock?!

There's a place near me in Richmond Surrey that charges a small fortune for two teeny tiny scones (1" diameter) with a stingy bit of jam and butter.

Their afternoon tea is more expensive than The Wolseley or Claridges. And the service is pretty ropey. I tried to catch the waiter for 15 minutes to ask him to bring a cup for my tea. Apparently one is expected to drink that particular blend of tea from the sugar bowl handle-less cup proffered, not a normal cup and saucer

I think I paid about £8 (but could be as much as £11) for said scones and poncey tea and it's not in a fancy place either. It has a view of the road that goes to the bus station.

Copenhagen for me was the most expensive cafe location ever. $12 for a cup of coffee and $9 for a crossaint the jam was an extra $2. DH and I grabbed our wheelies and ran as fast as we could! I swallowed my pride and went into McDonalds which was an astronomical $2.50 for a small piddily cup of coffee. I found a bakery and bought a roll for $3. If flying into Copenhagen I eat the awful airplane breakfast out of frugality.

dear all
i am the lady of the tea rooms in question. Firstly, we have been open 5 days, and have reduced the price accordingly following her visit. However, what saddens me is that we have not been given the chance to put this issue right first, before this was posted, which is disappointing. What the lady did not tell you however, is that we offer free children's facilities, which include, games, toys, story-telling, children's sized tables, chairs cutlery etc, free nappies, free filter water, and free wi-fi. It is a shame, that having undertaken this business as a mother myself, (on my own- and self-financed), that we didn't get the change to change before this notice was posted. I hope you understand, we are still learning, thanks liz

Hello liz
To be fair on the OP she refused to "name and shame" your cafe so you are still technically anonymous.
I think from her point of view the price was queried at the time but you were (to quote the op) quite aggressive at being approached about it.
The facilities sound lovely, but I am not local to you so won't be calling in. :)
Best wishes with your new venture, I hope that all "teething problems" are quickly resolved.

To be fair, emsyj did refer to you making an effort to be family friendly in her original post and, you have reduced the price having realised it was wrong to charge so much in the first place

topspotter well done for lowering the prices. I don't think the OP meant you any harm by posting here. I would regard it as a bit of free market research. I'm afraid that in these difficult economic times people will focus more on price than added value facilities if you see what I mean.

Best of luck for the success of your cafe going forward.

ps. I wasn't at all aggressive, and I find it very hurtful that the lady felt i was. I take great pride in being kind, and helpful, so this is very uspsetting indeed. I hope you will come and see us, despite these comments.

You are all making me hungry now, all this talk of scones.

Thank you all for your kind words, I will continue to strive to provide a high standard of customer service to everyone. (I just need to have some sleep and see my little boy, sometime soon) xx

topspotter You should NOT be lowering your prices.

Some people are tight-fisted and want everything for nothing. If you're providing all that of course you have to charge - you are after all running a business aren't you.

Don't let a miser upset you.

ps. again, sorry, we are the Spotty Blue Teapot in Hoylake, Wirral.

topspotter dealing with the public you'll need to grow a thick skin and take things at face value.

The OP has actually done you a huge favour by giving you this information and the chance to change. She could have done what many people do and just never go back and tell people who live locally her experience.

No-one can currently come and see you because they don't know who you are. But no publicity is bad publicity. If I were you I'd be treating this as a PR exercise.

topspotter - congratulations for opening up. If you read through the pages you will see that the majority of people posting are supportive. It is a good thing to hear you have reduced your prices and hope that you see your business increase.

I have advised small business in my local town and know the Wirral market well. If you need any help with growing your business just ask.

Gorgeousx If you want to see a business fail because the owners have priced themselves out of the market then carry on with you "helpful" comments.

And congratulations for getting all this publicity and getting to name your tea rooms for which the rest of us have to pay £50 for.

x-posted with cafe owner. I see you are treating this as a PR exercise!

£4.50 is not a lot for what OP is providing and miserly tight-arses who don't want to pay are not what she needs.