Birkacre Garden Centre in Chorley

Took my daughter to look at the Christmas displays which were lovely. Decided to nip in to the cafe for a hot chocolate and a cake but was very disappointed. The hot chocolate was clearly not made with even a drop of milk. It was just chocolate flavoured water. At £3.85 including cream and marshmallows I was expecting a luxury hot chocolate. I ordered a chocolate brownie slice and my daughter got the malteser slice. Both were dry as a bone which made it difficult to eat. Maybe a blob of cream or scoop of ice cream to help it go down would've helped. We didn't finish the cakes or the chocolate flavoured water. It came to just over 15 quid. We won't bother with the cafe in future.

Came here today with family. Garden centre had some really lovely plants and ornaments. Decided to try the restaurant as I had heard good reviews. It was just before midday and we were shown to a table and given a menu. We picked 3 meals and when the waitress came over we told her what we had chosen. Instantly she snapped back that it was before 12 and that it did state it on the menu that it was only light bites. Our mistake as we hadn’t been before. We suggested looking round further and coming back at 12 but she again snapped “well it’s unlikely you’ll be eating before 12.15 then. Jacket potatoes ordered by all and when arrived they were precooked and dry as a bone. Will not be returning to eat again.

We came for a family meal and the place is lovely, we had the pie and veg but unfortunately the veg was pretty hard. i’ve had veg on the harder side before but it was a little too much for our taste. The pie was lovely. My son has a burger and chips he usually enjoys a burger (he is 3 and can be picky) with the options he said he wanted burger as he usually eats the lot when we go out but he didn’t like this one.I gave him my pie instead. I had his burger and knew straight away why he didn’t like it. The bread was too fluffy and dry and the burger tasted like charcoal sort of like one done on a bbq it just tasted different to what he’s used too. We asked for desert (I asked shall I go and order it myself but she said i’ll come over) as nobody asked if we wanted any. she said she would be right over but then watched the lady take more orders and seat more people I knew she had forgotten. Easy to do when so busy so I sat sideways so she could see me which she did eventually. The lemon meringue was lush we enjoyed it. Slightly over priced for what we managed to eat but still the place is lovely just a little busy.

Nice healthy plants and good cafe

Lovely lunch with a friend. And even though there was a sign asking for people to be understanding due to staff shortages. The service was speedy and the staff pleasant and efficient.

Took my parents for something to eat today, dad is in a wheelchair so booked a head to make sure we got a table. Extremely helpful once we arrived working out which table would be suitable height. Excellent portion size,and quality, great value.Would definitely recommend .

Had lunch in the restaurant today with friends. They had 2 x chefs down which we were told as we booked in and that there would be a delay with the food. It was well worth the delay. The food was delicious, well presented and quite big portions. It was really busy, but the staff were gracious and helpful. Definitely worth 5 stars!

Very friendly, helpful, knowledgeable staff. Great cafe too!

Nice place with outdoor seating. Nice if the menu for cakes included the prices!

Very easy to get around, good outside garden plants 🤠

Friendly and courteous staff looked after us in the restaurant which had good menu for all ages with plenty of choice. The garden centre offers a good variety of plants and products. Get the app to get discount from garden centre and cafe. Also handy for Yarrow Country park to walk round.

Visited today with our 18 month old son. Went to the cafe to feed the little one and have a coffee. Initially greeted with "Have you made a reservation?" like it's a 5 star exclusive restaurant. Had to wait while someone finished wiping a table at the entrance with the pushchair. Finally sat down and nobody came to take our order after sitting there for 15 minutes. Managed to get the attention of a passing waitress who apologised and eventually somebody came to take our order. It could not have been a simpler order i.e. two cups of coffee. So we waited. And waited. Then a waitress arrived with a tray with two cups of tea. We explained we ordered two cups of coffee. So another apology from a waitress, and off she went. So we waited. And waited. After waiting another 15 minutes with no signs of our (correct) order, we just left. What a waste of time. If you can't run a bit of a cafe in a garden centre and manage an order for two cups of coffee, then you might as well stick to just selling expensive plants.

We have visited this garden centre a number of times in recent months, looking at then purchasing garden furniture. Joe in the furniture section has been so helpful and informative, on each visit he has gone above and beyond to meet our requests on our purchase, aftercare & return visit for weather protection covers. Thank you for the great service!!! Food & service has been great too!

Lovely restaurant, nice garden plants. All reorganised inside, very fashionable home decor now!!!

Worth a visit for great food and coffee.

Very nice, love the restaurant and the food options too! Lovely place to visit. 01.11.22 Visited today for lunch and to browse this year's Christmas Decorations and displays, I wasn't disappointed. Exceptional display this year, better than ever! Credit to all staff in every area 👏 👏 👏 Lovely garden centre but we went to the cafe for breakfast today, 06.09.23, lovely as ever 😀 Went to browse the Christmas decorations today 11.12.23. I love walking through here, it relaxes me. Love the atmosphere. 14.03.24 Breakfast was wonderful as always. I love the displays too. This place is looking great 👍 16.05.24 Breakfast was delicious again. Great to see the site being extended and can't wait to see what it will look like when completed. Love this place.

Today was our first visit to the garden centre. Truly impressive ,great in and outdoor areas full of quality . Great cafe.

Great array of Xmas goodies, plants and some all sorts. Something will definitely tickle your fancy. Garden equipment, indoor and outdoor furniture plus many plants then to top it off a really good restaurant with fine food! Spoil your better half and the kids with a Sunday Roast ? If not why not !

Booked 4 weeks in advance for a birthday treat for one of our party We arrived on time to find our table was only booked for an hour and a half. I’d been previously with my husband and we were allowed a two hour slot Our waitress was lovely and we ate our lunch our birthday girl wanted a cake so we asked the waitress to serve we mentioned we only had a half hour left which we thought poor the cake arrived and the lady who was on the desk came over to say you only have ten minutes left before we need your table we said we would be away but also said we thought we would have been given two hours. When we went to pay the same lady was at the till obviously discussing our conversation as another waitress said o table 5 Rude Suffice to say none of us will return and we will also let friends and family know of our experience.

Wonderful cafe with great food, we also bought some onions, leeks and peas for the garden. Great variety of plants.

This has to be by far the best garden centre in the area. Always fully stocked, beautifully ladies out & with great prices. Just popped in for some ideas for an XL planters. Large selection & with offers on some items. Spent time looking around & the outdoor furniture area (currently being expanded) has seating/leisure furniture in abundance & to suit every taste. The quality of all the plants/herbs/ shrubs are of excellent quality as well. With a restaurant on site & delivery this is the place to visit to get set for the short British summer that were bound to get. Well worth a few visits over the next few months.

I visited the restaurant with a friend on 7th March. We booked a table and although we were a few minutes early we were taken straight to our seats. Service was great and staff very friendly. We had a lovely lunch but would have preferred seats outside of the dog friendly area...my friend is very nervous of dogs. Fortunately there were none close to us. It doesn't seem possible to request this with the online booking system. Overall a lovely experience and we also purchased scones to take away as they are amazing! I left my glasses on the table and did not realise this until the next day. I rang the restaurant. They had found the glasses and posted them straight out to me at no cost to myself. The member of staff I spoke to was so kind and helpful. Thank you Birkacre, I am so grateful for your thoughtful service

Just had a lovely Mothers Day afternoon tea, all the staff so friendly and efficient even with the restaurant being so busy on Mothers Day. Birkacre knocks the socks off so many places that do afternoon tea and it’s such good value, compliments to the chefs and staff. Have had other meals previously there and just as good and all freshly cooked. The restaurant is light and airy and even when it’s so busy you don’t feel rushed and on top of other people dining. Absolutely recommend a visit and the garden centre is good to walk around as they stock some nice items.

Expensive compared to other establishments, seem to concentrate on selling expensive tat and cafe not great to be fair, was quite disappointed, if you want a decent no frills garden center there is one not far away. Ok for browsers and a coffee in the winter months. Won’t be back

Rude arrogant and disrespectful staff Not dog friendly but states to be I visited birkakre today with my dog and a customer of the public complained about how my dog was barking at other dogs which I then asked the staff to come over and talk to me about this issue a man came over who was the staff and I explained what just happened he was kocky and arrogant and said they accept dogs but well behaved dogs basically saying my dog is causing a disturbance and that he agreed with the woman who I just had a upset with his comment was it isn’t a park’ he was rude and so unprofessional and I left and didn’t want to stay after that

Fabulous atmosphere and a soothing of the mind all in one place

Very nice place. Nice cafe and shops. Ample parking.

Great garden centre, plenty of easy access parking. Not cheap, but that is to be expected with any garden centre. Friendly and helpful staff. Checkout the bargain bin area at the back.

First time we did santa at Birkacre! And wow we was impressed! They go above and beyond with the decorations but also for the experience seeing santa with the little gifts.. letting you take photos on your phone. Just making it really special for the kids. Highly recommended

We come here for lunch very often and the food is always lovely,very disappointed today, the food wasn’t that good especially the battered fish it was soggy and swimming in a bright yellow fat which was all on the plate and in turn made all the chips underneath soggy, half of the other meal was left too, truly dreadful…

Nice to browse around the garden and inside stores. Café excellent . Regularly visit as its not far away.

Went to visit the garden centre for the first time , wanted a bite to eat and thr restraunt looked lovely. The first lady who asked if we wanted a table didn't look at us once and just grunted when we wanted a table. We was sat down and told nothing about hpw to order or what the specials where. My partner went to order at the counter and was told it was table service. We waited 15 minutes , with our menus closed, patiently. Multiple people where sat down after us and served in 5 minutes. We was ignored and no one came to serve us. After a large family sat down and got served next to us on 5 minutes we got up and left. Very disappointed and not a good experience. Rude staff and ignored us the whole time( we are a younge couple , seemed to cater to the older people first )

Lovely food and wide selection of plants

If I could give zero stars I would. I have used birkacre garden center for years especially for Christmas. I was informed a week prior to the sale the opening hours for the first day of the sale would be as normal this was incorrect it opened at 10am. I was also advised all displays would be on sale again not correct, they where in their words ‘tossing’ the trees in the back that I had my eye on and they would be available again next year at full price. Additionally this year all displays were down and the items were out in some form of ‘warehouse’ style which made it feel cheap. A lot of other adults who had queued for the sale were also commenting how awful this years sale opening was. I attempted to approach multiple members of staff for help and was at one point completely ignored as she looked at me and walked away. I have spent literally thousands at birkacre garden centre and will not be using this business anymore in the future. I have never had an issue in the cafe.

Had lovely lunch all staff Really helpful and friendly

Very disappointing today, we have been coming at the end of December for many years. My daughter and my grand children come over from the isle of man to see the centre and they normally love it. Today it was being ripped down, no access to the new ice cave interior train ride etc the large area at the back seemed like a warehouse. There were plenty of other disappointed children and adults there too. It seems silly that they were apparently preparing for next year when January is traditionally a dead month when they had a packed car park and premises still in Christmas mode. We came earlier and it was magical just no need to dismantle it in December

A well laid out garden centre. Currently being extended. Most of the layout is undercover, with plenty of parking spaces. A very good restaurant is integral.

We have visited this Santa’s grotto for the past three years, it’s fantastic. The elves take you through an adventure on the way through to Santa. It’s really engaging and simply magical. Would 100% recommend !! The garden centre is also BEAUTIFULLY decorated throughout.

I had booked my daughter in to see Father Christmas on Thursday 21st Dec but she ended up in hospital - I called Birkacre to tell them and they offered for her to come in on Friday 22nd, they squeezed her in before they opened. This was fantastic news for us, as we had booked weeks ago and my daughter was very excited. She had the best visit with Father Christmas - she was made to feel very special - thanks to Mark and the team.

Having eaten here many times we were looking forward to the Christmas Afternoon Tea. Unfortunately this was a really disappointing experience in terms of service, presentation and food which the manager agreed should not have sent out of the kitchen as it was. We were advised that the Afternoon tea lady had gone home leaving the teas ready. When the sandwiches had to be remade by the kitchen staff, they were awful. The whole thing was underwhelming and not up to their usual standard with items coming out separately to be eaten ‘in the meantime’. That said the manager totally accepted our issues and agreed we would not be asked to pay. Such a shame as will be reluctant to return after this.

We booked for the Santas grotto. This experience was magical from start to finish the elves where so enthusiastic and engaging with the children. Santa is one of the best we've ever seen, he looked very authentic and he took his time with the children, it didn't feel rushed at all (as it has in previous years). Cannot fault it at all 100% recommended! Thank you!

We went to visit Santa yesterday. It was amazing! The first Elf that greeted us was funny, my kids loved him. He made our experience even better. We all loved it, we go every year and it gets better each year. The snow globe gifts we got were perfect, the way that Santa knows the kids names is perfect, the way that the presents dropped down the chimney was perfect. It was an amazing experience, it always is .

WOW. A Magical Christmas Adventure! After a lot of recommendations - I booked this in June (yes June!) after being told it sells out so fast. And wow I can see why!! From welcoming us at the grotto, the elf that took us through the good or bad scanner, the candy cane lane and chocolate coins and then through to the workshop where the snow globe magically appears: It was amazing. And then Santa- oh my goodness: even for me at 35 years old - I believed!! He was magical, knowing the kids names and what they are into - blew my little boys mind. It was just the most beautiful, Christmassy adventure: Thank you to all the staff and to Santa. You have made truly gorgeous memories for us as a family. Merry Christmas x

Good garden centre with a great set up for Christmas. Pizzas and hot chocolate outside too

Cold food on cold plates by the time the cutlery arrived it was colder still the drinks order took considerably longer to arrive this was 9.30 in the morning so not busy at all. Doesn’t seem to be much leadership lots of staff behind the counter seemingly doing nothing. Waiter with grey hair seems to be a distraction all he does is chat very very badly run

The best garden centre all round. The Christmas displays are second to none couldn't vote for them as no Internet connection and couldn't find how to vote once home. Coffee and cake in the cafe was a delight. My husband and I went on the 3d sleigh absolutely fantastic pure magic

Good choice of sizes and colours of orchid pots and containers. I could not find suitable sizes at other similar outlets. Also reasonable prices. Also bought a bird seed feeder. Good choice of different types at good prices. 16th December 2023 Visited today. Birkacre gets better every Christmas. We took our 4 year old granddaughter who loved the Christmas displays. This is becoming a go to event at Christmas. Well done Birkacre.

What can I say except the Santa experience was amazing for my two Grandchildren. They were transfixed all the way through and the look on their faces was magical. The virtual sleigh ride was so good they went on twice and loved it.

Easy to navigate around and the staff were really helpful with everything

Best Christmas displays and activities ever. We were blown away at how much effort has been put into putting the wonder into Christmas. The sleigh ride was brilliant especially for adults. The grotto breath taking all the displays and animated and singing displays going on were amazing the ice cave the grinch bathroom the santa chimney . So much more . We tried to vote for best garden centre but couldnt get on the Internet git home and couldnt find a website to vote onto see and do

This is definitely the best Christmas place I’ve been this year. I take my hat off to all the staff for doing such a fantastic job x

Took my daughter to Santas grotto. It was absolutely amazing, very thoughtful and planned to perfection. I would definitely say its value for money! We wanted to go to the cafe but it was fully booked so I would definitely pre-book if you want to go and make a day of it. All the decorations you can purchase are Bea and reasonably priced also. I am looking forward to going back next year. Thank you

Came to meet Santa. Going through the workshop with the elves before meeting Santa was fantastic. They all done an excellent job, it really was impressive. Well worth the price of the ticket.

Don't go here for your Christmas tree - staff were clueless, didn't know about tree types, sizes or delivery. Delivery took a couple days to arrive with no ETA given and was dumped outside (fair enough but could have been better organised) and when it arrived the trunk is enormous and hasn't been cut to a point. Have now spent 2 hours driving around different shops trying to find a base that will accommodate a 13.5cm trunk. What a joke.

Visited the cafe / restaurant during pre-Christmas evening opening. Plenty of food choice but not piping hot on delivery. Young staff gave the impression they didn’t want to be there. Poor customer service drinks glasses left in middle of table, cutlery dropped in a pile on the table. No customer interaction. When asked for a dessert fork the waitress gave me a look as if I had asked her for a loan of money! Would I return - maybe at a different time of day.

Well this is a truly amazing garden centre. I had been recommended this place by various people and they were so right. There is so much to see and buy, with musical animated animals as you walk through, as well as beautiful Christmas decorations. We...

Absolutely fantastic & magical experience. We visited to see Santa but we had a look around the garden centre first which as always was set out beautifully. So much to look at & so much going on -stunning. Seeing Santa was magical. The elves were...

We went to see Santa at Birkacre last year and it was fantastic and so I booked on again this year. I won’t be booking again for next year however as we were quite disappointed. When we arrived for our slot we were told they...

Travelled a fair distance to visit the beautiful displays and bought a small light up Xmas tree. On returning home I found this didn't work. rang store and asked for a replacement to be sent out to me. And I will happily send this back if they include a pre paidpostage envelope. I am still waiting for this to happen. It's too far to go to return it. And would cost to much. I feel they are responsible as its their fault for supplying faulty goods. I would not recommend buying from them for this reason

We took our two year old daughter to see Father Christmas at the grotto, it was an amazing experience from start to finish, from the singing penguins and reindeers to the elves and santa who made the grotto experience one to remember! I got in...

We set off to buy our Christmas tree as we had the previous year, full of Christmas cheer and excitement. We'd been the week before and purchased decorations and a bottle of Christmas room scent, unfortunately the bottle was damaged and it leaked in the...

Cold restaurant.Breakfast served on cold plates,by the time we finished our meal we were eating cold food- not nice.Hash brown was dry and inedible.Needs to improve.

Fantastic Christmas visit. And not expensive!

Lots of beautiful items decent prices

Be really careful purchasing anything from this garden centre. We purchased an £125 item which remained unopened. Tried to return the item today for a full refund only to be told we are out of the 7 day time limit for returns. Only 4 days over but only offered a credit note. It’s a policy we are told is especially enforced for seasonal purchases. Would not recommend for anyone who can only get there only at weekend and really poor customer service.

I took my grandaughter to see Santa 🎅 it was definitely a wonderful experience. She thoroughly enjoyed it as well as looking around the garden centre & sitting in the train. Birkacre does Christmas fabulously. We obviously was spoilt for choice when choosing some new...

Absolutely gorgeous the Santa Grotto fabulous well worth a visit

A fabulous Santa experience for my Grandson Just disappointed to wait 20 mins after our given time!.

We visited the garden centre on Saturday 25th Nov, the place is beautifully decorated, we’d booked the Santa experience a few weeks ago, the whole thing was brilliant, from entering the elf workshop to Santa’s grotto, very well planned out, the elves in each section...

The most wonderful and magical Christmas experience! We were amazed at the attention to detail throughout the whole garden centre. Perfect for the whole family. The grotto was incredible and the elves and Santa helped to make it such a memorable and fun time. Highly...

The Christmas displays are absolutely magical. It was very busy on Sunday and no surprise there because everyone wanted to visit this place. It's a great spot for xmas presents, decorations and even food. Can't recommend enough!

Yet again another fabulous visit to Birkacre. Lovely Christmas displays and great they are colour coordinated. Went to see Santa with my granddaughter as we do every year and it never fails to deliver the magic. Together with the virtual sleigh ride all in all...

Lovely Christmas display as always

We came for a visit to Santa last night with our 2 year old. We were very impressed, although arriving slightly later than scheduled we were still able to enter the magical adventure, the garden centre itself is by far the most beautifully decorated I’ve...

Really busy but it's brilliant the kids love it looking round we go every year

It was really busy today at dinner time lovely set up more added on from last time but I think there should be a limit to how many people be let in at a time

My wife and I came for the Santa experience at Birkacre, together with our daughters, sons-in-law and four grandchildren. We all loved it! The staff were very friendly and professional, as were the Elves and Santa. The grandchildren were thrilled and it was lovely to...

our regular garden centre to visit excellent service in the garden centre and the cafe staff and food is amazing too. we visited for the Christmas grotto to see santa the kids loved it, the attention to detail is amazing as you walk through lapland...

A lovely place to vist at this time of year with the little one's. Busy was an understatement, for a Friday. If you require food there I suggest that you book in advance, there was a long waiting list, so we ate elsewhere. First time vist, was overwhelming it was that busy. Small carpark was the only issue

Stunning displays especially now with automated figures in different settings to see around the garden centre which at this time before Christmas transforms into beautiful winter settings both delighting adults and children. There is a large cafe on site open from breakfast, a small breakfast...

The Christmas displays are amazing! I will definitely be back with the kids for the Christmas feeling.

Absolutely fantastic. Christmas displays are outstanding. . If you wish to go for a meal you are better off booking as we couldn't get a table. So much hard work gone into the displays and the money raised are been gifted to charities well done Birkackre garden centre.

Took the grandchildren to see the Christmas display yesterday and what display it is my grandkids were mesmerised from start to finish,we spent around 3 hours there finished off with hot chocolate and cake in the restaurant.all the staff were very pleasant and helpful great...

Much to busy 45 min wait just fir coffee &cake Christmas lights on

Love Birkacre and was looking forward to my 1st lunch visit today Ordered pie of the day to find hair in my vegetables that were hugely overcooked My sister ordered the chicken tikka wrap which was presented lovely, chicken was raw in Mum ordered a...

Awesome Christmas displays. Really good restaurant.

Really good christmas decorating

I regularly visit Birkakre and I’ve never had a bad experience. The food in the cafe is always very nice. The garden centre is just a generally really nice place to visit. The staff are lovely. The festive decorations are one of my favourite parts...

Food good and Christmas displays amazing.

Took my granddaughter and great granddaughter what an amazing place was recommended by my friend and was not disappointed by far one of the best Christmas displays we have seen will definitely go back also cafe was good and great value

It is a lovely place the Grim Grotto was amazing. I loved exploring this spooky place, lots of fun.

We visit here often and it's especially lovely when the Christmas decorations/displays are up, which they are now. There's a Halloween walk-through tunnel (quite dark and intense but nothing jumps out at you), gave us two adults a giggle and many others. The cafe is always busy but that's because the food is excellent and very reasonably priced. You might want to book, especially on a weekend visit. I've limited my pics so as not to spoil it. The kids/grandkids will love it.

Great for Christmas and animated sets. fabulous decorations .lovely cafe .Halloween walk through .

Absolutely out done yourselves this Christmas. So magical and amazing love it all

We visited with our dog and were pleased to find a garden centre which allowed dogs into all areas. The Christmas displays were excellent and the prices were lower than other garden centres we’ve visited. The Halloween walkthrough was a nice touch too! The issue...

Wonderful garden centre ,brilliant Christmas shop and fabulous restaurant

Went for lunch today, sea bass was perfect. This years Christmas display, although always very good, is the best they've ever done & judging by the overheard comments most people thought the same. Well done to all concerned.

Really good value and very well presented. Advised when we ordered that there would be a delay but this wasn’t noticeable apart from the eggs had been under the lamps waiting for service. Serving team very friendly

Great evening - Xmas preview night. Lots to see - love the animations especially the Santa's band. Staff friendly and helpful.

Very nice place lovely cafe very difficult to get round with a wheelchair