The Willow in Rugby

Lovely garden centre good prices . Cafe excellent do a very good breakfast

Never ever go to this Costa, it is beyond appalling; it is so disgusting, I'm struggling to put into words, my experience today. My husband and I popped along with my wheelchair-bound 91-year-old mother, for a little light lunch. We arrived at around 1:30 pm on Sunday 23rd of March 2025, to find the place surprisingly quiet. Given that it was a Sunday lunchtime, I would have expected the place to be alive with families and couples. We had in fact tried to find a table at the Lutterworth Costa, but it was so full, with no sitting room, we came along to this branch, hoping they would be able to squeeze us in. There were 3 members of staff on duty (2 young ladies and a young man), and only about 6 or 7 occupied tables, including us. We ordered 3 drinks and 2 toasted sandwiches and a toasted croissant. The food came quickly enough and was pleasant. After my mother had eaten half of her sandwich, she indicated she needed to go to the lavatory, and as she is in a wheelchair, I have to help her out with these things. We got up, and as I was heading towards the lavatories, the young man on duty, jumped ahead of us and said sheepishly, "I just need to check if they are clean". As it was so quiet, and there were 3 members of staff on duty, I was a bit surprised that this needed checking on first, but I just assumed he was being super-diligent. He turned back to us looking embarrassed, and I said "is it dirty?", to which he responded "yes" and then "lucky me". He walked to a nearby cupboard, collected a dustpan and brush, went ahead of us again, spent literally 10 seconds sweeping something from the floor, and then moved back to allow us to access. I pushed my mother's wheelchair in to, what can only be described as, the most disgusting public lavatory I've seen, in my 60 years of living. It sounds like it must be exaggerating doesn't it (so dramatic!) - but not only were the scraps of paper all over the floor, so much worse than that, there was urine everywhere. I don't just mean a little drop or two on the seat where somebody had not been careful, I mean the floor was literally swimming in urine, the toilet seat was covered in urine, the lavatory bowl had urine in it with no toilet paper, it was quite literally, like somebody had embarked on a highly successful 'dirty protest'. Now, as if this was not enough, the fact that this young man had seen the appalling mess, he clearly must've known what it was like, which is why he jumped ahead of me to "check", but then to think that it was acceptable for me to not only to walk into that disgusting room, but allow my 91-year-old disabled mother to sit on a toilet seat covered in urine, almost left me speechless with outrage. How dare you treat your paying customers with such disrespect, moreover, how dare you treat any other human being with such disrespect? It is unforgivable. There is no world in which I would allow anybody to be subjected to such a monstrous, nauseating experience, and the management at this specific Costa, should be either, immediately dismissed, or sent away on a course, to teach them the fundamental rights of human beings, and particularly how that relates in a hospitality setting. Surely, it is simple? Would you sit on a toilet covered in urine, while your feet sat in puddles of urine? Would you allow your 91-year-old disabled mother, or grandmother, to sit her behind on a urine covered toilet seat, while the wheels of her wheelchair wallowed in urine? You were not busy. When you opened up that morning, either, nobody bothered to look at the lavatories (not acceptable), or worse, looked at the lavatories, and could not be bothered to do anything about them (disgraceful). I would like to be charitable and think you just hadn't been aware of it, but you absolutely had, and had CHOSEN not to remedy this... otherwise, why did the young man jump in front of me, to ostensibly "check" the lavatories? We could not even use an alternative lavatory, because the only other available facilities had a huge hole in the door, and you could see right through to the toilet itself; making it "out of use". How can you think this is acceptable? I will be telling everybody I know, to avoid this abysmal excuse for a Costa, like the plague - lest they literally, catch some ungodly disease. Not only that, but why should ANYBODY come to visit you, when you, clearly, care nothing for your customers comfort, dignity and well-being? I don't imagine anything will be done about this, because your management cares nothing for the appalling experiences you subject your customers to; looking through your reviews, the disgusting state of your lavatories has been mentioned more than once, so you clearly read our comments and cheerfully ignore them; nobody takes it seriously, nobody remedies it, and there is nobody in 'management' who understands or cares one iota, about your guests' comfort. So I say again, why would anybody visit you, when there are so many other Costas, that do a great job? Rugby has a few Costas if I recall correctly, doesn't it? This place should be closed down, and the staff should find jobs elsewhere, not in hospitality! This is not a complex subject, even in the grottiest motorway service station, there's a piece of A4 paper stuck to the wall with times and 'checked' signatures... this is not beyond the wit of anybody with an IQ >50, so why can't you do this, bare minimum? I will not leave it here, I will contact your CEO and upper management, somebody needs to address this, otherwise you will absolutely have close, because customers are simply not going accept these abysmal standards, ad infinitum. Shame on you all, what an utterly disgraceful job you're doing. Next time you go and see a loved one, particularly a frail, elderly one, ask yourself if you would be perfectly happy for them to have to sit in somebody else's urine.

The little beer shed has changed hands and is now a mini bakery outlet selling some quite good bread, coffee and baked snacks. I hope that Ales and Tails mobile operation is still out and about.

Ordered Roast Beef dinner couldn’t even cut it let alone chew it, Roast potatoes were frozen in the middle and veg/Yorkshire pudding was cold. Beef was then changed for chicken which came out covered in black grease with same cold veg. Full refund was given for uneaten meal. Will not be returning!

Nice boozer with football on the telly