Frosts Garden Centre Avis 

Stupidly expensive, I bought a houseplant I’d been after for a while and reluctantly paid £8.99 from the frosts in Willington as I hadn’t seen it anywhere else, I then visited a nearby independent garden centre (not sure of name but it’s next to Jaws aquatics) they had the same plant same size pot and I think even the same supplier for £5.99. Frosts are part of Blue Diamond group who surely have greater buying power then a little independent and if that independent can make a profit at £5.99 then it’s just greed. Van Hague’s in Hertfordshire is the same, the prices are disgusting for not even very good plants. I’ll be making sure any garden centres I visit in the future are NOT part of blue diamonds rip off cartel before visiting in the future.
I would also like to point out that blue diamonds email unsubscribe button doesn’t work which I believe under current data protection regulation is against the law! Not that subscribing or having a blue diamond members card ever brought so much as a 5p saving, if you mention you have a card at the till the staff just look baffled so what exactly are the benefits it’s supposed to offer!? I would like an explanation from blue circle why their email cannot be unsubscribed before I request a full data release and report them to trading standards.
Update, tried to use live chat to process unsubscribe as it states available 9-4.30 and guess what?! It’s not available at 9.32 what a surprise.
Update, after sitting in posiotion 1 in their phone queue for over 20 minutes and no answer I’ve now reported them to ofcom
And ico.org as this faceless soulless company clearly have no interest in speaking to there customers they can explain to the ico why they have no functioning unsubscribe button.

Update 30/5/25

In response to your reply, Hudsons not 2 miles away from you have the same plants at much cheaper prices so are they not subject to the same fluctuations? Also you didnt give an excuse for why even sat in position 1 on your phone queue still doesnt get answered even sitting for 20 minutes, so your reply really doesnt hold any water. Nor do you even mention or address the fact your loyalty card does nothing. I wont be sending my details to you, I dont need teaching how to unsubscribe and I wont be using you again. I'll leave it for the ICO to address but thanks for your cut and paste excuses at least it shows someone is reading the many one star reviews you are accumulating

I have been a member (over 20 years)and regular visitor of Frosts Garden Centre at Willington for many years but sadly since being taken over by Blue Diamond it only deserves 1star. After buying 5 scones to take away and finding them undercooked I wrote and let them know but only got a cursory response.
After a few weeks I thought maybe things had improved. On ordering a latte, Blue diamond decided it now has only one shot of coffee but didn’t drop the price. So now I have to pay 75 pence more to get the same coffee. I will miss the staff that I made friends with but sadly my friends and I won’t be visiting again any time soon. Mrs F Perrett

I’ve been frequenting Frosts for 30 years now and it’s always been superior quality in terms of plants, food and beverage, Christmas and service.
No more!! It’s really gone downhill since Blue Diamond took over.
Absolutely ridiculous IKEA pathway system that takes you everything all the way through the store. Particularly irritating when all you wanted to do was visit Pets Corner which you pay and utilise separately!!
Secondly - the clothing, I mean seriously. There’s LOADS of it, again you have to walk all the way through it… but come on it’s a garden centre. It should be more Barbour, Muck Boots…
Finally today I went to pick up plants - in some cases the supplier is very obviously different. The quality was poor, some looked half dead.

And then when I went to the till the service from the server was awful. She was totally disinterested, took so little care over the plants she snapped off a shoot and a flower - to the extent that I had to ask her to take more care!! When I pointed out poor quality on a tray of plants she simply shrugged and said it wasn’t her job she couldn’t do anything about that or give discount. You have to talk to someone out there and pointed back out to the plant section.
It is frankly a long way short of how it used to be. Blue Diamond needs to get a grip and understand its customer base a bit better for this area.

I can only confirm the one star comments. I have been going to Frosts for over 30 years for its quality of goods and service. It is now nothing better than B&Q but with a ridiculous IKEA one way system. What a shame it has gone down market. No rush to go back. The Frosts founders must be turning in their graves.Blue Diamond please don’t bother responding with your corporate response because that just confirms the nature of the new owners.

We have been coming to Frosts Worbun Sands over 30 years and following the taking over by BD, the quality of every thing has gone down. The restaurant is not like fire and the quality as well as the quantity of food has. gone down immensely. The coffee and tea taste without richness like it was used to be. Staff turn over seems to be very high!
We will definitely take our custom elsewhere. We also visited Frosts Willington for the first time last week, even there the food quality was terrible,

Frosts (Woburn) used to be a high quality garden centre that I have patronised for around 40 years. No longer!
On my previous visit I noted how poor the catering had become with very reduced choices.
Now it has an appalling one way system like Ikea. The quality of goods has gone down and is now similar to any chain garden centre. The same with the plants.
Just reading the other reviews that get the same generic management responses tell their own story.
Will take my custom elsewhere.

Been a customer for years, last visit will probably be my last. The clothing section, women's only, now takes up so much space and you have to walk through to get to see anything else. If I want to go clothes shopping I can go into MK. Its not why I visit a garden centre. Such a disappointment.

What a disappointment. Potentially the worst downgrade I've ever seen. Frosts used to be a destination place for shopping and eating. You used to be able to browse and mooch throughout different sections of the store stocked with high quality, unique products - beautiful brands, jellycat shelter for kids, quality garden furniture, gifts.

Now it’s a pile it high, sell it cheap, claustrophobic maze of tat that you’re desperate to get out of but can’t because you’re trapped. The shelves are high, overwhelming you with bad products.

The restaurant is equally as awful, the quality is nothing close to what it used to be, yet the prices remain the same. Warm cakes, cheap ingredients, very limited choice, NOTHING for children.

Maintenance has reduced, the toilets are being left unattended, messy, taps dripping etc.

The only way out of the store is by queuing in the compact maze to the tills which are surrounded by more cheap products demonstrating their desperation to sell.

We hoped the garden centre would be unharmed, but equally this has been damaged by the bulk buy, cheap quality. No decent perennials, just generic cheap plants and another Ikea maze to the tills.

Will not be returning.

I look forward to Blue Diamond’s reply to this feedback which will (like all their previous) say many customers enjoy the changes…yet we overheard many customers complaining about the same issues and looking at ALL the recent feedback on TrustPilot there doesn’t look to be a positive word to be said!

Honestly, it is worth a visit just to see how terrible it now is and then never return again. Wishing Frosts all the best, I give it 18 months….

Visited 16/03/25, the layout has changed, which means you now need to walk through the entire store to get out - I came for the pet shop at the entrance. The exit is by the tills, but they have blocked any way through other than joining the queue.
As someone with limited mobility, I found the new layout frustrating and physically painful (I hadn't planned to have to walk through more of the store).

VERY DISAPOINTING HAS CHANGED FROM A GARDEN CENTRE TO A MINI DEPT STORE, TOO MANY CLOTHS, NOT MANY HOUSEHOLD GOODS.

Never again. Used Frosts for 35 years. Never again. It’s now a glorified clothes shop. You have to walk up and down endless aisles to get anywhere. You can’t get to the restaurant easily. It’s impossible as a disabled person. Too far to walk now. Most of the nice gardening and kitchen stuff gone for tatty clothing. The new menus in the restaurant appalling as is the food quality. Cheap pre packaged food of the cheapest quality. We used to go every week but no more. So sad to see the end of what was a fabulous garden centre

Definately gone downhill. Went 3pm Sunday for coffee and cake as a hot sunny day. Not allowed to sit outside (although people were still there) - closed it off. Closed the nicer inside seating area off ( already cleaned despite still being open for another hour!). ONly choice 2 tables in shop area , and even in that area chairs were stacked on tables and closed off areas.
Not a nice look. Very unfriendly. Announcment made 2.30pm saying will be closing in 20mins ie 3.50pm not 4pm - I appreciate you may be short on staff but this frequently happens. If you advertise restaurant is open until 4pm thn I expect at 3pm to sit in it and order !

Visited sunday 09/03/2025 first time since frosts was taken over, found the main building was crammed, way too many clothes, and not enough room to browse, other customers bumping into us, we dont feel its very wheelchair friendly either due to the lay out. We ordered breakfast drinks and pastries, breakfast rolls arrived and were eaten before the drinks and pastry arrived ,which meant one member of our group ate alone, not ideal. Overall no rush to go back, which after visiting frosts over past 20 yrs is a shame

The new owners of Frosts at Woburn clearly don't understand the old idiom "If it ain't broken, don't try to fix it". I was unconcerned when I saw it is Blue Diamond taking over because they run another centre in Northampton that I go to which is lovely. I was expecting those same standards at Frosts but absolutely not. It has gone massively downhill. The menu is limited anyway but is worse so when the menu says items are available but the staff then explain that at this particular place they aren't (teas are one example). We have been coming for breakfast at 10:30am every Saturday for 4 years but have recently decided to start looking at other options as the quality worsens but today was the nail in the coffin. Arrived at 10:25am to be told there would be a 30-45 minute wait as "orders are stacked up" despite the restaurant being part empty and only being open an hour and a half! To get to the restaurant to start with we had to go through their IKEA style shopping maze where the store can't decide if it's a clothes shop, a garden centre, a bookshop or a toy shop and then we got turned away and had to go through a checkout queue to get out. Worst still, we gave Frosts the benefit of the doubt and when to the Market Kitchen Cafe on site instead only to be told they no longer cater to dietary requirements so those of our parties with gluten allergies and intolerance were unable to eat. In recent weeks we've had - missing items, cold food, burnt toast, food arriving with no cutlery, drinks arriving after food was finished and the "choice of teas" actually being just English Breakfast or Decaf when we used to get a whole array of fruit teas and other tea varieties. On top of this, the prices have stayed in line with the previous higher quality food but the standard is not the same quality to justify that price! I live in Northampton and have travelled every Saturday for breakfast with my friends as its been worth the travel but since Blue Diamond took over, this place isn't worth travelling for even if you are only in Woburn!! It is such a shame because that restaurant was fantastic and the staff are brilliant but the menu options, quality and lack of allergy consideration has made today our last visit to Frosts. Frosts earnt our loyalty and deserved it so got our custom weekly for 4 solid years but Blue Diamond certainly dont deserve it and are doing nothing to earn it! If I could turn back time I'd tell the previous owners never to sell.

To quote Remember Mondays, "What the hell just happened?" The shopping area is like cross between Ikea and B&M. Cheaper ranges and the need to follow a high sided maze. No ability to wander from kids toys to BBQs, clothes to house plants, and a view from the restaurant of tall display cabinets that give a claustrophobic, enclosed feeling. It used to be a destination place to go with a feeling of quality. Food distinctly average (actually poor) and tea so weak with a horrible taste. We have been coming for over 30 years. We travelled from Northamptonshire today because we wanted to go to a garden centre that was a cut above the rest. This isn't it. As my wife put it, "it's been dumbed down". We have spent a lot here over the years. We brought our kids and now grandkids. After a disappointing breakfast we are off to see the plants. I hope they have not been affected (oh dear). One good thing about the change, if you are a regular it's worth a trip to see how bad it is. Never again for us. I feel sorry for the staff who were friendly.

Oh dear Frosts, what have you done!! You’re garden centre rearranged shop layout is nothing short of a disaster. It used to be a wonderful shopping experience where you could wander and peruse the quality home and garden items with beautifully arranged displays. Not any more, you feel like a mouse stuck in a maize made up of towering ugly shelving, getting more and more desperate to find the exit. And if you’re in a wheelchair then forget it. Example of how to break a business model!

Visited the Woburn garden centre and the restaurant has gone down hill so much. If you’re going for a cup of tea and a nice cake, don’t bother cakes are tasteless and dry.

Staff are great, how they tolerate some rude and aggressive customers I don’t know. Well done.

Came to the restaurant to have a brunch but once again I must say it’s utterly disappointing . Ordered coronation chicken baked potato and an extra hot latte. Well u can never say the state of it until u are served. Quantities are do much smaller , potato was burnt , there were hardly any fillings on them and rather cold latte. It’s always hit and miss with food and drinks. Prices are always going up but food standard tremendously gone down hence given 1 star. Very very disappointing!!

Very disappointed with the Blue Diamond menu.
After being a customer of Frosts lunchtime cafe for the past 20 years serving fresh food at a reasonable price my wife was served with a tasteless burger which was tough & I was served with fish which had a thin soggy covering (was meant to be batter) & cardboard chips which we were unable to finish it was so bad. The manageress was extremely apologetic & gave us a choice of cakes at no extra cost which was a nice effort but unfortunately we will not be going back as we are lucky that we have so many alternative lunch venues in Milton Keynes with a higher standard of food. Sad after 20 years, the only thing I know that has changed is that they have been bought out by Blue Diamond garden centers who are the biggest garden chain in the UK who must have their own food suppliers which obviously are not of the same standard as the family owned Frosts.