I read the comments about the old cafe being better than the new cafe. I defended the need for change on the thread at the time. I finally had the chance to see for myself the new cafe this weekend.

Its waaaay better. Someone called it souless wtf. I could actually find a seat, it aas clean, the service quick and good value.

The old cafe was a grotty portakaben(sp?). Plus how much did the previous lease owners take home? Min. investment, max gain? Leagues better now.

Did you try the cake selection or the coffee?

Neither sold beer; making them both crap : ) Although last time I was in the new one a zero pinter was serving….

Jacket
Cake
Plus they made me a machiato (not on the menu I see)

Contrast this to CYB. Slow crap and indifferent service.

Sounds like they’ve been listening, then. Good on em.

I think the second till is in now too?

2 tills, one if you need anything from the kitchen (burger, jacket,panini…) the other one for cakes….

personally I far preferred the food, drink, ambience and speed of service in the Hub cafe. Teapot, cups and cutlery were filthy when I was last in the peel, water wasn’t hot enough to brew the tea properly either. Service did seem to be a bit faster than before though. It’ll be interesting to see how busy it gets when Go Ape opens though. Well, not really interesting, but you know what I mean.

All the charm of a garden centre ,it just doesn’t work for me

gavtheman – Member

Neither sold beer; making them both crap : )

They do now sell beer. Though they seem to have slightly cut the cake selection.

I keep saying the same thing, yes the service is slow but many times when I’ve gone in, they’re serving more people than the Hub could cope with at all, and we’d have just ended up not going in. Especially if it’s raining when the hub’s lack of seats was chronic. They need to get better but even so I’d have a queue in the new place over nothing at all at the hub.

Stevie’ So you prefer those butty portakabins that you find in the laybys in Wales.. you know with the big fluttering national flags ontop?

Nice.

The FC etc wanted better. A vision. Good on them for trying. Pull in new bikers. A new generation.

How difficult can it be? There’s loads of wee greasy spoon cafe’s all over the place that seem able to get the service thing right, why can’t the Peel?
I popped in on Monday on the way back from Hawick, mid afternoon, place was near empty, just me and the wife for a quick Panini and a coffee.
Quick my arse, 20 minutes we waited, and there was only one till. 🙄

Totally soulless.I much prefered the hub with it,s proper cafe feel.
I,d rather drink coffee out of a flask in the car than go in there.

I quite like the new one, the cake & coffee seem acceptable.

Incidentally, has anyone seen the Go Ape death slide over Dougie Bank?, looks so low the punters will be booting cyclists off the track as they pass 😯

Only benefit The Hub had was sitting outside was nicer than The Peel. Hated sitting inside The Hub and it was shithole. Apart from that, they are just cafes. Last thing I worry about when I’m there to ride me bike.

I was in the Glentress cafe for the first time today, I thought it was decent. Service was friendly, they were getting through a lot of people and the food was good. I quite liked the building, and the “mud welcome” sign on the door was a nice touch.

Trails any good at Glentress these days?

building much better, but coffee shit, depends on what you value I suppose…

Was in today. Large queue. One woman working, four huffy teenagers standing about doing nothing. No free seats inside.
Food was nice.

Don’t think I would go in again.

Go ape looks excellent, the zip slides are massive

I quite liked the old one, it wasn’t trying to be anything fancy, just good cake + coffee and you didn’t feel like a dick messing up their (plastic) furniture in your manky post ride gear.

New one to me sounds like its a bit like weatherspoons? but without the £2 bacon + maple syrup breakfast?

Let’s be honest, the old one was little more than a smelly, damp, sweaty hovel. Touching though it is to see the loyalty that some of the “old guard” had/have towards it, we can surely move on?

The new one sells lasagne, which is a big plus point for me. 🙂

Let’s be honest, the old one was little more than a smelly, damp, sweaty hovel.

That’s quite a weird level of hostility you’ve got there. 😕

That’s definitely not the way I experienced it.

I quite liked the old one, it wasn’t trying to be anything fancy, just good cake + coffee and you didn’t feel like a dick messing up their (plastic) furniture in your manky post ride gear.

+1

I guess when some people have spent their 30k on an audi and 5k on a mountain bike they want somewhere a bit posher to drink their cappucino. 🙂

Possibly the plastic chairs were actually chosen (over wooden ones) for a reason.

At the old cafe I thought about the money they’d spent on the trails, the network, the upkeep then I’d go to the toilet at the cafe and thing ‘err right’ nice.

way prefer the hub.

The new one did the job, got my panini order right 🙂

They do need to focus on keeping the place clean though, was a tad grubby in places already.

Fertilities wise the new one is light years ahead of the hub but the people just aren’t as passionate about the place and it’s a real shame that whole ore and community that once was glentress just isn’t there anymore it almost feels like the whole place is a business and not a community anymore.

You are talking about two businesses.

The Hub was a business selling goods. If you stood in there chatting and not buying they’d soon get annoyed.

The cafe, did they give all their profits to the community then and did they invest back?

Come on, community and business. Its only a community if its run as a collective that shares profits.

Fertilities wise the new one is light years ahead of the hub

Well as long as they’ve got the fertilities! 😀

I guess when some people have spent their 30k on an audi and 5k on a mountain bike they want somewhere a bit posher to drink their cappucino.

I think Grum’s got to the crux of the issue. Maybe what’s needed is the cafe equivalent of a saloon bar and public bar. Panninis and frapachinios for the Audi drivers in one room, bacon butties and tea for the plebs in the other.

I guess when some people have spent their 30k on an audi and 5k on a mountain bike they want somewhere a bit posher to drink their cappucino.

I love the smell of inverted snobbery in the morning.

Sorry maybe didn’t explan that properly its not the 2 cafes that feel like business and not communities just glentress in general seems to be going that way it feels like it has lost its spark and the edge that it had for so long over alot of the other trail centres.

There will always be those who don’t want change or improvement. I bet you want a Spitfire flying over, fly on a BOAC airline and still remember shillings.

There will always be those who bregudge another man enjoying his spare time passion and what he spends his money on.

It’s amazing that people spend more time talking about the cafe facilities rather than the trails.

Well this thread is specifically about the catering and there are plenty of other threads about the trails at GT……

It’s amazing that people spend more time talking about the cafe facilities rather than the trails.

Aye but the topic is about the facilities and I reraised it due to the unkind comments from previous…..

Did you see the overspill parking/field for yesterdays race? We got 5m’s in and decided to about turn, it was touch and go whether we’d get out and it was only just after 9am!

Sadly i was unable to make it down. Going tomorrow instead.

I miss the tap that used to be by old bike wash. I can’t get my water bottle under the tap in the new cafes sinks.

The ladies serving at the counter were happy to fill up camelbak bladders so a bottle should be no problems.