My first experience of Gail’s Bakery was when they arrived in St Albans a number of years ago, where it immediately became my favourite place for a coffee, cake and everything else in between. That is, if there is a seat available. The size of the venue in St Albans and its popularity mean that you have slightly better odds of getting a seat than winning the lottery.
For years, Watford has had to suffer the cynical, sub-par, pre-packaged offerings available at the usual suspect coffee house chains, all of which have situated themselves in high footfall areas. There are a number of independent coffee houses dotted around the town, but these tend to be more on the outskirts, so you are unlikely to stumble across them; I will give details at the end of this so you can go and check them out yourself.
Earlier this week, Gail’s finally opened in the old Moss Bros location on the corner with Market Street, so with no other plans for the day, I took a hike into town with my family on the pretext that I needed to get a couple of things for a sewing project. My goal of hitting Gail’s for lunch was as about transparent as air, though I didn’t hear any objections!
The Venue
From what I recall of the old Moss Bros layout, the ground floor was quite small, and Gail’s have managed to squeeze in the tiny kitchen, serving counters and a reasonable amount of seating into this space. However, it is tight and doesn’t feel like the layout designer has considered the flow of people through the space; though being L-shaped, I concede that it’s not an easy space to plan.
Bizarrely, the start of the serving counter, where the food is on display, is tucked away to the left as you walk in the door. This is a very small space, very near the kitchen, with insufficient room for more than a handful of people to queue. This meant people were milling around near the entrance, not sure where the queue was. Everyone was polite enough to help the staff by pointing to whomever was there before them, but this isn’t always going to happen.
After moving around to the coffee collection point, it was clear that things were too tight there, too. With the window seating one side, serving counter the other and a strangely tiny milk-and-stirrer stand seemingly dropped randomly into the middle of the available space, there wasn’t much room left for people to move. I think I did the dodge-the-laden-tray dance with at least three people today.
Upstairs is a different story. It sounded like it was crazy busy, but it turned out there were only about a dozen people upstairs. Either they were abnormally loud or it was a side effect of having zero sound-absorbing furnishings – I’m going with the latter. It was at least nice and bright upstairs, with a few large plants dotted around to break up the lines, but it was too noisy. All of the seats were wooden, as were the tables, and there was nothing interesting to look at on the walls.
It felt a little half-hearted. Shove in a few plants and easy-clean furniture and it’s job done. This is disappointing, though based on other Gail’s, not really any different. In a small venue, this may not be a problem, but for such a large space, having cushioned seating, some canvas art on the walls and even some more large plants to zone the area, would radically change the atmosphere.
The Facilities
Toilet facilities in a venue like this are always a bit meh. I do believe you can tell a lot from a food and drink business by their toilets; if they are kept clean and well presented, then they clearly have a good hygiene culture that likely extends into the rest of the business.
With Gail’s being open for barely a week, I didn’t expect to have any issues in this area; it’s something to come back to in 6 months time. However, it seems that the contractor who completed these wasn’t one for taking pride in their work. Lifting the toilet seat, the flush immediately activated. Why? Because the seat covered the flush sensor. This meant sitting there, leaning forward, with the seat touching my back (bleurgh), so I didn’t trigger the flush and wash my personal bits every ten seconds.
That top is in the wash now.
The Food / Drink
I have no complaints about the food, it was just as good as I expected and have experienced from other branches. On this visit I only had a Salmon Bagel, but it was all nice and fresh and had clearly been made today. However, my step-daughter did mention that the pesto and mozzarella focaccia she had tasted ‘odd’, though this could be the sun-dried tomatoes that she is not a fan of anyway.
The coffee was fine, too, though I had a flat white instead of the usual macchiato, so the milk diluted the taste. Over the past few years, companies have moved to a coffee blend that is really sour and nasty to drink if you want an espresso-sized drink. The only way to drink this coffee is drowned in milk. I don’t think Gail’s use this blend, so I will go smaller next time and see.
Overall
I will probably go there again as I enjoy the food, but only if I happen to be in town. There is something odd about the venue and its layout that makes it feel chaotic and uncomfortable, which is a shame. I certainly won’t be making any special effort to go back. With the St Albans branch, I look forward to going there; I can’t say the same for the new Watford branch.
Ultimately, if I want to have a cake, coffee and a good read, there’s a great little independent nearer to home that is still top of the list.
Sorry Gail’s, you missed the mark on this one.
Independent Coffee Houses in Watford Town Centre
Remember, independent businesses are run by individuals and families who plough their heart, soul and personal finances into them; people who have had the courage to step away from working for others and take control of their own destiny. They are not big corporations whose business practices have fallen under scrutiny, so please support independent businesses when you can!
The above list is only those I have visited personally, so if there are others that you can recommend, please let me know in the comments!