Pound Bakery - Preston

I have ordered steak and onion twice now and both times I have been given cheese and onion instead. The staff is unhelpful and doesn't pay attention to the customer's orders.

The food was cold, staff were gossiping and ignoring the growing line of customers, the restaurant layout was unattractive, and the menu choices were disappointingly limited.

In terms of pricing, this restaurant is hard to beat. They offer a variety of pies, pasties, sausage rolls, and breads at two for the price of one at other bakeries like Greggs. However, the service is lacking as the staff seem to expect customers to know what they want to order before they even have a chance to see the options available. The long queue often prevents customers from viewing the items on offer until they reach the till area, where many items are displayed in a glass case right in front of the service area. As a result, customers cannot easily walk up and immediately request what they want unless they are ordering the same thing as last time. This lack of information and patience from the staff can lead to an uncomfortable dining experience. It would be helpful for the staff to be more patient or to provide better menu and display information for customers.

There was one member of staff on at the time of my visit with my friend. The shop was taking cash only at the time, the card machine was not available. I watched the lady as she served the people in front of us. She used tongues to put food in bags and her hands to take change. This is fine. She paused serving the line as we got to the front to fetch a box of frozen pasties from the back. She put this box on the back counter, reached into the box with her hands to remove frozen pasties and then placed them on a baking try to bake. She did not wash her hands between handling cash (notes and coins) and handling frozen pasties. This potentially contaminates the pasties and is a food hygiene and safety risk. Because money is passed from person to person and never washed. She used these same hands to handle food which was then served to customers. She did not wash her hands before handling food. Needless to say, I ended up not getting food from this bakery and I don't think I could ever again after seeing the way that food is handled here. This makes me think about what other violations may go on inside this bakery. It is not safe to eat here, especially during norovirus and vomiting bug season if staff don't take hand washing and food safety seriously. Please educate your staff about cash handling in regards to food hygiene and safety.

If you want a cheap lunch and the quality not too bad then this is the place for you! Good service and quite good quality I quite enjoyed it.