I have been into the artisan bakery on about 5 occasions now and although everything I have bought from there has been nice, I am sad to say that on probably 4 out of the 5 visits, all I have been greeted with is the man (who I assume is the owner) bad mouthing the bakery down the road (either to other customers or twice to me directly!). Having mentioned this to friends, they have told me that they have also experienced the same!
Whilst I appreciate that the high street is a difficult place to be at the moment, I do not think that this is the best way to approach business - your products should speak for themselves, there is no need to slander other businesses. Not only this but having been in both shops, it is clear that what he is saying is not even true and in my eyes, he is therefore being quite malicious e.g. they put preservatives in their bread and they do not make their own products.
In contrast, the staff at Costello's have actually recommended the Artisan Bakery to me when I enquired about baguettes (they only do a small range of bread) and suggested I try down the road! Small businesses should work together, not against each other. If you include Love Rouge, Headingley has three bakeries in close proximity but personally, I think that they complement each other rather that compete against each other. The Artisan bakery specialises in bread, Costello's in pies and Love Rouge in cakes - what more could you want?! Surely Headingley is better to be known as the place to go for great bakeries rather than the place with lots of empty shops?!
I fully support local, independent businesses (which all three of these bakeries are) but it certainly puts me off visiting a shop where the owner is more focused on bad mouthing competition rather than good customer service and unfortunately for this reason, I won't be visiting again. read more