Starbucks on Northgate Street is surprisingly the only location they have directly in Chester's town centre and shopping area, with other branches a good walk away.
It isn't the largest stores, but I did like the exposed brick which looked pretty good, it is fully step-free despite being in an old building too (Obviously old buildings are common in Chester, with many places having steps even in the most absurd of locations).
It is worth noting this is a franchise store meaning it costs extra compared to another store, it's even got to the point the stores contact email states "Soul Coffee", rather than Starbucks - Soul Coffee House is a pretty large franchisee of Starbucks with many locations around the country including in London and Leeds. My drink cost £0.25 more, which isn't great but with it being the only branch in Chester city centre, you pretty much have to pay it if you want Starbucks.
My drink quality was okay, I found it to be a little sweet mainly as the drizzle had sunk to the bottom of my Venti Iced Vanilla Bean Macchiato.
It was a really slow experience at the tills too, not only did I have to wait for a staff member to have a chat with a customer (I mean, I like the fact they're chatting to customers but when there's a growing queue, why can't they wait to serve everyone first? Why should I have to wait for them to finish a conversation about something totally unrelated to order?)), and then she struggled to find my drink at the till she ended up putting random drinks on the screen and ended up deleting it twice.
I was then charged for a Caramel Macchiato but I was overcharged AGAIN - Despite the prices for all drinks being £4 according to the board which is a similar pricing strategy to other franchise locations, she still told me the price was £4.10 and I honestly can't understand where they got the figure from, which made a drink already more expensive compared to other stores, more expensive again?
2* - Staff members really do need to be trained in how to work the tills and on treating all customers in a polite manner, ensuring the pricing is correct, luckily I used an earned beverage reward from my Starbucks loyalty app (I like saving the rewards for franchises which accept them). read more