The first Tim Hortons to open in Manchester, and the first drive-thru location which the firm opened in the United Kingdom, located on Bury New Road, it is classed as being in Salford but on a clear day, you can also see the Manchester Arndale from the location.
This is my second visit to a Tim Hortons store, a company which has 14 stores in the UK, my first visit was back on New Years Day 2018, where I had an awful experience with their Altrincham branch, so after being offered a voucher by Tim Hortons Head Office, which was to make up for previous disappointment, I thought I'd try it again at where it all started (Tim Hortons in Manchester that is, obviously Tim Hortons started decades ago in Canada and opened stores in the UK prior to this in Glasgow in the summer).
My visit actually comes exactly 2 months after they first opened the store, which was interesting and on a more personal milestone due to my love of coffee, I feel this is an awesome place to mark my 1900th review on Yelp.
The store its-self as mentioned has a drive-thru, and follows mainly traditional Tim Hortons decor, based on this and the Altrincham store, it seemed slightly nicer inside than the Altrincham store which was good, although I did only use the drive-thru service when I visited the store its-self did look cool and modern from the outside.
The wait at the drive-thru was quite long, which shows that waiting times for beverages even at non-peak times such as later on a Sunday evening can be quite long, when I did get to the queue, the staff member seemed confused at even giving me my order, and had to confirm who was whos drink with someone else, which is frustrating as they should have written something on the cups perhaps, which is often done by larger rival chain and a favourite of mine, Starbucks.
I ordered a Large French Vanilla latte, after some confusion over the communication device where there appeared to be pauses and I was originally noted down as a medium beverage rather than a large, slightly frustrating. The staff also didn't seem willing to offer a recommendation on their selection of doughnuts, being gluten-free I can't eat any food here but as it was in with the promotion I had been given, I decided to get one anyway to give to my friend.
My French Vanilla coffee looked ugly, it looked like a typical coffee you'd make at home, and not one crafted with precision and delicacy you would expect in a coffee shop, and the taste and quality also was poor, it was a little sickly yet bland at times as well. They also told me they had no sugar, and could only offer sweetener which made me chuckle, a coffee shop without sugar is embarrassing!
I had been looking forward to Tim Hortons opening in the UK as a whole, and of course my home city of Manchester for a while now and it's sad to see this branch following suit with the Altrincham one, being so dissapointing in terms of waiting times, service and beverage quality so sadly my 1900th review has to result in a single one-star rating for Tim Hortons in Salford. read more