CHOOSE GARDEN CENTRES BY COUNTY BELOW
This independent review of Dobbies Beaconsfield Garden Centre was written by David Marks and was last updated in September 2025.
This is an in depth review by a real human as a result of visiting this garden centre, no Artificial Intelligence is involved!
We reviewed the inside and plant sales areas, took pictures (see lower down this article) and checked out the cafe. The cafe check involved ordering and tasting the food and reporting our findings for you to judge.
We have tracked the history of Beaconsfield Garden Centre back to 2005 when it was owned by Wyevale Garden Centres. At that time Wyevale were the largest garden centre group in the UK. In 2009 Wyevale hit severe financial problems and the Bank of Scotland then became the majority shareholder.
For some bizarre reason they renamed Wyevale as the Garden Centre Group. This renaming policy of the company became a future feature when individual garden centres were also renamed.
In 2012 the Garden Centre Group was acquired by the private equity firm Terra Firma and they renamed the company back to Wyevale Garden Centres. This was the beginning of the end for Wyevale.
In 2018 Terra Firma began to sell its Wyevale garden centres, Dobbies, British Garden Centres and Blue Diamond purchasing the majority of them. The garden centre world had undergone a revolution within the space of two years.
Beaconsfield Garden Centre was part of the Terra Firma sell-off and Dobbies were the buyers in 2019. The freehold of Beaconsfield Garden Centre was sold to Dobbies for £9,250,000, an astonishingly high price for a medium sized garden centre.
The key to the high price was that the town of Beaconsfield commands one of the highest prices (possibly the highest) in the UK for properties. In retrospect, if Dobbies were ever to sell the freehold of the garden centre, it would make a staggeringly high profit.
Consider this, the average price of a house in Beaconsfield (according to Rightmove), in the current market, is over £1 million and it's the land that is far more valuable than the physical building .....! The value of the car park alone at Beaconsfield Garden Centre probably now exceeds the value Dobbies paid for the entire garden centre.
In early September 2025 Dobbies unveiled the results of a major update and investment into Beaconsfield Garden Centre and this review reflects that investment. Any reviews dated prior to September 2025 are simply out of date and do not reflect the garden centre as it is now.
The locals call this garden centre "Beaconsfield Garden Centre", or occasionally just Dobbies.
Beaconsfield Garden Centre is one of the smaller Dobbies garden centres but they have carefully deigned it to fit in with the needs of the local community as far as possible given the size restrictions.
A large coffee shop is at the heart of this garden centre. Most of those items that the average gardener requires can also be found here.
Entrance to Dobbies Beaconsfield Garden Centre
IS DOBBIES BEACONSFIELD GARDEN CENTRE DOG FRIENDLY? Yes, Beaconsfield Garden Centre is dog friendly. Dobbies have published a page about their dog friendly policy which can be found here.
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SIZE: The coffee shop is medium sized, bordering on large size, certainly a larger seating area than you might expect from a medium sized garden centre.
FOOD TYPE: The food offering is called a "coffee shop" and this is an accurate description. Coffees, teas and other hot drinks are offered.
Cakes and pastries at Dobbies Beaconsfield Garden Centre
There is a large choice of cakes, savories and other snack type food. In addition they provide a basic selection of slightly more substantial meals. Not main meals, but enough to satisfy most appetites.
Having said that, the cost was a very reasonable £5.25 which is cheaper compared to many other garden centres.
Cheese and ham toastie at Dobbies Beaconsfield
See the menu they display below.
Menu page 1
Menu page 2
Being primarily a coffee shop they provide a decent selection of cakes and similar. The cakes we saw on display were priced at £4.25 per slice.
Cakes and Pastries at Dobbies Beaconsfield Garden Centre
FOOD QUALITY: We ordered a cheese and ham toastie and were not particularly impressed with it. First, there was no choice between white and brown bread - it was brown bread or nothing. There was a decent amount of filling but the accompanying salad was minimalistic to say the least.
DECOR: The decor was basic in the indoor seating area, plastic tables and chairs but the area was clean and tidy.
OUTDOOR SEATING: There was an attractive outdoor seating are looking onto a quiet part of the outside plants area. Half of the outdoor seating was under cover, the other half was open to the elements.
SERVICE: The service system is that drinks and cakes are served at the counter and hot meals are served to your table.
VALUE FOR MONEY: A mixture but overall prices were reasonable.
The cafe at Beaconsfield Garden Centre was awarded a Food Hygiene Rating of five out of five by Buckinghamshire in June 2025. Click here for full details.
SIZE OF PLANTS AREA: Dobbies at Beaconsfield have a medium sized plants area.
Outside plants area at Dobbies Beaconsfield
PLANT SELECTION: Given the restricted size of the plants area there was a fair range of plants for sale. There will be times when the plants you are looking for are not available.
LAYOUT: The layout of the plants area lacks any inspiration. It is simply rather boring rows of plants, no design effort has been applied to this area. The paths are wide and of solid surface. Wheelchair users will find it easy to navigate this area. About 25% of the area is under cover.
Plants area
VALUE FOR MONEY: The prices of plants and gardening accessories is about average, For example, roses start at £18 and clematis start at £20.
SIZE: The interior area is medium sized.
LAYOUT: A rather unremarkable layout inside this garden centre. It did seem to have a surprisingly large area dedicated to clothing. All the normal gardening accessories are available to satisfy the needs of most gardeners. It had had a good range of garden furniture.
Larger than expected clothing area
Good choice of houseplants at Dobbies Beaconsfield
VALUE FOR MONEY: Similar to the plants area, prices were about average.
Disabled access is good all round with solid, wide paths inside and out and only a few minor slopes.
ADDRESS:
Beaconsfield Garden Centre
London Road
Beaconsfield
Buckinghamshire
HP9 1SH
OWNER:
Dobbies
TELEPHONE NUMBER:
01494 672522
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