Yuckky Yuckky Yuckky

I took Dimples into town with me today, she's sunny natured, easy going and pretty amiable most of the time (unlike her dear Mamma) so I was looking forward to it.
After we had finished most of the purchases she said she felt a bit peckish so we popped into one of the Coffee shops in the Precinct. What a horrid mistake that was.

You may have heard of Greggs the Bakers?
What used to be our local Bakers Oven actually, anyway for anyone who doesn't live here it's a Bakery at the front and a coffee shop at the side with tables where you can buy the same food but with drinks too.

After I had paid for my Coffee and a Ribena and doughnut with sprinkles for missy( what else?) I turned around to sit down, only to see that almost every single table was dirty. There were trays and empty cups & plates everywhere.

Having worked in Catering for a few years I understand that during peak hours it's rather difficult to keep everything ship shape as it were but this was two thirty in the afternoon. Long after the Lunchtime rush. In fact there were probably three or four tables occupied and three people at the Bakery counter - hardly a run on Bread and Lardy cake.

I put my tray on a table near the one Dimples had picked so I could clear it. I got out my trusty pack of baby wipes to give it a jolly good rub down and got a rather nasty shock when I turned it over. It's not a pretty sight, I give you good and proper warning!

Not terribly nice is it?
I rubbed it a couple more times until I was a bit happier and then let Dimples sit down, threatening all types of plague on her if she put her hands underneath the table. After all, if the top is this dirty, heaven knows what lurks underneath!!!
I think it's only fair to point out that as a Mother of four I am not paranoid about general, good,  healthy dirt. The sort that they eat when ingesting garden stones, small snails, and sweets dropped for less than three seconds. In fact, I think I would rather her have licked the patio in the back garden than this table.

Whilst we ate-well, she picked the sprinkles off and I felt in need of a white coat & test tube, I watched one of the ladies working there come and clear and 'clean' the tables around me. There are approximately 28 small tables, probably 18 were in need of clearing. She moved a tray to one side, took a cloth, wiped the crumbs from it onto the FLOOR (???) then moved the tray to the other side and did the same. She did this with every table. Same swishing of food debris onto the floor, same cloth, no rinsing, no spray.

I also watched another lady make rolls behind the counter. She wiped the preparation area with her hand, scooped the bits into her other hand and opened a bin behind her and put her hand INTO the bin to shake it. Then, with the very same said hands, opened a fresh pack of rolls to make some more... I kid you not.

On the way out of the shop I handed the filthy wipes to the lady behind the counter and told her that her tables, mirrors & infact the whole place was filthy.
I am not sure what she muttered,  frankly my dears, I don't give a damn because none of the usual,  'short staff, so busy' excuses were going to cut the mustard.
There is dirt in there that is more than a day old, I have worked in terribly busy places and they did not look like this.

I am going to email the nice people at Gregs to see how apologetic they are about this. If you feel so inclined, maybe you could share your thoughts with them too?
Greggs the Bakers I will of course, keep you posted.

In the meantime, here is another pic of the tables and the 'mad rush'.

Is there anywhere you care to name and shame with shocking hygiene? I would love to hear about it. I personally think there should be a National Campaign for hygiene in this Country. This isn't the first filthy place I have encountered, far from it. The only saving grace on this occasion is that I didn't have to actually use the highchairs and that Dimples is smart enough to understand about germs and not touching anything just yet....

This is not the end of this by a long way...

Stay healthy lovely readers!

Love