In August 2026 we read every reply we could find published by 14 cafés in City Centre — 294 of them. This page is what we counted. Nothing on it is estimated, and no business is named.
Replies here run longer than the York median — 24 words against 18. Longer is not better: past a certain point a reply reads as defensive, and the reader stops. 54% of them touch nothing the reviewer actually wrote.
These appear word-for-word under reviews at more than one business here. Nobody copied anyone — they arrived at the same sentence independently, which is what makes it a template.
“Thank you so much for your lovely review!”
3 cafésCounted across the 294 reviews we read here. Each one has its own page, with real examples and how the published replies handled them.
I come here every weekend. I have ———. It’s my birthday today and I accidentally knocked over a glass with my ———. I got cut off from the bar and had rude comments by the staff. I feel really upset as it’s 8pm. I can’t help my disability. I apologised and my friend swept up the glass.
Hello ——— We would like to offer our sincere apologies for your experience. It sounds like we handled the situation badly and we're very sorry for that. Whilst we expect that the team who were on hand likely weren't aware of your disability, we also would never want to offend and will be absolutely sure to review how we handle any incidents like this in future. Thank you very much for the efforts from you and your friend to clean up. ——— do happen and we're very glad you raised this with us so that we are aware of how we need to improve. We truly hope you will give us another chance and that in spite of this event, you had a lovely birthday. ——— you all the best, ———! 🙏
This one we want to hear more about, because what you've described — a regular customer, on their birthday, cut off and spoken to rudely after an accident they couldn't control — is not something we'd consider acceptable under any circumstance. ——— is not a behavioural choice, and it wouldn't be treated as one here. We're sorry this was your evening.
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