Heaton Park café customers baffled over 21 signs with rules about food, dogs, kids and toilets

The notices at Hidden Gem Café in Heaton Park tells punters dogs aren't allowed, children must be supervised and their toilets are for customers only. They also threaten anyone caught consuming food or drink not bought in the café that they will be asked to leave.

Journalist Jack Fifield, 26, noticed the signs when he visited the garden centre where the café is based and joked online: "Anyone know if there's any rules I have to follow at this cafe?"

There a number of signs that repeat the same messages, discouraging people from eating their own food and forbidding dogs on the decking area or inside the café.

One social media user said: "All reasonable requests, but it's extremely funny how many signs there are." But another wag quipped: "Just a ‘p*ss off’ would have saved effort" and a third joked: "Rules are rules."

A fourth social media user said: "Things like this really p*ss me off. Like most of these things are just common sense. Makes you think the owners are d*cks and in that case I’d rather take my custom elsewhere."

Jack said he stumbled across the café while visiting the beauty spot, just north of Manchester city centre, on a day off from work. After a relaxing walk, he stumbled across a garden centre and headed to the café for a bite to eat.

He said: "I was shocked to be greeted by a sign telling me I could be asked to leave if I consumed my own food or drink. As I approached the café to buy myself a slice of cake, I noticed a lot more signs with different rules and regulations.

"I thought it seemed massively over the top but I saw the funny side. I bought a cake and a hot chocolate and sat down outside, where I counted all the signs. Afterwards, I got my water bottle out and I felt like I was breaking the rules when I took sips from it. I was worried I'd get kicked out, but of course I didn't.

"The staff were friendly enough. I did see a guy throw his leftover chips on the floor to feed the birds, but there was no sign saying not to do that, so I guess he was within the cafe’s rules."

The café manager, who identified himself only as Mark, defended the amount of signs and said they were only intended to remind customers of basic rules.

He said: "The signs are things like 'please keep your dogs on a lead'. Just this morning, a guy is running around with with his dog not on a lead and a bloke tripped over and banged his head. They also say please only consume food and drink bought in the shop, it's not a picnic area. It's a one acre site, there's the entrances into the shop. I went to Marks and Spencer this morning and saw more signs than I've got up, I don't get what the issue is.”