A tearoom has hit back at a negative review – with a tongue-in-cheek sign.

Owners of Tiny Tim's Tearooms in Northgate, Rochester, took matters into their own hands when a disappointed customer left a message on Tripadvisor.

The family-run shop is Dickensian-themed and serves afternoon tea as well as breakfast and lunch.

Staff posted a screenshot of a recent review on Tripadvisor.

The customer, who asked for gluten-free options, claimed they had to “wait over 20 minutes for a jacket potato with chilli” and was “disappointed” to see Charles Dickens mis-spelt on the menu. They also queried the addition of crisps.

They rated the cafe three out of five.

Tiny Tim’s responded, saying: “I usually wouldn't even entertain negative reviews but this lovely lady decided to slate us for the following comical reasons.

“Firstly the crisps she received were in fact GLUTEN FREE.

“Secondly she said the food was fine but waited 20 minutes which isn't long to be fair bearing in mind she even admitted we were understaffed (also chilli takes longer).

“However the nail in the coffin is our spelling mistakes. We sincerely apologise in regards to the poor spelling.

“I'll be sure to get Mr Charles Dickens to personally rewrite our menu and correct the framed artwork which has been hanging on the wall for 15 years.”

They also changed their profile picture, which is usually an image of the front of the store, to an apostrophe – claiming it was their “brand new logo”.

Owner Steve Morgan said one of his staff saw the review and sent it to him the night before.

“The artwork has been hanging there god knows how long – I don’t even know where it came from,” he explained.

“Apparently the apostrophes are in the wrong place.

“She went full-on into it and I thought ‘I’m not having this!’”

However, the 34-year-old admitted they do have a spelling mistake on the menu.

“It is true,” he said. “We got an ‘i’ mixed up with an ‘e’. So it says ‘Dickins’ not ‘Dickens’. Not many people notice it.

“It’s more irritating that someone has gone out of their way to be a bit pedantic on what we have and what we do.”

The following day, the business posted a picture of a new sign outside – which usually advertises what they have on offer to eat and drink.

It said: “Pop in for – a disapointly slow service, bad spelling, the misuse of an APOSTROPHE.

“As said by a ‘lovely’ lady on Tripadvisor.”

The post was captioned: “As the #spellinggate saga continues. We decided to honour it with a new advertising board.

“I apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes that may occur. Unfortunately, I'm not a literacy wizard, like Charles Dickens.”

Steve says his response to the disgruntled customer has gained the most interaction they’ve had on their Facebook page.

“It might have started as a bad review, but we have been so busy since then,” he said. “My phone has not stopped ringing.

“The day after we had every single seat taken. It’s gone a bit mental.

‘You can’t please everyone, but it seems like people have found the humour in it.’

“You can’t please everyone, but it seems like people have found the humour in it.”

So far the post has had more than 500 likes, with many people taking to the comments, all finding the cheeky ploy hilarious.

Bill Lowrey said: “I saw this when I walked past today, it did make me smile.”

Kaz Patricia Burdett added: “For this, I think you have a new customer coming.”

Sara Lane Ancill commented: “Great piece of marketing and reaction to a review taken with a pinch of salt!”