The owners of a coffee shop have praised the community for support after being hit by a series of fake one-star reviews.

Edison’s coffee and wine bar in High Street Southampton was hit with several fake reviews just before Christmas.

The coffee shop, which opened its doors in September, said the reviews affected their online ratings – until the community rallied behind them.

Daily Echo:

Director James Egan, 27, said: “We are a proper family business that was created to run alongside our estate agents.

“A group of students came into the café in December, but only one bought a coffee while another was drinking their own coffee.

“One member of our team went over to them and asked if they were going to buy anything else, and if they were, we would be more than happy for them to stay.

“The next day I saw five one-star reviews pop up on my phone which all came through at the same time.

“According to one fake review made, we told the group to get out within 15 minutes, which we didn’t.

“I checked the cameras, and they were here for about 45 minutes.”

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James managed to contact one of the reviewers on Facebook after identifying him.

He said: “I told them that what they had done isn’t right.

“I said ‘you don’t realise the effect this has.’”

James also made a post on Facebook about the reviews, urging people to “have a conversation with your children, friends, and family about the impact of blindly following what they ask you to do when it means trying to hurt local businesses.”

Daily Echo:

And in response to the post, there was an incredible outpouring of support for the café.

Over 30 positive reviews were written in the space of two days.

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James said: “All those people who saw the post we made on Facebook about it then left lots of good reviews.

“It turned a negative into a positive and the community got behind us.

“Because of the fake reviews left, we went down to a 4.3 rating from 4.8 which is massive.

“But when we received all these good reviews it went up to 4.9. I didn’t expect that and when everybody got behind us it was great.

“The fake reviews did the opposite of what was intended; it hasn’t put people off.”

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