Just to shove my tuppenyworth in here...
First of all, I've only done my PPL ( + Night rating later) at Stapleford back in 2005 (ish). My experiences were
1) I was lucky enough to get the same instructor for the entire course, except one time when he was on holiday. That was the day of my XCQ so I had someone else sign me off for it.
2) A couple of the receptionists were very pleasant and chatty. The rest seemed to just get on with their jobs. As someone pointed out, the reception area is open and they have to deal with phone calls (alot), booking aircraft in and out, tech logs plus a load of other crap, and they can get VERY busy. Just because they didn't want to shoot the breeze that day doesn't mean they're being rude.
3) Colin always seemed a bit distant to me - I never really spoke to him. But then again he did run the CPL side and seemed to have nothing to do with the PPL syllabus. However, there are several exceptionally good and helpful instructors there - Keith Pogmore, Tony Glover spring to mind - who are very experienced, a pleasure to fly with and are more than happy to have a chat with you if you have any problems.
4) The airfield can get a bit boggy during the winter, but there's not many places you can train on grass one day, tarmac the other, plus some off-putting gradients !! You also learn from day one the importance of keeping a good lookout and operating in a very busy environment.
5) The aircraft (152s) are in a state. There are about 3 that are ok, the rest look knackered. This was a real issue for me. Fortunately, my instructor favoured one (one of the good ones). He always got it, as the abbreviated callsign was his initials. The P28s seem well-maintained though. Shame they got rid of their one 172.
I don't regret learning there. I've since moved to the other side of the M25, but still go back for some training (Night rating, some aeros) every now and again.
I'm thinking of doing a CPL in a year or two, and would go back again. Probably wouldn't fly at a weekend, though, as it gets very busy.