The Good Cafe Guide

[Arch]

I'm hoping Admin will let this be a sticky...

My idea is this. Post a good cafe/lunch stop for rides. It would be good if the recommendations could be fairly standardised, and include location, opening hours, any days closed, range of food/drink available, price range, any 'must have' specialities, size (IE, plenty of room, or might fill up quick), availability of bike parking and any other relevant comments. That would be the ideal - if you simply have a location and what's the best thing on the menu, that'll do fine. If we could keep 'chat' to a minimum, the thread might turn into a useful resource for folk who happen to be riding somewhere unfamiliar and want to plan a ride knowing there's a nice cafe...

I'm thinking more cafes than pubs, but if you know somewhere good that will serve a sandwich or the like and a hot drink as opposed to just bar drinks, please add it.

I'll kick off below...

 

[summerdays]

Create centre in Bristol by the docks (near to the cycle path running out to Portishead) has some lovely pastries and bike parking (though lots of cyclists park in them too), not sure what the opening hours are.

Brunel Buttery further along the docks for a slightly more substantial snack and outdoor seating.

 

[Noodley]

Could you make it a sticky somewhere else other than Cafe?

 

[Arch]

The first recommendation:

North Yorkshire.

Buffet2you, the cafe at the Thorp Arch Retail Park, nr Wetherby. (LS23 7BJ) Next to the garden centre.

http://www.buffet2you.com/home.html

Open 7 days a week, from 8 am (it said from 9 on Sundays on the door).

Normal cafe fayre, hot and cold drinks, snacks, full meals, cakes, scones etc. I had the Treacle Sponge today and it was fabulous. That and a pot of tea (made two mugfulls, with a pot of hot water), came to £5.05, but he waived the 5p. So not the cheapest, but the sponge was very good and all the cakes looked lovely. I didn't get a look at a meal (think meat pie, or fish and chips....) but most of the clientele seemed to be pensioners which is often a sign of good value and hearty portions. Quite roomy, with a main bit and a conservatory. There is also a takeaway counter next door, snacks and drinks, and some very clean loos, which again are separate, so if you just want them, you don't have to slink into the cafe.

The chap who served me was the boss I think and was very cheerful and chatty, to me and all the others who came after me. The only downside is a lack of bike parking, I locked mine to a drainpipe. Maybe if more cyclists used it, they might be persuaded to fit a rack. Thorp Arch retail park can be accessed by a lovely off road track running from the junction of Wetherby Road and Wood Lane (the road that come north out of Thorp Arch village). The whole estate is huge, but the retail park bit is quite small and signposted. If in doubt, look for the large pirate ship....

All in all, worth a visit. If it helps, Cyclesense, the Tadcaster bike shop, have a showroom quite close by on the estate.

 

[rich p]

One of the problems with Stickies is that, apart from clogging up the page, nobody will trawl back through numerous pages to see if there's a cafe in a particular place.

 

[dan_bo]

How's about something a bit like bonjs' member map?

 

[Archie_tect]

http://www.cyclistcafes.co.uk/

...needs adding to but a good base from which it can be expanded.

The Blacksmith's Cafe in Belsay, 6 miles north of Ponteland, Northumberland. Open 10ish til 4.30 most days [Blacksmiths Coffee Shop, East Beechfield, Belsay, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE20 0DU. Tel. to check opening on any particular day:01661 881024‎]

Quiche and salad [approx] £4.50, soup and bread [£3.50], 'proper' homemade cakes and pies incl. lemon meringue! [£1.95]. Teas and coffees and free water bottle top-up.

 

[Kirstie]

Dunkeld post office and cafe.

Absolutely brilliant very very old school cafe. Very little has changed since the 1950s! The post office is old school too. The furnture is rickety melamine covered tables, and moulded plastic chairs.

£3.50 gets you a pot of tea served in bone china, and a choice of cute little cakes which are served on a silver ... umm... one of those things that has more than one tier. The menus are typed out and have been in the same plastic holders probably for at least 20 years. The proprietors are two lovely old dears too, and you can get old fashioned sweets in there too.

Just a really unique place

 

[Shaun]

I could possibly create something using the CMS system I have attached to the forums.

Let me check their support forums to see if there are any modules that might be useful for this sort of thing and I'll get back to you.

Cheers,
Shaun

PS. Don't let me stop you posting Cafe details though ...

 

[dodgy]

How's about something a bit like bonjs' member map?

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=e...6602478493577596441.00000112e78dabb52398a&z=6

 

[Arch]

I could possibly create something using the CMS system I have attached to the forums.

Let me check their support forums to see if there are any modules that might be useful for this sort of thing and I'll get back to you.

Cheers,
Shaun

PS. Don't let me stop you posting Cafe details though ...

Cheers Shaun.

I take people's point about stickies, it was just the best way I could think of, but our own map would be good. I like the idea of it all being personal recommendations with some detail.

Anyway, keep posting in here, and if stuff needs transferring to another system, I'll collate it.

 

[Archie_tect]

[Edit: Off thread, but just briefly- sorry Shaun]

How do we add cafes to bonj's map? -looks great.

[Q: Why did people give him such a hard time, if he could do this sort of thing in his own time?]

 

[Yellow Fang]

I went to a cafe in Marshfield, north of Bath, several years ago on my LEJOG. It had the best ice-cream I've ever tasted. Marshfield is a really pretty village too, built of sandstone I think. According to yell, it would appear to be called Sweetapples Catering.

 

[Yellow Fang]

On the same journey, I stopped at a cafe in Cornwall somewhere. It was a perfectly good cafe, but I just had to stop at a cafe called the Hell Mouth Cafe.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Around here in Reading, next to the bridge to Caversham, the TVT cyclists often meet at the Gorge Cafe before Saturday morning training rides. On occasion we go in afterwards too. It's a jolly good cafe, although often pretty busy at the weekends.