CycleChatters' Cafe Recommendation Thread

[Big John]

The Village Bakery in Brewood - highly recommended for us cyclists. Brewood is midway between Wolverhampton & Stafford. As well as a selection of their own cakes they do baguettes and savories. I usually get my drinks bottle filled with tea and a monstrous piece of bread pudding or chocolate fudge cake all for under £2. Lovely folks behind the counter. No bike ride for me is complete without a cake stop

https://www.facebook.com/The-Village-Bakery-565480480145295/

 

[Iainj837]

MARSHES TEA HUB Avalon Marshes Westhay somerset

Sweets tea rooms Blake way somerset

Double-Gate tea rooms Godney somerset

 

[DCBassman]

MARSHES TEA HUB Avalon Marshes Westhay somerset

Sweets tea rooms Blake way somerset

Double-Gate tea rooms Godney somerset

A selection, fabulous!

 

[bruce1530]

Gro Coffee, Harbour St, Irvine. Right at the end of the harbour, almost the last building. Very close to NCN7

Excellent coffee. Morning & afternoon menu is sandwiches, breakfasts, etc etc. And fantastic cakes.
From 4pm onwards, the menu changes to pizza/burger etc.

Bike friendly - there’s a garden area at the back, and you can take bikes in there. If the gate is locked, give them a shout through the front door and they’ll open it. Covered outdoor seating at the back.

But here’s the bit that made me recommend it today. Like all cafes in central scotland during this current lockdown period, it’s only open as a cafe until 6pm. At that point the tables close, and it’s take-away only.
But this month, between 6pm and 9pm , all take-away coffee, tea, hot chocolate is FREE. All they ask is that you put a donation in the jar on the counter, which goes to mental health charities. Pay for cakes etc as normal.

When I was in tonight, it looks like there have been some very generous donations.

And the coffee and cake was good :-)

https://www.grocoffee.co.uk/

 

[derrick]

https://www.spokecycles.cc/

 

[pjd57]

Free Wheel North in Glasgow now have two cafes.
One at the White House on Maryhill road, Lock 21on the Forth and Clyde canal .
The other is at their track in Glasgow Green.
Along from the People's Palace , opposite the Templeton building.

Of course they are bike friendly

 

[John482]

I've got a couple favorite places here in the US.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Ludlow cafe? What's the food like? I ask because the small town of Ludlow in Shropshire after which it is possibly/probably named is said to be something of a foodie's paradise. https://www.foodfestival.co.uk/about/ludlow

 

[John482]

Ludlow cafe? What's the food like? I ask because the small town of Ludlow in Shropshire after which it is possibly/probably named is said to be something of a foodie's paradise. https://www.foodfestival.co.uk/about/ludlow

Ludlow is basically a ghost town now it was a rail road town in the 1920's or so. Not much has been there since that time. The food is OK and it's an authentic American diner as opposed to a big corporate chain.

 

[LarryDuff]

If you're near Dundrum Co Down then the Blue Bay Cafe serves the best scones in the country.

 

[PaulSB]

Most of my cycling is Monday- Friday with 6-7 friends who are also retired. The café stop has always a part of our rides. Since the first lockdown change has been forced on us. In good weather we carry sandwiches and some a coffee flask. During this winter we have headed to cafés with a takeaway service (very few locally) or bakeries.

I think our café habits may have changed forever. All seem to agree grabbing a sausage roll or similar with a coffee from a bakery/sandwich shop is a better alternative to 45-60 minutes in a café waiting for service, food etc. Most likely we will have rides when we visit favourite cafés because we love the staff, the atmosphere etc. but the majority of rides will just be a grab 'n' go stop in future.

With this in mind some suggestions are:

The Lunchbox at Nateby. Excellent bacon barms, pies, cakes etc. A couple of tables outside is the only seating. Very good value.

The Lunchbox

The Gasket on Skull Lane, Appley Bridge is a converted shipping container, quirky, with excellent coffee, decent cake and a limited range of toasties and paninis. The outdoor tables are oil drums! Good fun and good chat. They have a FB page

https://g.co/kgs/mxCvYG

In the very centre of Burscough is the Lancashire Bread House a real bakery with a takeaway shop attached. Good coffee, very good pies, barms, mini quiches, sausage rolls, cake is average. Very good value. Can't find a website or FB page

Lancashire Bread House
Post Office Buildings, Liverpool Rd N, Burscough, Ormskirk L40 4BY
01704 896281
https://maps.app.goo.gl/efRCtujyhJUy7GaP9

 

[Blue Hills]

I know what you mean about the stops Paul.
I used to ride with the CTC a lot and they had a thing about stopping for 11ses in addition to lunch - not sure if this still happens.
I used to sometimes find it a bit hard to budge after the stop, particularly if the weather was dodgy.

 

[PaulSB]

I know what you mean about the stops Paul.
I used to ride with the CTC a lot and they had a thing about stopping for 11ses in addition to lunch - not sure if this still happens.
I used to sometimes find it a bit hard to budge after the stop, particularly if the weather was dodgy.

Yes, I enjoy a good cafe stop along with my friends. We shoot the breeze, talk some serious stuff and some utter nonsense!!! It does though add an hour or so to a ride and sometimes we are stopping at places for the sake of it which is why I think we will save long stops for our favourite cafes. There are some places where the people are so kind we can't desert them.

I used to ride with Ribble Valley. The group I rode with was full of lovely people but largely couples who had ridden together for 30-40 years. The ride was their equivalent of a night out with friends. 8.30 start, 11.00 coffee, 1.00 lunch and quite often tea and cake around 3-4.00pm. They had brilliant routes and starting north of Preston really extended the range but it was an all day job for me. Leave home around 7.45am and get home between 5.00-6.00. My wife had encouraged me to join but I had to stop in the end as with young kids it simply didn't work.

Enough. Mustn't divert the thread.

 

[sheddy]

Map for normal times https://cafes.cyclingmaps.net/

 

[Juan Kog]

I know what you mean about the stops Paul.
I used to ride with the CTC a lot and they had a thing about stopping for 11ses in addition to lunch - not sure if this still happens.
I used to sometimes find it a bit hard to budge after the stop, particularly if the weather was dodgy.

CTC does stand for cyclists tea drinking club Before some one try’s to run me down with there Dawes Galaxy, I would like to make it clear I ride with my local CUK group . In the summer it’s 3 stop rides .