My favourite Cafes, and the best Pork Pies.

This post has been inspired by two recent and different conversations. One with a group of motorcyclists and the other with a group of cyclists, and the common theme between both was not about their bikes or recent epic rides, but cafes, their location and their ratings in the opinion of the group. Whilst I’m referring mainly to my UK based life here, I’ve experienced the same on mainland Europe as well. Cafe society is here and it’s thriving!

Before I get to my favourite cafes, here’s some background-cafe-context as a scene setter. Cafes in the UK emerged in the 17th century as small coffee houses where groups of artists and intellectuals would meet to ‘discuss stuff’. A coffee cost a penny in those days, so these meeting houses were called ‘Penny Universities’. A lot of group dynamics, creativity and inspiration came out of these small coffee houses, such as plays, books, music etc as they became social hubs. During the later Industrial Revolution, cafes became much more common and were used by all classes of society, and crucially, they started to offer hearty, affordable meals for their patrons, and not just coffee.

The 20th century saw cafes start to fall into different categories. The first and most common type of cafe earned the name of ‘The Greasy Spoon’ because they provided cooked breakfasts with a high carbohydrate, fat and meat offering, and all washed down with a big mug of hot, sweet tea. Nothing for vegetarians and vegans on these menus! This type of cafe appeared in villages, towns and cities, as well as on busy roads, and they had a customer base that ranged from the local trades people to truck drivers and the retired group. I’ll come back to this last group of cafe goers a little later on in this post. The other end of the cafe spectrum would focus more on specialty cakes, teas and coffee, and would be quiet places for people to meet.

I’ll speed up on this last bit of history to get to my point. The millennium saw the internet cafe emerge as places of work and just as in the 17th century, they were used by business start-ups and other emerging and creative groups. Company’s also introduced cafes as an evolution of the factory canteen. Unfortunately, like all social things during the COVID period, these company cafes and indeed the offices where they were located, became unused and unnecessary. Since all of this cafe evolution, it now feels like we’re definitely in the golden age of the cafe!

One killer question is; Is the cafe the death of the pub? Well, the cafe has certainly contributed and become the social hub that the Pub used to own, and some pubs also serve a cafe menu as they’ve recognised the need to diversify and capture some of the cafe market. There are approximately 65,000 Cafes in the UK with a total market turnover of £6.1bn, and they are now found literally everywhere from the big shops to museums to fuel stations, and literally anywhere that attracts people. The fundamental shift now is that people will take a ride out in a car, on a motorcycle or bicycle specifically to go to a cafe, and like me, will have a number of favourite cafe locations and will adjust the journey to suit the cafe stop. Whilst this trend might not be new, it is growing fast. This brings me back to that ‘retired group’ of people. 20% of the UK’s nearly 70bn population are retired people, and the vast majority have the means to get out and spend their cash in cafes. Go to any cafe, on any day, and you’ll find a load of retired people in a cafe. This percentage obviously varies according to location, but some cafes can have up to 80% of their customers that are retired, of which I am one of these 😁.

So my next question would be; does owning a cafe make a viable living? Well, even with the growth and volumes of cafe-goers that we see today, operating margins are tight, and a UK cafe can see approximately a 10% profit over the year, which is similar to the restaurant trade. Obviously, the term cafe includes not just the food and drink providers, but the specialist coffee-only businesses as well, which have also seen big growth, and have moved the coffee drinkers to 63% of the UK population. This has now exceeded tea as the historically preferred UK hot drink.

Now to the juicy bit. I have 4 ‘go-to’ cafes that I frequent and recommend. I can obviously cycle to all of them and they range from 6 miles/10km to 35 miles/56km from our house. Each cafe is very different in its location, style, and offering, but all are really great, and here they are in the order of their closeness to where I live:

Hovingham Bakery – North Yorkshire

Set in an exquisitely pretty village, this cafe is the closest to home and is what I would class as a Boulangerie-Patesserie that provides coffee and great cakes, bread and stuff to either take home, eat outside when its dry/sunny, or in the car/van if it’s raining. When I go Mountain biking on a Sunday morning with The Musketeers, the end of the ride is usually here. The post-ride cappuccinos are excellent as are the bacon rolls. Importantly for me, they do something called a ’Swedish Special’. This is because half of the couple that run Hovingham Bakery is Swedish. It is a fluffy white bread roll filled with pastrami, gherkins, mustard and salad. It is one great eat after a bike ride! My other favourite is something called a ‘Walker’s bar’. It’s a cake-fruit-slice that’s got a slightly crispy top and a great chewy centre. Trust me, it’s ace! I haven’t tried everything they make here, but it all does look really yummy, and the weekend baguettes are great! If you live within 50 miles of Hovingham, you should definitely try it. Oh yeah, and the service from the team is world class!

You can check out their instagram here:https://www.instagram.com/bakeryhovingham?igsh=bXdlM3N3dXdwampq

Betty’s Tea Room – York

If you’ve ever been to York, you’ll have no doubt seen Betty’s, maybe been to the cafe or the shop, or just seen the queues outside. It’s Swiss inspired and has a long history, opening in 1936. It is an ultra-premium cafe. The location, the architecture, the interior decor, this history, the food and the service is amaaaaaaazing! It’s hard to describe in a paragraph other than my wife and I love it. Oh yes, and you can park your bike just over the road from the cafe, but as it is a pedestrian area, you have to push your bike a short way from the main road.

Check out their website here:https://www.bettys.co.uk/cafe-tea-rooms/our-locations/bettys-york

Heppni Bakeri – York

Nestled within the narrow streets of York is a fabulous and fairly recently opened Patisserie-Bakeri. They specialise in delicious, croissant inspired pastries and the team are always innovating. Seating inside the cafe is cosy and vibrant. You can also get coffee and pastries to ’eat out’ as well, and even outside, York is a beautiful city to eat an amazing Heppni pastry and good coffee, even if it’s just leaning against my bike and taking in the architecture. Whilst seated in the cafe, you can see not only the finished pastries in the long glass case, but also the bakeri at the back, where there is always a productive energy from the team creating their pastries. Did I mention that the coffee is really great as well? Parking for a bicycle is by the cafe.

Here’s the link:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560462942086

Hall Bros’ motorcycles – Carnaby, Bridlington

Just because this place has got ‘motorcycles’ in their title, doesn’t mean that cyclists aren’t welcome. The team at Hall Bros’ will show anyone on two wheels, three wheels and in four wheels a great time. This place is an exciting and emerging business, and it is located on an old military airfield, which was then used as a motorcycle racing circuit until it became the industrial estate it is today. I’ve written about the Carnaby airfield in a previous motorcycle post, and the link is below. I know the words ‘industrial estate’ and ‘cafe’ might not sound appealing, but located a stones throw from the sea with open countryside all around, it’s a good location to visit and you’ll be greeted by a smile and have chance to look at their vibrant collection of motorcycles, which are impressive whether you’re into motorcycles or not. From a cycling perspective, Carnaby is on the boundary of the ancient Yorkshire Wolds, which is a really stunning area to cycle. The team at Hall Bros’ have only just opened up this year, and whilst their focus is motorcycles, I predict it’ll become a stopping off place for everyone very soon. At the moment, the cafe part is provided by food and coffee trucks, because they’re building the cafe as I type this, so hopefully by the end of 2025, it’ll all be finished and polished. They have specific opening times at the moment because they’re busy running their other businesses in parallel, and they’ll be hosting some evening talks throughout the winter as well as their open days. This summer has seen a big attendance at their open days, and I’ve ridden over there with friends. Whilst it’s new, the team there continue to innovate with ideas to create a really great cafe and social place to go.

Here’s the link:https://www.hbmoto.co.uk

Here’s the link to my Carnaby post:https://diaryofamotorcyclingnobody.com/carnaby-industrial-estate-racetrack-special-airfield/

………AND FINALLY, the subject of the best pork pie. There is a bit of ‘a pork pie thing’ with people in this part of North Yorkshire where I live, and I’m sure it’s not exclusive to around here either. Most of the butchers in the county make their own pork pies, and everyone I speak to about the subject will tell me with some foody-passion, that the best pork pies come from their favourite butcher. So, as this is my post, I’m going to strongly nominate for the world class pork pie, S. Waind & Sons in the beautiful town of Kirkbymoorside. Try them and you’ll see what I mean!

Here’s the link:https://www.facebook.com/swaindandsons?

Click on the images to see them full size.