Tag: coffee

Skipton Coffee House, Roastery and Shop | Graham’s Guides

Travel back in time to a lovely warm lounge with freshly roasted coffee from the shop downstairs.

Graham’s Guidelines* Rating (1 to 5)
Coffee5* (Normally)
Food4*
Conversation4*
People Watching4*

The prevailing design of the current generation of coffee shops is sleek, simple, minimalist with a heavy dose of stark white and millennial grey. Sometimes the decor can feel a bit like you have been transported into the Heart of Gold on the TV version of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (old man reference), or the Tardis in series fourteen and fifteen of Dr Who (for the younger ones).

The Skipton Coffee House is about as far removed from this design ambiance as it is possible to be.

The Coffee House is situated within a small set of terraced shops on the outskirts of Skipton on Gargrave Road.

There is room for a couple of cars on short-stay parking just outside, but this is the type of place where it’s worth lingering a while. I recommend finding parking on one of the streets opposite, this has never been a problem when we’ve visited. It is worth saying, though, that the street opposite are steep so you’ll need to be able to navigate a bit of a hill on your Shanks’s pony.

The cafe is upstairs which you access via a narrow stone staircase at the rear of the shop.

Before you dash upstairs, though, it’s worth taking a look around the shop. I suspect that apart from the point-of-sale machine (cash register) little has changed in many decades. It has been operated by the Exchange Coffee Company since 1997 before that it was owned by one Charles A Hallas who roasted on this site for many years.

The decoration upstairs is also little changed, other than in the kitchen area, which you pass on your way to the cafe seating at the front of the building. Here you will find an ambiance that owes much to William Morris and his bold, colourful, intricate wallpapers which adorn several of the walls. The unmatched furniture looks like it has seen all of life several times over. It feels like you are sitting in a lounge than a coffee shop, only it’s a lounge from over 50 years ago. If you are fortunate the fire will be lit and the picture will be complete.

This is only a small cafe but its situation means that there’s normally somewhere to sit, especially if you are willing to share with another customer.

Can I suggest, this isn’t somewhere to take your laptop and definitely not somewhere to join a video conference. Those activities would, for me, feel disrespectful to what this place is. This is more of a book and newspaper place.

The house expresso coffee is good, but I recommend that you take a little time and choose a cafetière with a bit of something locally roasted in it. You could even choose something even more adventurous from the micro-lot board. I can highly recommend the toasted fruit teacake and personally, the cheddar, chive and Marmite scones are lovely but I know that one will split the crowd.

I don’t normally comment on tea, but this is an excellent place to choose a darjeeling, Ceylon, gunpowder or breakfast blend.

You know that this is a place that’s about the drinks when you look at the menu, five pages are dedicated to drinks, a single page covers cakes and toasts.

As for people watching. This is a small room in a friendly Yorkshire market town. It’s often less about people watching than about having a chat with the people in the room. Last time we were there was a bit of an exception to this rule, the other couple who were in had already ordered before we arrived. The woman sat and drank her coffee while looking at her phone, the man arranged to have his four car tyres replaced while on the phone. Even in Yorkshire people don’t always want to engage in a chat.

Can I apologise for the lack of pictures in this post. I’ve realised that I need to get more purposeful about getting pictures I can put in a post. I have pictures, just not ones that I want to put here, fortunately there are some really good pictures via Google Image search. I hope my words are enough to intrigue you into going.

Skipton Coffee House, Roastery and Shop
10 Gargrave Road
Skipton
BD23 1PJ

More? The Artisan Bakery, Staveley | Graham’s Guides

Graham’s Guidelines* Rating (1 to 5)
Coffee5*
Food5*
Conversation5*
People Watching3*
Graham’s Guidelines for More?

Well, here we are with my very first Graham’s Guides.

If you are expecting pictures of food, sorry, I don’t do pictures of food. Go to the web site you’ll see plenty.

If you are expecting technical details about the food, again, sorry, these posts are really about my feelings about a place. You’ll have your own feelings.

Also, I don’t do comments about “value for money”, it’s such a subjective notion. What I’m willing to pay for a really good coffee may not align with your idea of value.

This morning Sue and I awoke with a clear diary and fine weather, something that hasn’t happened at the same time for a little while. We knew the weather was going to turn later, so headed out first thing.

As there was just the two of us, we thought we’d grab a bit of something on the way at one of our favourite places. There are several favourite places that we could have chosen, but recently we’ve loved dropping into the Mill Yard in Staveley where More? The Artisan Bakery has become a repeat visit.

Today was about simple, yet wonderful, delights – a good coffee and an excellent pastry. For me an almond croissant, for Sue a plain croissant. I didn’t ty the plain croissant, so can’t comment, but this is the second time I’ve had the Almond Croissant and both times they were a delight. This isn’t a small delicate pastry, it’s more like a second breakfast. Crisp almonds on the outside, a creamy almost paste on the inside and delightful flaky pastry that is flaky but doesn’t feel the need to explode the moment it encounters a mouth.

The coffee is from True North Coffee which is a sister business to More? I meant to look up what the blend was but forgot so can’t give details. I’m not sure I like it when coffee is described, like wine, by relating it to various other flavours, but I get why people do it. I know what I like in a coffee, I’m not sure I could describe it other than to say that this was a very enjoyable brew. I’m a plain coffee drinker, I take it black and can’t understand why anyone would want to mess with the flavour by adding various syrups and milk concoctions. A good black coffee should have a full flavour that isn’t too bitter, or too smooth. It should be strong, but not too strong. It should linger on the pallet in a good way. I think as I write these posts that I might need to develop my explanation of good coffee, but that’s all you are getting for now.

Although it’s almost in the Lake District, More? isn’t situated in a quaint little slate cottage, it’s in a former Bobbin Mill so is more Industrial Chic, set amongst a set of other businesses. A good café should have an atmosphere, there needs to be people, good service, and something that makes you want to come back. Despite the industrial chic More? always has a good group of people and the service has been excellent every time we’ve visited which has been a few. I like it when a cafe has a mixed group of people, it says something about its appeal. I like to guess what people have been up to and what their plan is for the day. I guess that today was a combination of people who had already been for a run, people planning a walk with the dog, family people with a baby taking a break from doing the Saturday jobs and people, like us, on their way into the Lake District for various adventures.

There’s ample free parking, and you can normally park quite close, which fitted in perfectly with our plan to drop in and go elsewhere. As you enter the Mill Yard More? is at the back.

Sometimes when I go walking, I like to go a bit upmarket with my lunch and More? has provided some of the best packed food I have ever tasted. The Katsu Chicken sandwich I picked up last time was wonderful.

It’s a favourite and we will be back.

More? The Artisan Bakery
Middle of the Mill,
Staveley Mill Yard,
Staveley Cumbria
LA8 9LR.

Header Image: This is Tarn Howes where we started our walk today. A topic for another guide? Perhaps.