Cakes & Ale — Restaurant in Carlisle

Don't get me wrong, I love this café and have spent many happy hours sat in the garden there with my dog and a cigar or my pipe letting the day drift by. And the staff are wonderful and I do not blame them one bit for the changes there.

It used to be a really cool, laid back place to hang out but then first they got rid of the folk evenings a good while back. Now you can no longer smoke in the garden area and it's a biggish garden with plenty of space between tables. No idea why it us now banned but I am fully expecting the owners (not staff) to ban dogs next.

So taking all that into account I can't see myself visiting much now in spring, summer, early autumn. If I can't sit outside with my dog and have my pipe/cigar in the sunshine I will have to find somewhere else.

Such a shame because the staff are all lovely and very welcoming.

UPDATE I contacted John Watts, the owner of the cafe about the change, this was their response

"Good morning Bill,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write - and for your kind words about Cakes and Ale. It means a great deal to us to hear that the garden has been a place of comfort and enjoyment for you over the years. We're truly grateful for your continued support and presence.

I'm really sorry to hear that the recent change to our smoking policy has affected your experience here. I want to assure you it wasn’t a decision we took lightly. We’ve always aimed to make the garden a welcoming and relaxing space for everyone, and for a long time that included allowing smoking.

However, over time we began receiving a few consistent complaints from customers about smoke drifting across the garden, as well as concerns about litter, particularly cigarette butts left on the ground. Despite our best efforts to manage these issues gently and respectfully, they persisted, and we ultimately felt it necessary to make a change to preserve the comfort and cleanliness of the space for all our guests.

We completely understand that this impacts some long-standing regulars like yourself, and it truly saddens us to think we might be losing part of what made the garden special for you. We didn’t make the decision to exclude anyone’s enjoyment, but rather to respond to a growing need to care for the shared space as best we can.

That said, your message has been received in exactly the spirit in which it was written - kindly, respectfully, and with affection for the café. We're very grateful for that, and we’ll certainly keep your feedback in mind as we continue trying to balance everyone’s...

Beautiful little café/restaurant with a lovely outdoor seating area, perfect for enjoying the good weather or taking shelter on the harsher days. Sadly that's about it for this place when I visited. Simple, easy menu with dishes that don't require much preparation, so when we arrived, having pre-booked a table, we were advised (not on arrival, but only when one of us went inside to ask about something) that there would be a 40 minute delay on orders, which we were ok with, even though I personally don't believe it would take that long based on what we ordered. However it was over an hour until we received our order, during which no one came out to let us know, the only update we got was 20-30mins in when we asked, that we were next to be served. Other than that, no acknowledgement or really much feedback from staff about it. I understand that it's a busy day, but having pre-booked I would hope that they would be a little more prepared (it's a shame to have an experience like this from such a nice place, so hopefully it was just a bad day, of maybe they could reduce the amount of tables slightly, just to make sure they can cope?) The food was nice, but exactly what I mentioned above, tasty but very simple (salad and sandwiches), none of which take much preparation and nothing exotic. I wasn't blown away by what I ordered or overly impressed. The quality of ingredients was good as flavours were present, but nothing that you can't throw together quickly yourself (I understand that people will think that if that's the case why didn't I just go home and make it, but for a light lunch out I wouldn't order anything heavier). Pricing is what you...

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