The Old Fire Station Cafe Bar — Restaurant in England

I’d like to give a fair and balanced review. The Coffee is good the cake was excellent and the value reasonable. However the attitude of the owner was demeaning and of someone who puts profits above service. To set the scene it is a cold grey Saturday afternoon threatening rain. Nobody sat outside and a couple of customer inside. We arrive on cycles looking forward to refreshments, expensive road bikes I might add.We place our bikes outside under the window where we can see them. Always concerned on a main road how easily someone could pull up and whip away our pride and joy. On leaving the premises the owner approached us and explained politely but insistently that we are not to leave our bikes in front of the property as other customers couldn’t use the furniture. Now as it was cold threatening rain and nobody likely to sit outside it seemed a little futile and more about making his point. My advice to cyclists and I will be making this to our club is not to frequent this establishment should you wish to keep an eye on your bike. Come the summer and you can sit outside, placing your bike against the building next door as suggested would be fine. But as much as the owner wanted to preach his point, I also would like him to think about his attitude. Cyclists are an excellent revenue stream, it would make sense to welcome and facilitate them going forward.Perhaps he may consider a sign saying please do not place cycles here, this may put some cyclist off but avoid confrontation. Or maybe install a camera or bike rack to make cyclists feel a little more at ease. PS the 2 stars on the service was purely the management, not the hard working,...

I stopped by after a group bike ride with 7 others.

Firstly, the reception: 7 sweaty people in lycra is understandably not always welcomed, however, the staff were consummate professionals, seated us all and swiftly took our orders.

The aesthetic: it's a really cute, intimate little place that's decorated well and has really good use of space with comfy chairs. Good for groups or couples alike.

The drinks: mine was a mocha to try and get some calories back in after a long ride. This is my go-to as it's usually pretty hard to make a bad one due to sugar levels. Well this certainly wasn't bad - I would go so far as to say it was one of the nicest, most well balanced coffee-chocolate hybrids I've ever had!

The cake: Oh. My. Goodness. I had the lemon meringue cake and it was absolutely to die for. I'm sure I put all the calories from the ride straight back on but it was so worth it. Heavenly!

The final verdict: I was extremely pleased and also annoyed that it's so close yet it took so long before I actually managed to find out what a gem it really is. I've recently found out they do food in the evenings and given my recent experience I can't get there fast enough...

Visited after recommendation from family member, but wish we hadn't bothered. Average cooked breakfast - not value for money. Had to wait a long time for it to be served and our coffees had gone cold by the time it was served and then an apology for the wait and query if the eggs on the Eggs Benedict were overcooked to let them know. Well we didn't fancy waiting again so I ate them anyway. We were asked when paying if everything was OK and explained eggs were overcooked but we couldn't wait for fresh ones to be cooked and the waitress's explanation that they'd run out of muffins so had to go out to buy more! Having worked in catering and in my experience if something may not be up to standard then it shouldn't be sent out to the customer!! No offer of discount for this and won't be going again. We'll go back to the Little Deli where the food is always amazing on...