The Tutti Pole — Restaurant in England

I am a 62yr old woman always nervous about eating alone in a cafe. The most anxiety for me is after getting your order trying to find a place to sit. I was so happy to see a sign that said please wait to be seated. I was greeted by Rose who suggested her favourite table so I sat there. On her suggestion I got a pot of tea and a home made tea cake. I am not English so going out and having tea for me is normally a cup and a small teapot. What I got was a big teapot and hot water and a nice little container of milk plus sugar in individual packets. The tea was just perfect. I have never had such nice tea- Rose told me it was Twinings. The tea cake was nothing like I expected. It was very big and thick and not like the flat ones you get in most cafes. It was served perfectly warm and toasted to perfection with three packets of nice soft butter. This was so nice because in most places they give you one hard piece of butter. I love the style and did not find it stuffy and dated. The building has so much history and Rose told me about it and the photos on the wall. It felt like being in a home rather than a cafe. It is such a lovely example of how things were before all the coffee shops like Costa opened. I thought the decoration was very pretty and it is so clean. I have never seen such a sparkling clean toilet. There are not very many little cafes where you can be greeted and taken to a seat, served a home made tea cake with a pot of tea and made to feel comfortable and at home by a lovely woman and get a history lesson for well under £10.00. If it seems like a place for older people then you know it will be quiet without loud music. At least there is a place for older people to feel comfortable and for me that is what makes the Tutti Pole so unique. I learned how to say it correctly! It is not Tutti like the song Tutti Fruity but like the sound tut tut not like tu tu! Dont forget to ask Rose to give you the history of what the meaning is of a tutti pole. You...

“What a delight - it reminds me of my grans baking”

This is a fantastic example of an old fashioned restaurant with lots of charm and cakes that have still been home backed and remind you of the good old times when Gran invited you to tea.

Whilst I was waiting for my car to be finished I was looking for a nice place to spend roughly about an hour. Walking over the bridge I spotted this lovely cafe which had me intrigued. Upon entering the shop I was immediately greater by the gorgeous smell of freshly baked scones which immediately sealed the deal. When asked if they baked their products here I was told that they baked all of their stuff fresh and themselves.

Being a sucker for traditional english cooking, especially scones and cakes, I sat down and spent the next 40 minutes reminiscing whilst enjoying the most delicious scones I have tasted in a long long time coupled with homemade jam. WHAT A DELIGHT!!!!!

They also offer a wide variety of food for lunch or dinner which, if the baking and tea is a standard to go by, will be great too. All I can say is that if you fancy sampling some of the best scones around and, like me, want to be reminded of your grans good old cooking then this is the place to go. Truly a...

I didn't know what to expect from what I could find out online, but I very much enjoyed my visit to The Tutti Pole.

The easiest way to describe it would be to imagine a 1990s cafe that has continued to thrive 30 years later. They have an extensive menu of reasonable and varied cafe style meals, as well as sandwiches etc. but with modern updates, such as the availability of gluten free options (I particularly appreciated them using a separate fryer) and more of a range of drinks e.g. mint hot chocolate, sparkling ginger drink. They also had a nice mixed array of puddings and home made bakes etc.

Portion sizes were generous (puddings were enormous!) and we all enjoyed our meals. The food was prepared very quickly and the waiting staff were efficient.

The only two minor criticisms would be that the food was a little cheap and you could tell this from the taste of some aspects of the cooked meals (kid's sausages and the peas were most obvious), and at times the service was a little inattentive.

However, these are minor negatives in what was overall a lovely meal. The chips were fantastic and the puddings were glorious. I would definitely recommend...