At museums and galleries, the tourist imperative is often to tick off as much as possible, racing around desperately rather than setting aside the equally important time to take stock of it all over coffee and cake. But as well as being a respite from noisy school groups and other people’s opinions, these spaces serve other functions, too; a well-executed example draws people in in its own right, as Henry Cole, founding director of the V&A, was the first to realise.
Cole hoped his refreshment rooms, which opened in 1868, would encourage people to come in and enjoy some culture while they ate. The tradition continues to this day. Build it, add a decent cafe, and they will come … and they may even stay to check out the exhibitions. The best examples, like the Garden Cafe at Hospitalfield in Arbroath or the Open Kitchen Cafe at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, work to give you a sense of place, using local ingredients and recipes.
As Cole clocked all those years ago, people always need to eat and drink, and his high-Victorian Gamble Room (pictured below) is still a gloriously gaudy spot for a cuppa. Museum cafes will always be chock-a-block at weekends, whatever they serve, but the finest will feed your mind, as well as your body. FC
London
Is there a grander place to eat in London that doesn’t require either a dress code or some friends in very high places? In a city of ultra-swank hotels and royal residences, the Victoria and Albert Museum is a bona fide people’s palace: housed in one of the most richly ornamented buildings in the capital, its permanent collections are still completely free to visit (thank you, Gordon Brown). Enter via the newly spruced up Exhibition Road courtyard, or the stupendous Cromwell Road facade, and you’ll be transported – to ancient China, Ottoman Turkey, medieval Europe, take your pick. Perhaps the best route to its majolica-laden restaurant is via the famous cast courts, where 19th-century conservators’ enthusiasm for making plaster copies of monuments is evident in the full-size replica of Trajan’s Column (so big they had to chop it in half).
Ottolenghi-style salads (two salads for £17), quiches and pastries are served at a sleek, modern buffet, but you can take your tray to the lavishly decorated Gamble Room, opened in 1868 as the successor to a temporary structure that had hosted the world’s first museum cafe. Or, in the summer, to the Garden Cafe in the hydrangea-lined John Madejski courtyard. An experience fit for a Prince (Albert).
Best for luxury on a budget, alfresco eating.
David Shariatmadari
“A world of wonders in one closet shut,” reads the epigraph on the tomb of the 17th-century plant hunter John Tradescant. The elaborate stone monument is the centrepiece of a lush courtyard garden fashioned from the burial ground of the deconsecrated St Mary-at-Lambeth church. As a neat description of the Garden Museum, which occupies this once-hallowed ground on the banks of the Thames, it’s pretty apt too. Saved from demolition in the 1970s, the church was reimagined as the world’s first museum of garden history. But you don’t need to be green-fingered to enjoy this urban oasis. It is best admired from the light-filled Garden Cafe, which occupies a sleek glass-walled extension built over the church graveyard (you’ll be dining with tombstones under your table), and has won a loyal following in its own right.
The short seasonal menu changes daily and the prices (mains from £21) are reasonable. Two months on from my last visit, I still think about the chalk stream trout with beurre blanc, and my dessert of rhubarb ripple ice-cream. Dinner is served on Tuesday and Friday evenings.
Best for leafy respite in the urban jungle.
Joanne O’Connor
The Louie crew have a small family of cafe-bars dotted across south-east London (and now out at the Turner Contemporary in Margate, too). Here at the South London Gallery, there’s the same winning formula of punchy Redemption Roasters coffee (who retrain prisoners at their roastery in HMP The Mount), a predominantly veggie-friendly menu of soups, salads and toasties (from £7.50), and community-centric good vibes. The weekend brunch is a particular a hit, and diners spill out on to the sun-trap terrace and leafy garden tucking into bacon brioche rolls (£8.50) and tandoori masala beans on toast (£6). A couple of times a month, the space is turned over to supper clubs championing young chefs. Recent residencies have included a five-course Gujarati feast by chef Punam Vaja and Nigerian classics from O Dun. With Camberwell College of Arts next door and thought-provoking contemporary art in the adjoining gallery spaces, this is always a creative-charged pitstop.
Best for weekend brunch, alfresco eating, vegan options.
Fiona Kerr
Looking out on to the South Bank, this slick cafe-bar on the ground floor corner – of course – of the Tate Modern is a shape-shifting space. By day, gallery-goers stop for a Longboys doughnut or fuel up on fancy salads (£13.95 for two salads served with leaves), while hungry parents drag their kids away from the perennially popular Tate Draw next door for freshly cooked pizzette.
Corner is open until 11pm Tuesday to Saturday, and after gallery closing time it segues into a late-night venue, with crowds coming for craft brews and small plates, or the programme of events, which includes kimchi-making workshops (13 May) and regular vinyl nights. The central bench seating area raises up into a DJ booth with the push of a button hidden under the cushions. Imaginative cocktails are inspired by the exhibitions upstairs, such as the neon-bright electric blue lagoon, a concoction of blue curaçao, vodka and lemonade, to pair with the early digital art of Electric Dreams (until 1 June). A cool, forward-thinking spot that’s a destination in its own right.
Best for family-friendly menu, late-night happenings.
Fiona Kerr
You’ll find the entrance to the Art Cafe almost directly opposite the entrance to the Courtauld Gallery, sheltered beneath the arches of Somerset House, the neoclassical complex between the Strand and the Thames. The interior takes its inspiration from the vibrant colours and bold abstract designs of the Bloomsbury group, some of whose paintings and furnishings you’ll find on the third floor of the gallery across the way.
Whether or not you’re planning to peruse those dazzling creations – not to mention the gallery’s starry collection of impressionist and post-impressionist canvases – this central-London spot is the perfect place to pop by for a morning coffee and pastry or a well-earned afternoon drink and bite to eat (from £7.80). With a bright-red bar offset by minty-green woodwork and a wall coated in sunny shades of yellow, it’s sure to brighten even the greyest of days.
Best for morning pastries.
Chlöe Ashby
This gallery of modernist Italian art with a cafe in the garden is hiding in a handsome Georgian house not far from Highbury and Islington tube station. Italian food, futurist exhibitions and a flowering courtyard strung with lights: it’s an oasis that transports visitors to Milan, where collector Eric Estorick bought hundreds of drawings while honeymooning in 1947. The museum’s collection includes works such as Giacomo Manzù’s Bust of a Woman from 1952. The cafe and conservatory have framed Campari ads and gallery posters on the wall.
The museum took over running the cafe a couple of years ago and the menu is relatively minimalist, but generally offers balsamic-dressed side salads and main dishes like spinach and ricotta ravioli (£9) or aubergine parmigiana (£9.50). “Simple, but stylish,” says museum director Roberta Cremoncini, who personally sources the smooth Italian coffee. Desserts include meltingly light slices of chocolate-almond torta caprese or custard-filled torta della nonna.
Best for coffee with friends.
Phoebe Taplin
You’d be hard-pressed to find a prettier spot for a light lunch or afternoon tea in London than the glazed courtyard at the heart of this 18th-century townhouse in leafy Manchester Square. And no wonder – it’s only fitting that a museum best known for its decorative rococo masterpieces would offer somewhere equally attractive to eat and drink. After swooning at Fragonard’s young lady perching on a swing in a dappled garden, pull up a pew of your own in this equally rosy restaurant dotted with leafy pot plants, sculptures and trees.
The menu offers seasonal British cuisine: those feeling peckish have the option to indulge in a three-course lunch (£40), while visitors with a sweet tooth won’t be disappointed with the selection of cakes and pastries, or better yet the much-talked-about afternoon tea (£13). All served beneath a dramatic glass roof that lets in ample light and conjures the delightful sense of dining alfresco.
Best for afternoon tea.
Chlöe Ashby
Studio Voltaire is a not-for-profit gallery and set of artists’ studios housed in a former Victorian mission hall in Clapham, south-west London. It’s the perfect contemplative sanctum from the never-ending thrum of traffic coursing up and down Clapham High Street. The studio was renovated in 2021, and you enter via a cloistered courtyard, which leads straight into the restaurant, Crispin at Studio Voltaire, which opened in March 2024. The gallery and shop are just off to the side, but we were here for a quiet celebratory lunch. The 50-seater room is a simple set – white walls, refectory brown tables and chairs. But the hand-written seasonal menu sings: small bites such as deliciously delicate montgomery cheddar croquettes with pickled walnuts (£3.50) and large plates such as gurnard, fennel, chilli and agretti (£28). Even a simple coffee at the all-day cafe is enough to recharge the spiritual batteries.
Best for a contemplative break from the Northern line tube commute.
Andy Pietrasik
I don’t have children, but I have friends with children, so I’ve been to the former Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green a few times. I believe the general idea is to get them round a few of the exhibits (the current Egypt one is excellent) before hangriness sets in. Fraught parents know when to call it quits and head for the main hall, a cavernous white space in the centre of the building. Benugo runs the small cafe here and knows to keep it simple – soups, hot and cold sandwiches, a hot dish or two.
My soup (£6.50) and a kid’s portion of mac’n’cheese (£6.60) were pretty good. Children’s meal boxes are £5 and popular, but I’m an adult so had two large slices of cake. There are lots of table, and the museum encourages people to bring along their own food and use the cafe microwave.
A good half of visitors were BYO on my recent visit. So, a cheap, healthy(ish), friendly pitstop before parents set off to make another effort to feed their children some culture. This place did win the Museum of the Year prize in 2024!
Best for parents who have left the packed lunch at home.
Richard Eilers
The south-east
Waterside Cafe, Weald & Downland Living Museum, Singleton, West Sussex
One of the UK’s most extraordinary outdoor museums, the Weald & Downland brings together more than 50 buildings spanning nine centuries. Waterside Cafe – designed to look like a traditional farmstead – has floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lake and watermills, with tables on the decking for warmer days. It’s a great breakfast spot, with everything from toasted spiced teacakes with butter and Tiptree jam (£3.25) to vegan sausage butties and a full English (£10.95). At lunchtime, the Welsh rarebit is the high spot (£10.95), although the jumbo fish finger sandwich runs a close second. There is also a small children’s menu. Parking is free and dogs are welcome in a designated part of the cafe. You don’t have to visit the museum to use the cafe, but the 40-acre site is well worth a look.
Best for breakfasts and dog walkers.
Annabelle Thorpe
Louie on Sea, Turner Contemporary, Margate
Turner Contemporary is to Margate what the Guggenheim is to Bilbao; a world-class gallery in an architecturally striking building that kicked off something of a renaissance in the town when it opened. Fourteen years later, its diverse programme of exhibitions – from photography to sculpture – makes regular revisits worthwhile, not least to follow up the art with a lazy lunch on the seaside terrace at Louie on Sea, Turner’s cafe/cocktail bar/weekend restaurant mashup.
The menu is small but perfectly formed; zingy smoothies, burrito bowls with fresh tomato salsa, homemade quiches and crispy pizza (from £12). On weekend nights, local chefs have residencies, each bringing a different menu, and all matched by an excellent wine list, mostly organic or biodynamic. Cocktails are punchy and perfect for sunsets; the gochujang margarita (£11) is a thing of genius.
Best for alfresco lunches, cocktail hour.
Annabelle Thorpe
The dreaming spires of Oxford make an even prettier view when admired from an alfresco table on the rooftop of the city’s Ashmolean Museum, with a pot of tea and a traditional three-tiered afternoon spread of sandwiches, scones and cake (£29.50). The Ashmolean has plenty of treasures and curiosities, from Canalettos and Raphaels to Oliver Cromwell’s death mask and Guy Fawkes’s lantern. But the rooftop restaurant is a destination in its own right, with a sweeping bird’s-eye view from a sheltered covered terrace edged with herb- and flower-filled planters. An internal space is walled with glass, should the dreaming spires be a little drizzly for comfort. Tea is impeccably traditional (egg, cucumber, and smoked salmon finger sandwiches) with clotted cream and Tiptree jam accompanying the sultana scones. There is also a sophisticated lunch menu: pea and broad bean risotto (£17.50), shepherd’s pie and chocolate mousse. Vegan alternatives and a handy kids’ menu (tomato pasta, chicken goujons) are also available. Daytime only.
Best for a fancy sightseeing pit stop, or a special occasion.
Jess Cartner-Morely
Pallant Cafe, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, West Sussex
Tracing the evolution of modern British art from the late 19th century onwards, the Pallant House Gallery is second only to Tate Britain for its collection, with more than 5,000 works held within the 18th-century townhouse and adjoining contemporary wing. Works by Barbara Hepworth, Damien Hirst, Paul Nash and Rachel Whiteread sit alongside contemporary installations – notably Rana Begum’s No. 1367 Mesh – a vividly coloured installation of mesh clouds that billows up beside the staircase.
The cafe, with a sleek modern interior and shady outdoor terrace, offers refreshingly different lunch options – focaccia with caponata and scamorza cheese (£14.50) or hot honey halloumi and roasted beetroot meze. On Sunday, classic roasts can be followed by a stewed apple and cognac sundae (£8), and afternoon teas – laced with English sparkling wine – are hugely popular. It’s a good idea to book.
Best for afternoon tea on the terrace.
Annabelle Thorpe
The brick turrets and chimneys of the University of Reading hide a big grassy garden and engaging free museum. The Museum of Rural Life (MERL to its friends) is a collection of vintage farmyard paraphernalia and evocative photos, with a long gallery full of wooden wagons. The museum cafe was refurbished late last year. Functional furniture contrasts with colourful crocheted cushions and cheerfully mismatched donated crockery. The food is simple, generally featuring homemade soup and sticky buns such as local lardy cake. The real draw is MERL’s garden, a green oasis with raised beds and a chicken run, plus a shepherd’s hut and mini tractor for children to play on. From spring daffs and grape hyacinths to lavender and sweet peas, and a burst of autumn gold from the hickory tree in the corner, there’s always seasonal colour.
Best for taking the kids out.
Phoebe Taplin
The Tea Room, Munnings Art Museum, Dedham, Essex
Sip homemade lemonade under big white umbrellas, or relax in a deckchair under leafy magnolias. It could be a scene from one of the impressionist works by Suffolk-born artist Alfred Munnings, whose garden this once was. The tea room, inside a white wooden barn, has had a makeover this winter and reopens this month with a vintage vibe. There are late-Victorian poster designs by Munnings on the walls and William Morris fabrics on the tables. Order a fresh-baked cheese scone with butter and chutney (£5.50) or homemade cakes (from £3.95) including chocolate-orange, cherry and almond, and treacle tart. Alfred Munnings’s portraits, idyllic riverscapes and paintings of horses hang on the walls of the main house. Just off the route of the cross-county Essex Way, the house is a rural ramble through Dedham Vale from Manningtree Station or from Flatford Mill, once painted by John Constable.
Best for a pitstop on a country walk.
Phoebe Taplin
Light, Towner Eastbourne
London’s galleries may think they have the monopoly on great food, but Light at Eastbourne’s Towner art gallery proves there is plenty on offer outside the capital. For a perfect lunch, find yourself a spot in the light-filled Scandinavian-style restaurant and feast on a selection of smørrebrød – open-top sandwiches served on rye. Toppings include pea and courgette with almond cream, venison with blackberries and girolles, and of course pickled herring (£13).
The lunch menu is a perfect balance of fresh local ingredients prepared simply and deliciously. The small plates include burrata with rhubarb jam and fennel pollen, whipped beetroot hummus, and a kalettes and puntarelle salad with foraged herbs. Do make sure you have time for the gallery, and if you are quick you might catch Drawing the Unspeakable, curated by the broadcaster David Dimbleby and his daughter Liza, which runs until 27 April.
Best for refuelling on a day spent on the Sussex art shuttle.
Max Benato
In my wildest moments, I like to think I might have been recruited for Bletchley Park if I’d been around in the 1940s. Being puzzle-mad is a long way from being a top codebreaker, but at least afternoon tea in the Mansion House (£29.50, Friday to Sunday), at the home of the second world war’s codebreakers, helps sustain the dream. Run by Benugo, smoked salmon sandwiches and egg rolls are served up on vintage china, dainty teapots deliver the tea of your choice, while 1940s tunes accompany the small talk.
Best for secret assignations and a healthy serving of nostalgia.
Max Benato
The south-west
Very few pubs have fossil museums attached, but the Square and Compass, a Dorset institution, makes it its business to not to be like other pubs. The museum itself is small, occupying a little room stuffed with fascinating exhibits from the Jurassic Coast in glass cabinets. The almost 250-year-old pub occupies a commanding position overlooking the stone-built village of Worth Matravers, the Purbeck coast and the disused quarries from which cities were hewn.
Grab a space on one of the immense stone tables outside if it’s warm, or dive into the cosy wood-panelled rooms inside. There’s no bar, just a hatch, and the menu consists of excellent pasties or pies: meat, vegetarian or vegan (£4.80).
Best for a pint and pie after walking the coast path.
Jon Woolcott
Perched on Bristol’s buzzing harbourside, the cafe bar at the Arnolfini contemporary arts centre feels like the city distilled: colourful with pastel pink and orange walls; eclectic with fairy lights and hanging baskets collapsing from the ceiling among paper toadstool shades; and forward-thinking with a sustainable, locally sourced menu. With the air of a 00s dive bar – just a lot cleaner and tidier – Blur and Fontaines DC blast from the speakers as a mix of students, tourists and a few young professionals tuck into hearty brunches (BLT £9) and simple lunches like cheese and onion toasties (£8), surrounded by gig posters.
Wash down the grub with one of a number of beers from the independent Bristol Beer Factory – mine’s a Laser Juice – and wine from Bath’s Wolf Wine, or get a caffeine fix from Bristol roasters Wogan Coffee. Housed in a Grade II-listed building, the centre next door has exhibited works by artists including Grayson Perry and Rachel Whiteread, and hosts performances and talks throughout the year.
Best for art fans, students, progressives, beer enthusiasts.
Jamie Grierson
Courtyard Cafe, the Museum of Somerset, Taunton
On a sunny day, it’s hard to beat this setting in the grounds of the 12th-century Taunton Castle, once at the heart of a great estate owned by the bishops of Winchester. The menu is basic but hearty, including pastries for breakfast and, for lunch, soups and sandwiches on bloomer bread (£10.50). There are tubs of Granny Gothards ice-cream from down the M5 in Devon and, of course, cider – this is Somerset, after all. If it’s rainy or cold, there is seating inside near the beam engine used at Pearsall’s silk factory in the town for a century.
The museum includes the Low Ham mosaic, a wondrous survivor of Roman Britain, and an impressive fossilised skeleton of a plesiosaur found by a Somerset fisher in 2003 – the first complete one to be found for a century in the UK.
Best for fans of snacking in light-filled courtyards.
swheritage.org.uk
Steven Morris
East Quay Kitchen is the cafe at the town’s horizon-piercing harbourside arts centre. Like the arts centre itself – a dynamic social enterprise whose programming is locally driven but globally inspired – the cafe’s affordable menu aims to sate the local appetite for a broader sphere of culinary influence than is always easy to find in deepest west Somerset. Focusing on mainly Mediterranean/Middle Eastern flavours (though monthly supper clubs range from Japanese to Ethiopian and Korean), early risers can kick off the day with Turkish eggs (£9.50) and excellent Brazier coffee, while lunchtime and evening diners can choose from veg-led meze-style dishes such as cannellini beans with chilli, lemon and spring greens (£8) or larger plates like pork meatball flatbreads with hummus, salad and zhoug (£14). Small and cosy in winter, with mismatched wooden chairs and bookshelves dotted with plants and board games, in summer an adjacent courtyard triples the cafe’s seating.
A funky new outdoor pavilion has just been added, too, meaning dog-walkers (or wandering mariners) can also now enjoy the cafe year-round.
Best for bright-flavoured dining on a summer’s evening with a side order of live music and the merry murmur of the sea.
Rhiannon Batten
Garden Cafe, the Holburne Museum, Bath
One of Bath’s brightest, most airy rooms, the Garden Cafe is a lovely spot to relax and take refreshment after pounding the streets of the Georgian city. The cafe opens on to the splendid Sydney Gardens, one of the places to be seen in the 18th and 19th centuries – and now. Follow in the footsteps of royals, who came here to take the water, and Jane Austen, who lived nearby for a while.
Fans of the television series Bridgerton will also recognise the rear facade of the museum as Lady Danbury’s house. The cafe isn’t snooty though. It serves pastries at breakfast time and the lunchtime menu includes sandwiches, soups, quiches and salads (£9.95). Cakes, tarts, muffins and brownies are available all day. The museum is definitely worth a look, with attractions ranging from curiosities such as an 18th-century lady’s snuff box in the shape of a shoe to temporary exhibitions showcasing greats of modern British art.
Best for costume drama enthusiasts.
Steven Morris
Sherborne Museum is a reborn wonder. Once a grand house with a staircase mural by Sir James Thornhill, whose other works include the paintings on the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, Sherborne House became so dilapidated that it was placed on the Heritage at Risk register. Now sensitively refurbished, it’s the town’s premier arts venue, with extensive galleries, an impressive events space and shop. The Sherborne also welcomes visitors to the popular Macready’s Restaurant and Bar, serving everything from light bites (from £12) to substantial main courses such as smoked ham hock with confit garlic and leek and pearl barley risotto (£22) and pan-fried gnocchi (£19.50), in an atmospheric and glamorous setting with attentive, unfussy service.
Best for contemporary British cuisine in a buzzy modern atmosphere.
Jon Woolcott
The cafe at Stonehenge is not going to win awards for elegance or sophisticated cuisine, but given the scale of the job it is trying to do, it does pretty damn well. The prehistoric monument and its excellent visitor centre, run by English Heritage, play host to about 4,000 guests a day. The on-site cafe, which must therefore literally feed the masses, has seating for 300 inside, in a light and practical room with countryside views, and further seating outside. The food is reliable and unpretentious: sandwiches, pasties, hot soups (£5.95), hot and cold drinks, homemade rock cakes and simple cream teas. There are vegan and gluten-free options, water-filling stations, and the cafe is accessible without buying a ticket to the monument.
Best for hot soup after a winter walk; buying a picnic in summer.
Emily Wilson
Tremenheere Kitchen nestles within the lush subtropical grounds of Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens near Penzance. Overlooking St Michael’s Mount, the cafe is a testament to thoughtful design, with a crescent-shaped open-plan layout that allows natural light to flood the space. The south-facing terrace, adorned with succulents, provides a glorious setting that offers more than just refreshment; it grants you permission – to pause.
Farmed by monks until 1295, Tremenheere was transformed in modern times by Neil Armstrong, a visionary GP who spent years reclaiming the overgrown valley from brambles and gorse. He curated a venturesome landscape of curious plants, exotic trees and world-class contemporary sculpture. Whether you’re here for breakfast or a leisurely coffee and cake, the menu in the Kitchen is as thoughtfully curated as the gardens, celebrating fresh, seasonal and locally sourced Cornish ingredients. The Sunday roast is, for my money (£21.95), the last great roast in Britain (if you’re heading west towards Land’s End) or conversely, the first great roast in Britain (if you’re heading up country).
Best for Sunday roast.
Christopher Morris
Midlands and East Anglia
One of the many wonderful things about the BCLM is that its eating and drinking options are integrated into the museum’s imaginative “living history” experience. Its latest development project is Forging Ahead, which has been opening in stages since 2022 and tells the story of the region in the 1940s to 60s, and includes the recreation of the Elephant & Castle pub. The original Wolverhampton boozer was demolished in 2001 but this rebuild precisely mimics its colourful faience tiles and crowning elephant statue.
The upstairs lounge is the place to come for a taste of the Black Country, with traditional local favourites faggots and peas (£10), steak and ale pie and KVE scratchings on the menu, while the bar serves retro delights such as Cherry B and Babycham. Hobbs & Sons fish and chip shop, which once stood in nearby Dudley and was moved and rebuilt here brick by brick, is one of the museum’s most popular attractions, so expect to queue to enter the tiled, wall-panelled interior for delicious fish and chips fried in beef dripping (£9.95, vegetable oil also available) with a pickled egg or pickled onion on the side (no historically inaccurate ketchup here). Go and eat them down by the canal, where Peaky Blinders was filmed.
Best for a taste of history.
Gavin McOwan
The early art deco styling associated with Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh encompasses bold geometric patterns and Edwardian elegance. The Dining Room at 78 Derngate leans into this aesthetic with striking black and yellow decor, angular fonts, tall chairbacks, a bay window and an alcove full of cake stands. The vibe is vintage Glasgow, but this gem is in Northampton. The restaurant’s playful sophistication matches the style of the neighbouring house, which preserves pioneering 1916 interiors by Mackintosh. There are distinctive lamps and lattices, stained-glass panels and tiled fireplaces. A glass-walled extension opened next door in 2023, making room for an art gallery and shop with views across the newly extended garden. The Dining Room’s menu has a retro-modern feel, featuring toasted teacakes and sandwiches like coronation chicken (£7.25) and cucumber, or four tiers of sweet and savoury treats at teatime for £20 a person.
Best for romantic afternoon teas.
78derngate.org.uk
Phoebe Taplin
In an old brick silk mill on the banks of the Derwent, Derby’s innovative Museum of Making opened in 2021. Alongside archives of artefacts from the city’s industries, there are hands-on chances to try things like weaving or woodwork. The River Kitchen, in the museum’s three-storey glass-walled atrium, is a popular hangout. It’s a welcoming place to meet for good coffee, roasted in nearby Trent Bridge, or tuck into an all-day River Kitchen breakfast, where local sausage and streaky bacon arrive on top of a Derbyshire oatcake (an oatmeal pancake) for £9.50.
Lunch could include catch-of-the-day fish and caramelised apple tart. And it’s all served on two-tone crockery from Denby pottery, made using iron-rich Derbyshire clay. In summer, there are tables on the terrace, with views of the tree-lined Derwent, the cathedral and the giant peregrine falcon mural on the museum wall.
Best for family brunch.
Phoebe Taplin
Parker’s Yard, Framework Knitters Museum, Ruddington, Notts
Red admirals flutter round terracotta pots of primroses on tables in the garden at Parker’s Yard, named after a family who lived here. The eight brick buildings that surround the garden were cottages and workshops, which once housed and employed some of Ruddington’s framework knitters. These workers had links to both the 19th-century textile workers’ movement the Luddites and to the lace industry.
The museum cafe serves simple dishes such as soup (£6.50) and sandwiches (from £7.95). Greek salad (£8.75) or beetroot with rocket, feta and walnuts (£7.75) come with fresh seeded sourdough from Tough Mary’s bakehouse, six miles north in Nottingham. There are big triangular scones made with cheese or lemon and blueberry. In the museum itself, you can see original machines and Victorian interiors, and hear stories from a knowledgable band of volunteers. The whole place has a bustling community feel, with kids playing in the garden and choirs singing in the chapel.
Best for salad or scones in the sunshine.
Phoebe Taplin
Set within 350 acres of parkland, the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts is a truly global collection of art in the Norfolk countryside, just 15 minutes’ drive from the centre of Norwich in the grounds of the University of East Anglia. For quick refreshments, The Terrace serves excellent coffee (from Square Mile roasters) and a small but high-quality selection of sandwiches and baked goods. There’s seating inside, adjoining the museum shop, but the most prized tables on a sunny day are on the outdoor patio, overlooking the sculpture park. For more substantial fare, the Modern Life Cafe has sandwiches, salads and stews, as well as home-baked cakes and cookies. It’s generously priced given the freshness and quality of the fare, with a main-sized salad costing just £9, while the children’s picnic box (£4.50) is a nice touch for parents seeking to appease more reluctant gallery-goers.
The space itself is something of a work of art, with grand floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on to woodland and sculptures by Henry Moore.
Best for a restorative coffee or hearty lunch.
Elle Hunt
As soon as it’s sunny enough, yellow deckchairs spring up like daffodils around Kettle’s Yard and neighbouring St Peter’s with its stone font with carved mermen and semiwild garden full of bluebells and cow parsley. Since 2021, the Garden Kitchen has only served vegetarian and vegan food as part of reducing its carbon footprint. They source fresh herbs from their own cottage garden, pickling extra produce for the future, and use biodegradable wrappers and boxes. The inventive fresh salad bowls (£8.50) come sprinkled with homemade dukkah and punchy dressings. For pud, there’s ginger cake, date flapjacks and vegan brownies.
At the heart of Kettle’s Yard is the characterful house that belonged to Jim and Helen Ede, with its perfectly curated collection of 20th-century art among creative arrangements of pebbles, shells and a lemon in a pewter bowl.
Best for veggie and vegan options.
Phoebe Taplin
Thomas Gainsborough’s house, now a stylish museum dedicated to his work, reopened after a £10m expansion and refurb project in 2022. A year later, Stellar Catering took over The Watering Place cafe, serving fancy British fare every day and on some summer evenings. Brunch could include a caramel vodka iced latte, truffled mushrooms on toast, or eggs benedict with Suffolk-smoked ham (£13). An emphasis on local produce extends to seasonal ingredients from the quince and mulberry trees in Gainsborough’s garden.
Alongside the permanent displays, there are temporary exhibitions. French and British paintings from Kenwood House will be on show from May to October. In keeping with the theme, the cafe is planning “lunch specials inspired by French rococo artists … paired with wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy”. Kids can order a Paddington’s lunch with crisps, fruit and a marmalade sandwich (£6).
Best for a glass of wine on the terrace.
Phoebe Taplin
The north of England
Where woollen looms once thundered across the stone flagged floors of Salts Mill in Yorkshire, crowds of hungry diners now create an equally rowdy din. There is no other place in the world where you can dine in a Unesco-listed factory, looking out over rolling moors, with a stunning art gallery, bookshop and design stores within arm’s reach. At the heart of Saltaire, a Victorian model village built by mill owner Titus Salt in the 1850s, Salts Mill is a vertical cultural powerhouse, housing an unparalleled collection of paintings, drawings and collages by local lad David Hockney. It is a sumptuous feast of colour, Hockney’s work offset by the dazzling glazes of Burmantofts pottery displayed alongside.
The atmospheric Salts Diner makes the perfect place to digest the work over a lunch of salads, burgers and fries (£15) and hand-stretched pizza (from £13.75), before drooling over midcentury furniture in The Home store next door.
Best for noisy brunch with a side of culture.
Oliver Wainwright
Lady Lever cafe’s food is homemade and the portions generous. We had sandwiches on thick-sliced bread with chips, bakewell tart, banana and pecan cake, dandelion and burdock, ginger beer and tea for two, all for about £35, and we were lucky to get a seat.
It’s a fascinating, eccentric and beautiful place. At the end of a rose-lined boulevard, the gallery, and Port Sunlight itself, is a display of Lord and Lady Lever’s household soap brand, their huge wealth, and a legacy of Victorian imperialism – Lever profited from forced labour plantations in the Belgian Congo, campaigned for workers’ rights in the UK, and built a model village (somewhat like Cadbury’s Bournville). Expect a balanced history of the family and their hoard – Chinese snuff boxes, pre-Raphaelites, French armoires, Wedgwood jasperware, and even a bronze death mask of Napoleon I – all a 20-minute train ride away from Liverpool Lime Street.
Best for a conversation-starter and weekend lunch.
Laura Robertson
Cafe Laing, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle
There’s something joyous and life-affirming about having a cheese sandwich and pot of tea in a room which has paintings by Edwin Landseer and stained-glass windows by the pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones. The Laing cafe’s menu is not going to win awards and isn’t wildly exciting, but what they do, they do well.
The bacon stotties before noon are great and the familiar fare of soups, sandwiches, toasted ciabattas and jacket potatoes are generous and seem appreciated. This high-ceilinged, bright and airy cafe never feels packed with people and, while I’m sure it would like to be, that suits me fine. I enjoyed a very tasty wild mushroom and caramelised onion quiche with salad and coleslaw for £5.95. It was delicious. Next to me was a beautiful, if sugary, Waldo Story sculpture exploring the death of love. The gallery itself is wonderful and has so many great works of art – just try to ignore the now tatty and faded Blue Carpet terrazzo paving outside, a lottery-funded “urban design feature” that was created with the best of intentions but has not aged well.
Good for an uncomplicated, quiet lunch surrounded by beautiful art.
Mark Brown
El Castillo, the Spanish Gallery, Bishop Auckland, County Durham
If you manage to eat a more fabulously delicious dish of roast pork belly than the one on offer at El Castillo tapas restaurant next to the Spanish art gallery in Bishop Auckland, then lucky you. The panceta a fuego lento – braised crispy garlic and herb pork belly with harissa aioli – is a sensation (£8.50). Also wonderful are the roasted seasonal vegetables from the restored 17th-century walled garden of Auckland Castle.
The pudding menu includes a Catalan cream pudding with orange shortbread (£6.50). The service is great, the prices are reasonable and the chefs include one of last year’s Masterchef contestants. The restaurant is part of the Auckland Project, a wildly ambitious cultural endeavour that includes the castle, gardens, a mining art gallery, a faith museum and, of course, the wonderful Spanish Gallery, a “Prado of the north”, which you don’t expect to find in a left-behind County Durham market town. Next year, the plan is to open a historical theme park.
Best for Wonderful Spanish food, next to world-class Spanish art, not in Spain.
Mark Brown
Ambulo, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield
Spacious and calm, Ambulo has huge windows and bright white walls hung with floral wreaths. Strong wifi and plenty of table space make it a great alternative to working from home; you can even book through the Reef hot-desking app and get discounts. The food has shifted in recent years towards cafe classics: fish finger and tartare sandwiches (£7.50), burgers (£9) and sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice-cream (£5.50). And there’s gingerbread, baked on site, to go with ethically sourced coffee, roasted by Dark Woods Coffee in rural West Yorkshire.
Ambulo is one of the best things about Sheffield’s light-filled Millennium Gallery, which hosts temporary exhibitions. These have included art and design from Leonardo da Vinci and Vivienne Westwood alongside a permanent display of local metalwork. Don’t miss the Winter Garden just behind the gallery, one of the UK’s largest temperate glasshouses.
Best for remote working.
Phoebe Taplin
Bar & Kitchen, the Whitaker Museum, Rawtenstall, Lancashire
It is difficult to believe that little over a decade ago the Whitaker nearly closed for good. Caught in the grip of austerity, the 123-year-old institution was known locally as “the museum that never opens”. But it was rescued by three dedicated locals and now, thanks to a £2.2m refurbishment, it appears stronger than ever. The Bar & Kitchen is the centrepiece of the new Whitaker, and is worth a visit in its own right. Just a 45-minute drive north of Manchester, the museum is nestled in the rolling Pennine hills and the restaurant makes the most of the view.
We visited on a gloriously sunny day and enjoyed the trademark Whitaker burger (£11.85) overlooking the tranquil gardens, where volunteers grow rhubarb, celery, strawberries and herbs. The menu is limited to a handful of homely staples – sandwiches and soup, jacket potatoes, burgers – but on Sundays they also serve up a roast. A good excuse to return.
Best for an unfussy weekday lunch in a glorious setting.
Josh Halliday
The Weston, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
If you’re looking for a room with a view and delicious food and art at every turn, then the Weston at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park is the answer. It’s a dream destination for anyone with boisterous children that need exercising – lots of fresh air and terrain to cover, and plenty of playful installations, including Damien Hirst’s Charity, Robert Indiana’s LOVE (Red Blue Green) and Daniel Arsham’s Bronze Extraterrestrial Bicycle.
Wear the kids out, then herd them towards the Weston, where they can feast on sweetcorn fritters, sausage and mash, or fish and chips for a reasonable £5. Meanwhile, you can enjoy the amazing views across the park while tucking into butternut and sage risotto (£16) or a steaming hot bowl of broccoli, beer and cheese soup (£7). There’s seating outdoors in the summer but do book ahead; it’s a popular place and fills up quickly.
Best for feeding hungry children and bucolic views.
Max Benato
It is difficult not to spend a whole lunchtime gazing at the parquet floor, glinting tiles covering the walls and high barrel-vaulted ceiling of the Tiled Hall Cafe, a somewhat hidden tearoom adjoining Leeds Art Gallery, which was once a fine Victorian reading room. The detail on every surface is an antidote to the stark white expanses of the art gallery and its neighbouring sculpture gallery, the Henry Moore Institute – the latter in particular is worth a visit this spring when it is home to a major exhibition of works by the late wood sculptor Roger Ackling.
The Tiled Hall Cafe’s grandeur gives way to an accessible feel that is not overly styled, which carries through to the food. Among the usual cafe fare of reasonably priced sandwiches (£4.35), salads (£5.95) and soup (£5.95), it is the homemade cakes that are the star.
Best for whiling away an hour or two with a pot of tea and slice of Victoria sponge.
Robyn Vinter
Sun streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Whitworth Art Gallery’s cafe, bathing the whole space in glorious light. This glass oblong, suspended above Whitworth Park, gives the illusion of being immersed in nature, with the added benefit of being sheltered from Manchester’s infamous elements. It is a popular spot – on weekday lunchtimes, and all weekend, studying and laptops are banned. After a short wait, I grab a seat and order a halloumi flatbread (£10.95), which is served with a choice of chips or salad, and comes piled high with greenery and sliced olives. Some menu options, this one included, carry details of their carbon footprint. Nearby Oxford Road has in the past laid claim to being the busiest bus route in Europe, but my lunch is soundtracked only by the clicking of cutlery, and the low chatter of my fellow diners up here in the trees.
The cafe is not the only draw; the gallery is home to a permanent collection of more than 60,000 wallpapers, textiles and works of art, and a regular rotation of free exhibitions also brings in visitors.
Best for lunch in a glorious setting.
Hannah Al-Othman
Scotland
Run by the Contini family, the Scottish Cafe and Restaurant is a well-loved Edinburgh institution. You’ll find it tucked beneath the Scottish National Gallery, leading straight into Princes Street Gardens, with expansive views of the Old Town and the Scott Monument.
True to its name, traditional Scottish dishes are the main focus here: deep bowls of creamy cullen skink soup (£19); Aberdeen butteries (bread rolls) with haggis (£17); and superb scones (£5.50). The sourcing is impeccable, with many artisan Scottish suppliers featured on the menus, and fruit and veg arriving from the Contini kitchen garden just outside Edinburgh.
The vibrant contemporary interiors celebrate Scottish designers: ANTA furniture; bold fabrics by Bute Fabrics and Timorous Beasties, and velvet by textile designer Mairi Helena. Her Fire Thistle design is a riot of colour, the pattern inspired by the flowers, lichen and fishing nets of the east coast.
Best for afternoon tea, and escaping busy Princes Street.
Ailsa Sheldon
Light floods the cafe at the Burrell, in a space that feels somewhere between a summer house and a church, all the glass skilfully blurring the lines between the green parkland and the calm museum interior. The £68m revamp of the museum and gallery in Pollok Park added this bright extension, creating a relaxing spot to while away an hour or two between visiting the diverse collection that Sir William Burrell donated to the city of Glasgow. Big salads (£11.50) and toasted sourdough sandwiches (£10) are the mainstays, with a few interesting small plates too. Try “chickpea a leekie” – spiced carrot hummus with crispy leeks and pickled prunes – or mushrooms in kale breadcrumbs with aioli (£7). For hungrier folk, there are heartier meals too, and the Angus steak burger (£11.95) will see you right. It’s cafeteria-style rather than table service, but it’s worth queueing up again for coffee and the millionaire’s shortbread.
Best for families, and coffee and cake with a view.
Ailsa Sheldon
Fruitmarket Cafe, the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Since bringing the cafe in-house after its 2021 refurb, the Fruitmarket Cafe has flourished into a real haven for both art and food lovers, with bright interesting dishes that match the vibrant changing exhibitions. Baked eggs (£13) are a brunch favourite, with chorizo, tomato and flaked almonds; or aubergine, feta and pickled onion. On a cold day, the kala chana, a black chickpea curry with roast cauliflower and spinach, is the perfect warmer (£13). Coffee is a special blend created by Edinburgh’s Obadiah Coffee Roasters, and beers are from local craft breweries including Pilot, Newbarns and alcohol-free brewery Jump Ship.
Chef Martin Collins has recently introduced a monthly supper club, allowing the good food and convivial atmosphere to extend into the evening for those quick enough to get tickets. Profits from the cafe directly fund both the free-to-visit gallery and its excellent community arts outreach programme, so all the more reason to treat yourself.
Best for catching up with friends, or a quiet coffee before a train.
Ailsa Sheldon
A few Perthshire eyebrows were raised when Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo was awarded the contract to transform the dilapidated Perth city hall into the city’s museum. Happily, the dynamic reimagining of the Renaissance-style building has won over all doubters. While the Stone of Destiny at the heart of the museum is, of course, the main attraction, Stone Cafe has become one of Perth’s most visited spots. The vaulted windows of the former lesser hall have been extended to floor level, creating a light, welcoming space with views of St John’s Kirk. On the menu, Scottish comfort food is the highlight, with bowls of haggis, neeps and tatties (£10.95), and stovies (£11.95), a traditional mashup of potatoes, diced steak, carrot, turnip and leeks. The option to try a half portion is a nice touch. Local produce on offer includes delicious oatcakes from social enterprise Giraffe.
Best for a hearty lunch surrounded by history.
perthmuseum.co.uk
Ailsa Sheldon
Wales
Up the winding staircase beside the vintage cinema projector, you come to a choice. Left takes you into the museum, a gorgeously ornate Victorian theatre stuffed with the treasures of Welsh life (the hat display alone is worth the £2 entry charge), or right into the Coliseum Coffee House. My advice is a cafe-museum-cafe combination. As a counterpoint to the museum’s intimate cave-like interior, the cafe is all light and art-deco flourishes done in a cool turquoise and ivory livery. Windows look out on to busy Terrace Road and the impressive glass frontage of the White Horse pub. There is a short menu that includes toasties, rarebit and cawl (lamb soup), all done with local ingredients, and a fine array of Welsh cheeses (from £5.75).
Leave space for the homemade cakes such as the awe-inspiring chocolate or the traditional bara brith (from £4.75). And don’t miss the loo; the tiling is very special.
Best for homemade cakes.
Kevin Rushby
Clever architects have to connive to create smart contemporary cafes in most urban settings. In beautiful places, nature sometimes sorts it all out. The interior of the tearoom on the ground floor of the Boathouse – the atmospheric former home of Dylan and Caitlin Thomas and their three children from 1949 to 1953 – is cosy, old-fashioned and unpretentious, very much in keeping with the decor in the rest of the house-museum. But the large outdoor terrace is a thing of beauty, perched on the edge of “the mussel pooled and the heron priested shore” of the Taf estuary. On a sunny day, it’s as poetic as its famous resident. During the Laugharne Weekend literary and arts festival, held each spring, the space is used for readings. The menu is simple, but the cream tea is served on bone china tea sets, the Welsh cakes and bara brith are moreish (Welsh tea £8.50), and there are nice sandwiches if you need a snack before heading out on to the Welsh Coast Path.
Best for a spot of reading while exploring the Dylan sites.
Christopher Morris
Museums with a cafe that is fully integrated into the theme are a rare breed, and this authentic miners’ canteen is one of the best. Built in 1939 in severely practical style – all washable tiles and surfaces – its clientele was a particularly hungry and thirsty lot, demanding pies, pasties and chips with everything. Anyone visiting with children today will discover that the classic Welsh miners’ diet remains the go-to choice for the next generation, with pies, pasties and chips priced at £5-£8. Old favourites such as Glamorgan sausages and lamb soup are still top choices, followed by large slices of cake, of course. The views across the site and down the valley are spectacular. Officially still a working mine, Big Pit’s underground tours give the full experience of life below the surface, although they have slowed the winding gear down: the miners used to be dropped at breakneck speed to the coalface 100 metres below.
Best for a fill-your-boots canteen.
Kevin Rushby
Northern Ireland
Cafe Bar, the Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast
Don’t be fooled by the nonchalant urban vibe. Located at the heart of Belfast’s arty Cathedral Quarter, the MAC’s CafeBar knows the value of predictably good food, albeit with a funky twist. Taking its cue from the building’s robust yet graceful interior, the menu is an eclectic affair. Dishes combine a range of influences, including north African, Middle Eastern and Asian. Whether you go for a crispy chicken pakora burger (£12.95) or a sweet potato falafel wrap (£10), portions are generous and the flavours well crafted. There’s also a solid kids’ menu, with a choice of finger food, a drink and something sweet for £8.
After an exhibition, before a show, or if you’re just meeting friends, take a seat at the glass-fronted plaza or on a stylish balcony. You’ll enjoy the efficient and friendly service as well as the lively buzz.
Best for lunch with friends and a child-friendly menu.
Mary Montague
The licensed cafe at Seamus Heaney HomePlace deftly combines warmth and sophistication. It’s a popular local hub that also caters for the many visitors who come to experience the poet’s vision in the landscape that formed him. The thoughtful menu offers a decent breakfast, whether that’s a traditional fry-up (£5.90) or spiced avocado on toasted sourdough (£5.50).
After a morning exploring the exhibition, you may opt for a tasty lunch of a bacon- and cheddar-filled spud or a salad (£8.50). If you’d rather go out to the open spaces of the poet’s home ground, get a speciality sandwich (£6.90) to go. Come back for a delicious afternoon tea of cakes and pastries, and curl up with a book.
Best for weekend brunch or a lively literary get-together.
Mary Montague
