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A friend is opening a cafe. I think it'll be a good starting point for road rides, but I'm not a roadie. What makes a good cafe for roadies?
Visible bike storage - preferably hanging rails.
Inside and outside seating.
Room between tables to get in and out.
Quick service.
Decent home made cakes.
A choice of hot foods.
Coffee/ tea etc.
Water jugs, and taps to fill bottles.
Track pump.
A selection of inner tubes for sale.
At about 8:20 in
Somewhere secure and in sight to park bikes. Not some random shed round the back, not one Sheffield stand crammed in at the side. Hooks on a wall in a courtyard is perfect - avoids the inevitable pile of bikes with yours at the bottom.
A mate ran a cycling cafe for a little while, he experimented with having a selection of tools, track pump etc but found they just got wrecked.
Also, don't put off the other clientele by going 100% cycling. The mate mentioned above - a LOT of his trade came from Mums Wot Lunch, especially during the week. He discovered, quite by accident, that the cafe was on the route to / from a nursery so every weekday morning it was full of mothers who'd just dropped their little darlings at nursery. The cycling clientele was really only weekends and one night a week in summer where he'd stay open late for a night ride.
No sweaty men in Lycra inside?
Not next door to an epic nimby
Not in a council that actively sees cyclists as a group that can be discriminated against.
https://road.cc/show/tags/velolife/178043
Local cycle cafe started a cycling club at the same time as a cafe, lost if organised and random club rides finishing at cafe plus with 10% club discount meant it kept people coming back.
Somewhere to fill up bottles (so your staff don't have to do it for people).
free coffee refills (because people get thirsty).
Mix and match tables - so you can roll in with a couple of mates or 12 and still sit together.
Think about the menu - needs to be relatively quick, good for mid ride fueling (not full roast dinners but equally not just soup). Generous portions.
A few items that can be taken away - scones are great but if you've run out of food and have a long ride home they don't survive jersey pockets well.
Bike storage as above
Make it obvious you are a bike cafe. I've ridden past plenty of places because there was no obvious bike storage - I went in one place last week as my ususal haunt has shut. Turns out they have a big enclosed courtyard out the back and it is a great spot. Also a 50's themed tea room - Through the window it's all doilies and chintz - again first time was because there was no where else. Now its a regular as the food is brilliant as are the staff.
Location. You need to be somewhere that people ride to or through. If you are only 10 miles from the local city/town then you might not get many punters as they'll ride past. Depends where you are in the country though.
Agreed, you want a café that caters for cyclists not a cyclists' café.
Ideally:
Safe bike parking, a few round here have bike locks provided or there's lock and chain in the café and you ask.
A floor suitable for walking over in road shoes!
A mixture of soft and hard seating - you don't want wet bums on cushions!
Cake. Gotta have cake.
Hot food - do stuff that is quick to prepare, a dozen riders come in and it could be half an hour dealing with them if you aren't sorted.
Having only had two cafe stops over the last ~2 years of riding further afield, I'm not in much of a position to say...
I go out to get some exercise, not indulge in consuming more Calories than ~6 Jelly Babies per hour
When I have stopped, I've been on a rare group ride and to be honest, I wouldn't be prepared to spend ~£4-5 on a coffee and/or 500ml Coke and a bit of flapjack every time I jump on my road bike to do a ~30-60 mile ride (usually at least once, perhaps as many as three times per week, although I'm struggling this summer so far).
As one-offs, on 70+ mile rides, I was quite welcome of the break and Calories. But then my "Wellington" number for last year according to Veloviewer was 41 IIRC (as in I did 41 rides of 41+ miles)
I simply don't have that disposable income to throw around, unlike most of you STW middle managers. Even £20pcm of cafe stops is a replacement cassette or a chain to me. 😉
I thinks you mean "Eddington number" 😏
Wellington number refers to the capacity of said boots during a drinking session before you have to go to the toilet to empty them.
Location. You need to be somewhere that people ride to or through. If you are only 10 miles from the local city/town then you might not get many punters as they’ll ride past. Depends where you are in the country though.
Out on an evening CX bike spin a few weeks ago, a mate and I stopped at a pub, having come down a small trail at the back of it. Went in, got a pint and got chatting to the landlord who was genuinely quite put out that he'd done quite a bit of "cyclist" stuff (secure storage, free bottle refills etc) but no-one ever stopped there.
The trail was really one of those "local trails, local people" ones, little more than a snicket which is fine and enetertaining on a CX bike but certainly doesn't appear in any MTB trail guide so it'll never get ridden by anyone other than a few locals.
And the pub itself is on a hill - old staging point back in the days of horse-drawn transport -
so any roadies are either bombing past it at 30mph or grinding up past it and don't want to stop because Strava (or because getting going again into another mile of climbing is a pain).
Anecdotally, I know of stories of cafes on established LEJOG / JOGLE routes that do roaring trade but cafes literally round the corner never get any cycling custom. Same on the NC500 - it's been brilliant for trade on the route itself but half a mile off it and there's cafes there that haven't seen a single penny out of NC500 (if anything, they're worse off because everyone is going to NC500 rather than randomly exploring).
- a good welcome
- really good coffee
- really good sausage rolls
- really very good coffee indeed
- really good carrot cake
- no, really: really good coffee
- know how to make a proper macchiato (this alone will probably make you unique within at least a 50 mile radius)
- really good ice cream
- did I mention coffee?
- really good cold drinks
- a seating configuration that lets people keep an eye on bikes while enjoying the coffee, sausage rolls, cold drinks, wonderful authentic macchiato, and ice cream
I think that covers it. Bonus points for really good scotch eggs.
Don’t overthink it, I’ve got my own pump and allen keys. Just sell really good stuff with a smile. Doesn’t matter what bike gimmicks you have, if the coffee’s bland and the carrot cake’s soggy I’ll ride past.
Because this needs more attention:
Not in Maidenhead.
theotherjonv
Subscriber
Not next door to an epic nimbyNot in a council that actively sees cyclists as a group that can be discriminated against.
https://road.cc/show/tags/velolife/178043/blockquote >
free coffee refills (because people get thirsty).
See, to me, “free coffee refills” just says “worthless coffee”.
Not sure if it’s been mentioned above, and apologies if it’s blindingly obvious, but it needs to be on a route frequented by cyclists. Ideally midweek rides too.
Good luck to him. Hope it succeeds.
Decent vegan options, including cake.
I think soup is good, so long as it is fairly thick and filling, with a nice chunk of bread.
Maybe not free coffee re-fills, but an option for a decent sized cafetiere of not too strong coffee would be nice.
I like fancy coffee, but in winter it would just be nice to have 2-3 mugs of something hot and coffee tasting rather than espresso or variations on frothy milk.
Ot just free re-fills of filter coffee.
I prefer great filter coffee to a espresso based one. Definitely needs to be on a good route.
Maybe check strava?
what makes the perfect cafe?
For me a good cafe is one were 30 Roadies don't descend on mass & proceed to moan that food takes longer because the kitchen suddenly has a surge of people who somehow think the waiting time is a potential KOM segment on strava
Not sure if it’s been mentioned above, and apologies if it’s blindingly obvious, but it needs to be on a route frequented by cyclists. Ideally midweek rides too.
Except for honeypots like box hill I'm not sure that nessecerily works. One town might mostly visit cafes that are about 30miles as the crow flies. And even at 3x rides a week probably only visits the same cafe once every couple of months (and probably via a different route).
The exception are places like velolife which become a destination in their own right.
So you either need to be a cafe that makes a bit of extra income by getting onto cycling clubs radars but probably wont see more than a couple of rides a week from nearby towns.
Or go all out to attract cyclists and walkers; velolife, no car cafe (can't remember it's real name, somehwere near stonor).
Roadies will detour to a cafe if it has good (i.e. competent, friendly and efficient) service, somewhere to leave bikes, sells decent bacon and/ or sausage sandwiches, cake and coffee and has the ability to refill water bottles (tap, water jugs). Taking contactless payments is a must (you'd be surprised). One of my favourites is this one:
It's not on a main route but is popular with cyclists and non-cyclists alike.
One of our club cafe stops sells tubes and Gels
has track pump you can borrow , and a bike rack for maybe 8 bikes
It also has outside seating for about 20 , all can see the bike rack
Does table service where you order, pay , then 5 mins later food appears
Great if I ride in to the club run +15 miles, then get a 40-50 mile group ride , the coffee and flapjack are most welcome , then its +15 mile home
I am a bit baffled by all the fuss locally I about Velolife. I read the planning officer report. In summary the owner did not get change of use consent for a cafe and ran it without planning. The officer on appeal said ok a cafe is a good thing for the local community, but using it for retail and group ride meeting point is not in their view reasonable change of use due to the context of the site.
Why the pitchforks.
1. Somewhere safe from thieves to put bike.
2. Good coffee and selection of cakes.
Not silly expensive - and needs to be fresh.
3. All weather inside seating.
Always a nice option for outside seating too ... not a must though.
4. Quick service.
5. Toilet
6. Enough inside seating.
Nothing worse than riding to a cafe on a cold or wet day to find there is no inside seating. Classic example of this is the little cafe in Tintern. It comes fairly close to ticking the boxes in most categories ... but if you call in there on a weekend its often a gamble if there is enough seats inside. Which is no problem on a dry day ... but on a cold or wet day its often over looked for a safer bet of sitting inside somewhere roomier.
Things like access to track pumps, spare tubes etc are not important. You should have pumps and tubes on you anyways.
Contactless payment as often don’t carry cash, just a card, a decent track pump (aka rennkompressor), a couple of inner tubes, just for those who’ve already punctured and have a long ride home, and somewhere safe to leave the bikes. And a tap to fill bottles sobthe staff don’t have to.
Location needs to be about an hour from the source of cyclists. Cinnamon Bun cafe is my local, very popular but six minutes or three hours and six minutes from my house.
The officer on appeal said ok a cafe is a good thing for the local community, but using it for retail and group ride meeting point is not in their view reasonable change of use due to the context of the site.
Because the planning officer has now also ruled that cyclists using it as a mid ride stop also constitutes a meet
"whether they start, finish, or are constructed to use the land and building during such events"
"Some clubs in the borough have also been issued with injunction notices, saying that they may not use Velolife at any point during any organised ride they do"
groups of walkers? Fine. Mums with prams - come in! Hells Angels on a ride out - no probs. But cyclists - NO!
groups of walkers? Fine. Mums with prams – come in! Hells Angels on a ride out – no probs. But cyclists – NO!
Basically this +1
There's also a bit more too it if you look at who it is complaining.
Also if the person complaining is the one who used to own the pub it seems a bit off. Presumably they didn't complain about the noise when they were running it.
The aspersion is that now that it's successful they want it back.
That and it's potentially a bonkers precedent. It's not even people driving there to ride that are the subject of the judgement. It's people riding there to meet others.
“whether they start, finish, or are constructed to use the land and building during such events”
I think there's some confusion over that statement, which is stupid because it was supposed to clarify so the planning guy needs a slap for trying to be clever with language.
I think what they're trying to say is you can use it as a cafe (and arrive there by bike) but you can't use it as an informal club headquarters to start club runs or TT's from (and disturb people outside of opening hours).
The council's letters to local clubs are a bit more worrying if no one challenges them. It's (as far as I can tell, IANAL) trying to imply some sort of asbo/injection against cycling clubs.
know how to make a proper macchiato (this alone will probably make you unique within at least a 50 mile radius)
This. The perfect machiatto is thus.
Espress the coffee.
Steam the milk, infact do whatever you want with the milk because it shouldn't be going anywhere near an espresso.
Based on my ride today, my perfect cafe would be a mobile van that could follow me round handing out cake and coffee and shouting encouragement.
I've just realised that the largely unused village hall where I lives ticks all of these boxes as a setting and building. I know what I'm doing if I ever get made redundant.
People I know in Suffolk swear by this place: https://www.cyclistsudbury.co.uk/
Would a Strava heatmap be useful for picking a location?
Most of the above and a charging point that works next to the bike stand.
I think there’s some confusion over that statement, which is stupid because it was supposed to clarify so the planning guy needs a slap for trying to be clever with language.
I think what they’re trying to say is you can use it as a cafe (and arrive there by bike) but you can’t use it as an informal club headquarters to start club runs or TT’s from (and disturb people outside of opening hours).
The council’s letters to local clubs are a bit more worrying if no one challenges them. It’s (as far as I can tell, IANAL) trying to imply some sort of asbo/injection against cycling clubs.
Nothing surprises me with the Royal Borough of W&M. I used to cover it as a junior reporter and the attitude of some of the councillors and officers boggled the mind. Take away the royal patronage and a certain secondary school, and both are pretty scruffy little towns which only look posh in comparison with the doghole which lies between them.
Steam the milk, infact do whatever you want with the milk because it shouldn’t be going anywhere near a tea or coffee.
FTFY
Some clubs in the borough have also been issued with injunction notices, saying that they may not use Velolife at any point during any organised ride they do
So lawful assembly on private property is no longer lawful?
It seems to me the mess was created by not applying for change of use. Now the officer has to unpick operations at the site or revoke any use.
I feel for the underresourced officer. At least they are trying. I don’t think they deserve a slap.
What would people suggest a good way to address 100 club riders turning up for Sunday morning cake?
What would people suggest a good way to address 100 club riders turning up for Sunday morning cake?
Sell them cake?
What would people suggest a good way to address 100 club riders turning up for Sunday morning cake?
Esquire! Esquire! Can I have your attention, please!?! 😉
The days off should be Tuesday to Thursday to cater to long weekend cyclists. The number of places here that are closed all weekend or Mondays is unbelievable. Open from just after Easter to the end of October half-term on extended hours.
Toilet
Clean toilets.
Roadies tend to be obsessive and their cafes are the same - obsession with the perfect expresso, obsession with the right nutrients in the right cake, not my cup of tea - impossible to relax in them.
Roadies tend to be obsessive and their cafes are the same – obsession with the perfect expresso, obsession with the right nutrients in the right cake, not my cup of tea – impossible to relax in them.
Well if you are so far up your own a*** I'm not surprised 😏
Tad over-reaction old chap?
Cappuccino
Cake,cake and more chuffin' cake