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In Britain, a cafe (), also known colloquially as a caff or
greasy spoon A greasy spoon is a small, cheap restaurant – either an American diner or coffee shop, or a British or Irish cafe – typically specializing in fried foods or home-cooked meals. The term ''greasy spoon'' has been used in the United States si ...
, is a small, cheap
eatery A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearanc ...
typically specialising in fried foods or home-cooked meals. Though it uses the same word origin as the term "
café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
", it is distinct from the more European style of
coffeehouse A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
or bar.Take the Kids England, 3rd. Fullman, Joseph. New Holland Publishers, 1 June 2007. p. 21 A British cafe does not usually serve alcohol. It is commonly an independently owned business; the only notable chain of roadside cafes is
OK Diner The OK Diner is a privately owned roadside restaurant chain in the United Kingdom. The restaurants have a retro, 1950s-style American diner theme with popular 1950s music, chequerboard flooring, booth seating, plenty of chrome details and 195 ...
since the demise of
Happy Eater Happy Eater was a chain of restaurants in England and Wales. Founded by Sir Michael Pickard in 1973, the chain wanted to compete against the British roadside restaurant category killer at the time, Little Chef, who would end up absorbing it in ...
in 1997 and
Little Chef Little Chef was a chain of restaurants in the United Kingdom, founded in 1958 by entrepreneur Sam Alper, who was inspired by American diners. The chain was famous for the "Olympic Breakfast" – its version of a full English – as well as it ...
in 2018.


Menu

A British cafe typically offers fried or grilled food such as an all-day " full cooked breakfast", which may contain a combination of ingredients such as fried egg,
bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...
,
black pudding , type = , course = , place_of_origin = Great Britain and Ireland , region =England, Ireland, Scotland , associated_cuisine = United Kingdom and Ireland , creator = , year = , mintime = , maxtime = , served = Hot, occasionally ...
,
bubble and squeak Bubble and squeak is a British dish made from cooked potatoes and cabbage, mixed together and fried. The food writer Howard Hillman classes it as one of the "great peasant dishes of the world".Hillman, pp. 62–63 The dish has been known sin ...
,
hash browns Hash browns, also spelled hashed browns, are a popular American and British breakfast food, consisting of finely chopped potatoes that have been fried until browned. Hash browns first started appearing on breakfast menus in New York City in t ...
, baked beans, fried bread, toast, grilled tomato, burgers,
sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...
s,
mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the na ...
and
chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The serie ...
. Hot and cold sandwiches may be available, such as a
bacon butty A bacon sandwich (also known in parts of the United Kingdom and New Zealand as a bacon butty, bacon bap or bacon sarnie, and in parts of Ireland as a rasher sandwich) is a sandwich of cooked bacon between bread that is optionally spread with but ...
or
sausage sandwich A sausage sandwich is a sandwich containing cooked sausage. It may consist of an oblong bread roll such as a baguette or ciabatta roll, and sliced or whole links of sausage, such as hot or sweet Italian sausage, Polish sausage, German sausage ( ...
. A range of other cooked meals may be available, such as
steak and kidney pie Steak and kidney pie is a popular British dish. It is a savoury pie filled principally with a mixture of diced beef, diced kidney (which may be beef, lamb, veal or pork) and onion. Its contents are generally similar to those of steak and kidney p ...
, a full roast, or
liver and onions The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it i ...
, with a cooked dessert such as
apple crumble An apple crumble is a British dessert featuring baked apple with a crunchy topping. In the UK, the term 'crumble' refers to both a dessert similar to the American apple crisp, which is topped with rolled oats and brown sugar, or a dessert topp ...
and
custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fro ...
. The main drink in a cafe or greasy spoon is usually
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
, especially "
builder's tea Builder's tea, also known as a builder's brew or gaffer's tea, is a British English colloquial term for a strong cup of tea. It takes its name from the inexpensive tea commonly drunk by labourers taking a break. A builder's tea is typically brew ...
" (a nickname for a mug of strong black tea, such as
English breakfast tea English breakfast tea or simply breakfast tea is a traditional blend of black teas originating from Assam, Ceylon and Kenya. It is one of the most popular blended teas, common in British and Irish tea culture. English breakfast tea is a black ...
, usually served with milk and sugar and typically robust and flavourful with a brisk character and a dark red colour). Coffee, where available, is usually
instant In physics and the philosophy of science, instant refers to an infinitesimal interval in time, whose passage is instantaneous. In ordinary speech, an instant has been defined as "a point or very short space of time," a notion deriving from its ety ...
or sometimes
espresso Espresso (, ) is a coffee-brewing method of Italian origin, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water (about ) is forced under of pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans and ...
but rarely brewed.


Transport cafe

The cafe was the mainstay of British
lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
drivers who travelled the major trunk roads such as the A1 and the A6 prior to the opening of the motorways. These cafes were not only stops where the driver could eat, but also made convenient meeting places where the
trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...
could talk to their members. A cafe that is beside a main road and serves passing motorists, particularly lorry drivers, is sometimes known as a transport cafe; this may or not be accompanied by a
petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...
. A
motorway service station Motorway service areas in the United Kingdom and Ireland, also known as services or service stations, are rest areas where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop or stay in an on-site overnight hotel. The vas ...
will typically include one or more
fast food restaurant A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically ...
s such as
Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...
,
Greggs Greggs plc is a British bakery chain. It specialises in savoury products such as bakes, sausage rolls, sandwiches and sweet items including doughnuts and vanilla slices. It is headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is listed on t ...
, or
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
, and possibly a transport cafe for the lorry drivers.


See also

*
Ace Cafe The Ace Cafe is an old transport cafe located near Wembley, North West London, England. Situated next to the North Circular Road, it is historically a notable venue in motorcycle culture. The original cafe opened in 1938 and closed in 1969. It ...
, a historic transport cafe * AMT Coffee *
The Armadillo Tea Rooms The Armadillo Tea Rooms was a café in Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is ...
*
Bar Italia Bar Italia is an Italian café located on Frith Street in the Soho district of London. Location and notable events On 26 January 1926, John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of television at 22 Frith Street, the building where ...
*
Boston Tea Party (café chain) Boston Tea Party is a British family-owned independent café group headquartered at its first café in Park Street, Bristol, which was opened in 1995. The business has 22 cafés, predominantly in South West England. Each location adopts a uniqu ...
*
British Coffee House The British Coffee House was a coffeehouse at 27 Cockspur Street, London. It is known to have existed in 1722, and was run in 1759 by a sister of John Douglas (bishop of Salisbury), and then by Mrs. Anderson, and was particularly popular with t ...
* Button's Coffee House *
Cadena Cafes Limited Cadena Cafés Limited was a chain of coffeehouses in South West England. It was established in 1895 under the name Lloyd's Oriental Café, subsequently Lloyd's Cadena Cafés Ltd. It became Cadena Cafés Ltd in 1907 and went on to operate over t ...
* Café Monico * Caffè Concerto *
Caffè Nero Caffè Nero is an Italian-influenced coffeehouse company headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1997 by Gerry Ford, currently the company runs more than 1,000 coffee houses in eleven countries: the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Cyprus, Croat ...
*
Caffè Ritazza Caffè Ritazza is a chain of coffee shops owned by the British multinational company SSP Group. It provides a range of coffees, pastries, ciabattas, panini and alcoholic drinks at many sites internationally. The brand was developed specifica ...
*
Café Scientifique Café Scientifique currently exists in more than 60 towns and cities across the United Kingdom and world-wide. It was the idea of Duncan Dallas, from Leeds, who was impressed by the Café Philosophique session he saw in France. Café Scientifiqu ...
*
Carpenter's Coffee House Carpenter's Coffee House (later known as "The Finish", "The Queen's Head" and "Jack's") was a coffee house in Covent Garden, London, established by George Carpenter some time around 1762. Carpenter had been a Strongman (circus), strongman and t ...
*
The Cat's Whisker The Cat's Whisker was a coffee bar situated at 1 Kingly Street, Soho, London, during the mid-late 1950s. It offered London youngsters Spanish dancing, live rock 'n roll, and skiffle.chasmcdevitt.comwww.chasmcdevitt.com. It saw the invention of a ...
*
Cave Austin and Company Cave Austin and Co., Ltd was a chain of grocery stores and cafés in the southeast of England. During its seventy year history it grew to some fifty branches in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and much of South East London. Cafés were in several seaside ...
*
Cereal Killer Cafe Cereal Killer Cafe is a chain of cafés that serve branded breakfast cereals. The original cafe was located on Brick Lane in Spitalfields, London and was the first cereal-themed café in the United Kingdom. The chain announced the closure of it ...
*
Coffee 1 Coffee #1 is a British coffee house chain that originated in Cardiff, Wales in 2001, and since 2019 has been majority owned by Caffè Nero. Coffee#1 has outlets along the M4 corridor, with others in Wales and southern England. History Coff ...
*
Coffee Republic Coffee Republic is a British coffee bar and deli franchise chain founded in 1995. History Coffee Republic was founded in 1995 by brother and sister team Bobby and Sahar Hashemi, opening its first site in London's South Molton Street. In 19 ...
*
Costa Coffee Costa Coffee is a British coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Dunstable, England. Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. ...
*
Cyberia, London Cyberia, London was an internet cafe founded in London in September 1994, which provided desktop computers with full internet access in a café environment. Situated at 39 Whitfield Street in Fitzrovia, the cafe was founded by Eva Pascoe, David ...
*
Forest Café The Forest, also referred to as Forest Café, was an independent social centre and arts centre located in central Edinburgh, Scotland. It was notable for being run by volunteers as a charitable, self-sustaining not-for-profit. Forest café was ...
*
Freeth's Coffee House Freeth's Coffee House, the popular name for the Leicester Arms on the corner of Bell Street and Lease Lane in Birmingham, England, was a tavern and coffee house that operated from 1736 until 1832. One of the most celebrated meeting places of Geo ...
*
Freud, Oxford Freud (aka Freud's) is a café-bar in a Victorian former church building at 119 Walton Street in Jericho, Oxford, England]. The Freud café is located opposite Great Clarendon Street and the Oxford University Press is also opposite to the sou ...
*
Gail's Gail's is a British bakery and cafe chain, with 100 shops, mostly in the London area. Gail's was started in the 1990s by Gail Mejia, and opened its first bakery in Hampstead's High Street in 2005. Tom Molnar is the co-founder and CEO of Gail's a ...
*
Garraway's Coffee House Garraways Coffee House was a London coffee house in Exchange Alley from the period where such houses served as important places where other business was performed. Its original proprietor, Thomas Garway, was already said to be the first perso ...
*
Grecian Coffee House The Grecian Coffee House was a coffee house, first established in about 1665 at Wapping Old Stairs in London, England, by a Greek former mariner called George Constantine. The enterprise proved a success and, by 1677, Constantine had been able t ...
*
Harris + Hoole Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle ...
*
Hindoostane Coffee House The Hindoostane Coffee House, opened at 34 George Street, London in 1810, was an Indian cuisine, Indian restaurant, and the first of its kind in the British Isles. It was founded by Sake Dean Mahomed, a former captain in the British East India Co ...
*
Hotel Café Royal The Hotel Café Royal is a five-star hotel at 68 Regent Street in Piccadilly, London. Before its conversion in 2008–2012 it was a restaurant and meeting place known as the Café Royal. History The establishment was originally conceived and s ...
*
InSpiral Lounge The InSpiral Lounge was an Organic food, organic Veganism, vegan restaurant, eco-Coffeehouse, café and events venue in Camden Lock, Camden Town, Camden, London, England, overlooking the Regent's Canal and Camden Market until its closure in 20 ...
*
The Jazz Café The Jazz Cafe is a music venue in Camden Town, London. It opened in 1990 on the former premises of a branch of Barclays Bank and has had several owners throughout its history as a music venue. In 2020 the Jazz Cafe celebrates its 30th year, h ...
*
Jonathan's Coffee-House Jonathan's Coffee House was a significant meeting place in London in the 17th and 18th centuries, famous as the original site of the London Stock Exchange. The coffee house was opened around 1680 by Jonathan Miles in Change (or Exchange) Al ...
*
Kardomah Cafés Kardomah Cafés were a chain of coffee shops in England, Wales, and a few in Paris, popular from the early 1900s until the 1960s, but now almost defunct. They featured live entertainment provided by string quartets. History The company that cre ...
*
Labworth Café The Labworth Restaurant & Café is a modernist International style reinforced concrete building overlooking the Thames estuary at Labworth beach on Canvey Island, Essex. Built in 1932–1933 by Ove Arup to resemble the bridge of the Queen Mary ...
*
Lloyd's Coffee House A 19th-century drawing of Lloyd's Coffee House Lloyd's Coffee House was a significant meeting place in London in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was opened by Edward Lloyd (c. 1648 – 15 February 1713) on Tower Street in 1686. The establis ...
*
Magpie Café The Magpie Café is a seafood restaurant in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1937, but its building dates back to the 18th century, when it was a merchant's house. History The restaurant is known for its fish and chip ...
* Minerva Café *
Muffin Break Muffin Break is a franchise business of Foodco which operates small bakery cafe coffee shops throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. As of 2013, Muffin Break had 275 stores worldwide: 190 in Australia, 37 in New Zealand and 46 in the Unit ...
* Nando's Coffee House * Old Slaughter's Coffee House *
Ossington Coffee Tavern, Newark on Trent The Ossington Coffee Tavern is a Grade II* listed building in Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire. History The foundation stone was laid on 10 November 1881 when Harold Peto representing his firm of architects placed a sealed bottle within a stone co ...
*
Partisan Coffee House The Partisan Coffee House was a radical venue of the New Left, at 7 Carlisle Street in the Soho district of London. It was established by historian Raphael Samuel in 1958 in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis and the Soviet invasion of Hungary. It cl ...
*
Patisserie Valerie Patisserie Valerie is a chain of cafés that operates in the United Kingdom. The chain specialises in cakes, and its menu included continental breakfasts, lunches and teas and coffees. The company went into administration in January 2019, prior t ...
* Pete's Eats Cafe * Pink Peacock * Pumpkin Café Shop *
Queen's Lane Coffee House Queen's Lane Coffee House is a historic coffee house established by Cirques Jobson, a Levantine Jew from Syria. Dating back to 1654, it claims to be the oldest continually serving coffee house in Europe although, it has only been on the present ...
*
Rainbow Coffee House The Rainbow Coffee House was a famous coffee house located at 15 Fleet Street, London. It was opened by James Farr in 1657, becoming London's second coffee house. The Rainbow provided a meeting place for freemasons and French refugee Huguenots wh ...
* Regency Cafe * The River Café *
Sun Inn, Barnes The Sun Inn is a Grade II listed public house overlooking the village pond at 7 Church Road, Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It was built as a coffee-house in the mid-18th century, but the architect is not known. The S ...
* Taylor St Baristas *
Tom King's Coffee House Tom King's Coffee House (later known as Moll King's Coffee House) was a notorious establishment in Covent Garden, London in the mid-18th century. Open from the time the taverns shut until dawn, it was ostensibly a coffee house, but in reality se ...
* Trew Era Cafe *
The Troubadour, London The Troubadour is a nightclub, restaurant and pub located at 265 Old Brompton Road, Earls Court, London. Established in 1954, it is one of the oldest and last remaining nightclubs and coffee houses of its era in London. It still offers live m ...
*
Turkey Cafe The Turkey Cafe is a building with a flamboyant Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style) facade in Granby Street, Leicester, England. It was built in 1900 and is now a Grade II listed building, once again used as a café. The facade puns on two ...
* Union Street Café * Vienna Café *
Will's Coffee House Will's Coffee House was one of the foremost coffeehouses in England in the decades after the Restoration. It was situated in Russell Street in London, at the northwest corner of Bow Street, between the City and Westminster. According to the ''Me ...


References

{{reflist


External links


Classic Cafes
– The Very Best of London's Twentieth Century vintage Formica caffs Restaurants by type