Fuggles Beer Cafe - Tunbridge Wells

I’ve been on my café journey for almost a year now and though I’ve been to some awesome themed cafes and some slightly odd ones too I haven’t yet been to one quite like this! I’ve swapped my usual four o’clock tea and cake for eight o’clock and a soft drink at Fuggles, the ‘beer café’ (what?! It has ‘café’ in the title!) This is so different from anywhere I’ve been so far and I love it! Though, of course, tea is my preferred drink I do like to go to the pub with some friends and when I spotted Fuggles I knew I had to try it out!

Inside the single room is kitted out like a swanky bistro with a wooden floor and tables and low lighting, I especially love the beer taps on the wall behind the bar, offering far more options than I have ever seen in a pub. Lots of small, changeable blackboards above these taps list the many beers for sale as well as the wines and also some great looking food. Above it all the ceiling is covered with bare beams and large silver ducts and these, coupled with the tin adverts on the walls, create a wonderful warm, retro feel to the whole place. Down the back of the bar, where my friends and I are sat are comfy (really comfy) sofas and lower tables if you feel like being a bit more relaxed.

In the evening the atmosphere is that of any trendy pub, food is served till half past ten and the crowds are heaving, if you see a spare table, you have to run quick! I think there is music too but its really hard to tell under all the din of the entire place talking at once! The thing I really like about Fuggles is the friendly atmosphere, all the staff are lovely and the customers seem to be having a good time too. Highly recommended!

Facebook: facebook.com/fugglesbeercafe

Twitter: @fugglesbeercafe

Website: fugglesbeercafe.co.uk

Address: 28 Grosvenor Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 2AP 

ParTEA!

Are you a café owner/worker in Tunbridge Wells or perhaps your just interested to discover new cafes and tea and coffee houses in the area? Then read on!

Yesterday I sent a message out on Twitter asking if Tunbridge Wells’ café owners (the ones I have on Twitter) were interested in meeting other local café owners and some prospective customers too. The message got a great positive response and so I’m setting up a parTEA! It will be a chance for you to meet like-minded people, have some tea, coffee and snacks and maybe even learn something.  I’d even like to get a couple of demonstrations and/or going as well so contact me if you would like to give a demonstration or a talk or know someone who might.

I will have a sign-up sheet out on the day so that people can give their e-mail addresses to any cafes present, if you have an offer for prospective customers let me know and they will be told about it on the day as well.

Feel free to bring friends and maybe even a tasty treat or two!

The date for your diaries is:

Sunday 19^th October 2014 3pm-8pm

The address is:

4 Calverley Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 2NE

P.S. I will also be bringing posters around the cafes to make sure I got all of you and so you can put them up for your customers too!

Colonnade Cafe - Tunbridge Wells

Hemmed in from all directions by the most beautiful flowers and plants, across the room from my favorite flowers (orchids), the smell is divine and the colours even better at the Colonnade Café.

The new thing seems to be what I call ‘café plus’ (or ‘plus café’ I suppose, depending on which came first). There’s Tunbridge Wells’ ‘Comic Cafe’, a comic book shop plus café, ‘Scallywag café’ which is also an antiques shop, ‘The Sevenoaks Bookshop’ (self-explanatory) and now the flower shop ‘Flowers @ Colonnade’ have created ‘Colonnade Café’.

The staff are so friendly to customers from both sides of their business whether they be buying a wedding bouquet or staying for tea. The crockery that all the food comes in/on is gorgeous, lovely flowing shapes and little heart shaped bowls for jam and cream for the scones this mixed with the gorgeous smell of the flowers and back and forth of the customers ordering flowers makes for an interesting and enjoyable tea time. The only problem with the two businesses is that one can distract the staff from the other when they are rushing to do everything at once which means that, unfortunately (and I’m sure, infrequently) things get forgotten (like my sandwich!) However, the tea was super and after a lovely message from the lady who forgot my sandwich when she saw a picture of one on my Twitter, I returned the next day for another great cuppa and had one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had!

A beautiful café, full of light and the smell of flowers, perfect for time to stop and think (or stop and smell the roses!)

Twitter: @ColonnadeTW

Facebook: facebook.com/flowersatcolonnade?fref=ts

Website: http://www.colonnadeflorist.co.uk/

Address: 10 Monson Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1ND

Stefania's - Tunbridge Wells

It is the small café capital of Kent here in Tunbridge Wells, with this one being the latest of twenty three that I have reviewed here in this town alone (there are more to come too!) Sat underneath a gorgeous chandelier with amber coloured stones and metal ivy and flowers all over it, sipping a huge cuppa and nibbling a heavenly slice of tiffin, I am in Stefania’s  

All bare wood and sweet repeat-pattern wallpaper, this café is the perfect place for tea with an old friend or a special day with a relative. Beautiful and bright with smiling staff and sugary treats! Looking at the sign on the wall that reads “I love chocolate” and all the chocolatey, cakey goodness on the counter and I know I belong here. The menu, while a little limited, all looks amazing, promising som3 real British food such as a ‘full english’ or ‘proper bacon/sausage sandwich’ and my favorite, ‘hot buttered cinnamon and raisin bagel with jam’! All these sound amazing but as the kitchen is closed I went for some gorgeous tiffin which, though busy (full of raisins and oats and things) is very nice and I accompanied this, as usual, with a lovely cup of breakfast tea (which is huge!)

Being on the top end of Camden Road, Stefania’s is really close to The Black Dog, Lo-Gi, Gusta and further away The Bicycle Café, Comic Café and soon The Tree of Hope Centre too! I have no doubt that Stefania’s will go far and stand out as it is entirely different from any of them, next time I will be sitting in the comfy armchairs in the window though!

Twitter: @StefaniasTW

Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Stefanias-Cafe-Patisserie

Website: stefanias.co.uk

Address: 11 Camden Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 2PS

Rustic Cafe - Tunbridge Wells

Surrounded by white painted wood, flower patterns and bunting I am in a quaint heaven at Rustic. Even though I popped in just before closing the lovely lady behind the counter made me a great cup of tea in a delicate pink china cup that fits the place perfectly. The black board on one wall (topped with bunting) shows all the delicious sandwiches and hot drinks on offer and the glass case by the kitchen displays cakes and home-made sandwiches and sausage rolls.

The café is very small with just three tables inside and two outside but it doesn’t need any more, the size and atmosphere fit the theme so well a huge amount of tables would mean that the idea of the place would be lost. I love Rustic’s sense of home, the bunting and the friendly staff, the beautiful china and the home-made food, these things make Rustic, Rustic.

Returning the next day with a friend gave me a chance to try some of the food (which was delicious) and get a better look at the whole place. In the sunlight everything glows and its not just the glass case with all the gorgeous food that keeps calling me, (hold on, cheese ahead) its the love that has gone into it, its not a chain and it doesn’t look anything like one, Rustic is home.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Rusticcafe1?fref=ts

Twitter: @JaneWright815

Address: 18 Crescent Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 2LU

Scallywag Cafe - Tunbridge Wells

When a friend told me about this “antique shop café” that is really close to where I live, I didn’t quite believe it, a place that sounded so perfect for me, so close, that still passed under my tea-loving, café-blogging radar? I had to check it out.

So here I sit in Scallywag Café, one of the most beautiful cafes I have been in on my blogging journey. I knew I was going to love it here the moment I saw I across the road, all distressed wood and exposed brick with a wooden figure of a man with a great moustache (possibly a scallywag) in the window, it looks like a beautiful and old fashioned antiques store where all manner of treasures can be found because that’s exactly what it is, but with tea and cake! There truly is nothing better.

Sat in the main room I am surrounded by light from the floor to ceiling windows on two sides, split by bare brick walls and dotted all around are gorgeous antique mirrors, lamps, bookcases and more.  Surrounded by all these lovely things I can see myself coming here a lot, looking down I even notice that the chair I’m sitting on is one of them, a lovely white wooden chair, yours if you have a spare £150! Staring around at the beautiful place and the beautiful things filling it, I let my tea go cold more than once! In addition to this room there is the new ‘snug room’ out the back, a smaller, cozier room (a ‘snug’ I suppose) for quieter rendezvous.

My tea is teapigs (naturally) and delicious but the cake! A triple layer, marshmallow, salted caramel, rice crispy heaven…wow! Though a Victoria Sponge or Chocolate cake is wonderful, this is divine. This is a great place for all ages (just be careful of the children and antiques combination!) Scallywag Café is a true Tunbridge Wells gem.

Facebook: facebook.com/ScallywagHome?fref=ts
Twitter: @scallywagcafe
Address: 45 Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 8AA