UKC

My favourite by far was "Greasy Lill's" AKA "The Holies" on the A5 near Cannock. First started going there en route for N Wales from London in the 1960s when the M1 used to go as far as Rugby and thereafter it was A5 all the way.

Greasy Lill's was special and was very popular with climbers on a Friday night. The car/lorry park was mud, the loos were outside and there was never a working light bulb in them. This was in pre head torch days when you groped your way into the urinal and hoped that you were aiming straight.

The tea in the cafe was the best, everything was served with chips and you got two slices of pappy white bread with all dishes. The menu had cod and chips, or hake and chips, or breakfast with bacon, sausages, tomatoes, fried bread (and the pappy white bread - see above) brown pudding, mushrooms and grease. Requests for variations resulted in had stares and verbal abuse fom the ladies who worked here and it took courage to ask for anything to be left off.

The menu was on the wall and to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding
on the part of the clientelle the words "cod" and "hake" had the word "fish" in brackets after them.

In reply to Trangia: It's still there! Had a modern major update last year and I can vouch that it is still superb value for money! 2nd cup of tea is gratis!

In reply to Trangia: I remember the Hollies from the mid 70s - pretty much as you describe it. From a similar period (or maybe a little later) I remember Erics at Tremadoc & the cafe at Stoney.

But as much as cafes, I remember lots of chip shops, in places such as Callendar, Fories & Dingwall

In reply to Trangia:

Been to Parisella's a few times over the last couple of years, bit crap really - especially when it's chilly as they have an open front! Also never seen any other climbers in there, though maybe we turn up earlier than most.

I guess it had a bit more character and soul back in the day.

In reply to Trangia:
Anyone remember the Shamrock Cafe in Hartland. Food served on chipped china plates, lashings of tea and cheap as chips. No menu as I remember - breakfast was full english with as much toast as you could eat, all served in the back room with kids running up and down stairs and family rows in the kitchen - class.

In reply to Trangia:
Yep, the Hollies is still going strong. Although I've not been there as much since discovering Shereen Balti, just off the M6 in Walsall.

The cafe attached to Outside at Calver is a standard, too... there are always a lot of people in there first thing, looking at guidebooks and trying to come up with a plan for the day. I'd not encourage people to go, though, it's hard enough getting a table as it is.

In reply to Trangia:

The best greasy spoon on the A9 is the Ballinluig Motor Grill. The eggs taste vaguely of chips (sign of quality), and there's free refills on the decent coffee.

In reply to verygneiss: I was just about to suggest the Motor Grill too. Thick bacon slices, coffee refills and the only place that still sells Ben Shaw's cola.

In reply to Trangia:

I like this thread.

In reply to Dave Ferguson:

Absolutely. Most of the routes on this stretch of coast were first climbed to pass the time between morning and tea-time visits, then on to The Bush at Morwenstowe so that the landlord there could tell us that he'd climbed most of them (including Breakaway!!) many years ago.

Whilst on the subject, but perhaps a little more genteel, The Rectory Tearooms at Morwenstowe are quite superb, especially the full Cornish Cream Tea finished off with a selection of cakes.

In reply to Trangia: Shepherds Cafe Borrowdale is the ultimate surely. It will never be the same without Martin but glad to see it carrying on. No more epic veggie quiche tho

In reply to Trangia:
I meet up with my mate on the M56 when we go to Wales. I come from M6 north and he comes from M6 south so on the 56 there is a laybay and butty van that opens at 6. Jn 10 <or 9 maybe> Anyhoo, its a regular car share layby whereby you can leave your car all day without problems. coffee and a butty, leave one car and on our way, easy. Mac D's is okay for a coffee on the coast road, if you've no shame like me you can rummage the bin for free coffee stickers on the empty cups!
Petes is okay, ordered my mrs double egg and chips first time I took her LOL needless to say she couldn't eat it all. oggie cottage ok for a quick brew, erics is good if eric is cooking <makes you feel like royalty when eric cooks your breakfast!>
Outside in the Peak is nice food but very expensive, just up the lane from the little john pub is a tiny butty shop for a butty to go, great fresh food and cheap when compared to the alternative.
Due to the cost and usual poor quality we normally have some food packed for a long trip <scotland etc> and just pull over for a break and fire up the jetboil for a fresh tea

In reply to Dave Ferguson:

The Shamrock Cafe became a legend in our family. My wife was always a reluctant customer and it clearly made a lasting impression as, even now, she still uses the term 'A Shamrock Cafe' to describe all greasy spoons.

BTW, you forgot the springer spaniels sleeping under the tables as well as the copious amounts of dog hair in every corner. Even the name of the place was inspired. Class indeed.

Dave

In reply to Removed User:

Nah, it's wrong all wrong. Home made coffee in a thermos mug and maybe a pie from a proper pie shop on the way, pub after before heading home. Cafe's are surplus to requirements..............

............... until it rains.

In reply to Calder: The cafe at stoney Middleton from the 80's. Regular meeting point for climbers. Dont think its there now.

also the Station Cafe at Grindleford. Brill Chip butties.

In reply to Calder:
I thought Parisella's was always rather souless and draughty, although it probably used to get more climbers when you could park behind it.

In reply to john morrissey:

Grindleford

Polite notice - "we dont serve mushrooms so dont even ask" - classic

In reply to Trangia: I was just talking about this place at the weekend. I've not been in ages (had slightly forgotten where it was!!). Bloody brilliant and never had a fry up so good and greasy!

In reply to SiWood:


Love it. I will add "For your own convenience, please take your dirty cups and plates to the kitchen hatch"

I am going to add a modern day cafe that is still firmly in the past as the Cozy Cafe near the Stockport wall. Full breakfast + toast + tea or coffee (including unlimited refills) is only £4.80! Alas, we seem to be the only climbers who frequent it.

In reply to Trangia:

I remember the Hollies v well, as a standard stopping place on way to N Wales from London/S East. There was also a fish and chip shop in Wellington we used to go to a bit earlier.

But how on earth has no one yet mentioned Wendy's in Llanberis, the forerunner of Pete's Eats in the late 60s and early 70s?

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:


I went there a lot right up to when it closed. It was good but I always felt that Al Harris made us feel that he was doing us something of a grudging favour by serving us.

Best memory of Wendy's is of my old mate Colin bursting in one day with his eyes on stalks, closely followed by a grinning Whillans who'd just given him a very fast - and therefore highly memorable - lift from Capel in his BMW. Whillans had negotiated mugs of tea and a plate of chips as part 'payment' for the lift, the remainder being a couple of pints in the Padarn that night. Being young and foolish we agreed to his challenge to play him and "a mate" at darts, for money, when we met up later. Turned out his 'mate' was Joe Brown and the two of them duly wiped the proverbial floor with us. 'Twas a hard (and expensive) lesson, well learnt ....

Dave

In reply to Trangia:

Beattock Services - the cauliflower cheese was legendary and all you needed before heading for those winter routes.

now the outside lane of the M74

The Buttie Shack in Patterdale, next to the shop. Two old dears ran it and gave you a cob the size of a baby's head containing half a pig for a quid.

Now part of a house (I think).

The Brownswood (ok not a cafe but)- Next to the Castle, run by billy who used to do a lock in, tell you to be honest and leave the money for what you drank, then go to bed.

Now full of latte sniffers called Tarquin

In reply to Dave Williams:

Great story.

In reply to SiWood:

why no Shrooms, they are so delicious?

In reply to Trangia:

Is Ma Weston's still there? She seemed to upset a certain sort of climber who didn't like her mumsy - albeit somewhat bossy - style and chintzy décor.

I liked her eggs, toast, cheese n beans menu and unfailing memory - definitely part of then scene!

In reply to Dave Williams: Whilst supping tea in Wendies working my way up to severe leading, Al persuaded me that Yellow Groove should be my first VS 'easy with full weight runners every 3ft was his message' He soloed I followed but apart from the odd spike my drilled out nuts were the wrong size !. Al's enthusiasm and the rest is history !

In reply to Trangia:

Snowdonia Cafe in Capel, with perhaps the grumpiest couple in the "hospitaility" industry running it, long gone.
Wilf's cafe in Ambleside, upstairs from Rock and Run and Friday / Saturday nights in the Golden Rule, also long gone, though I like the modern Bilbo's.

In reply to EeeByGum:
Full breakfast + toast + tea or coffee (including unlimited refills) is only £4.80! Alas, we seem to be the only climbers who frequent it.

Get thee to Dunnie's in Otley - full breakfast (or indeed the "new" full breakfast, featuring both chips and spam) is £3.

In reply to Trangia: Petes eats, Llanberis,

In reply to Dave Ferguson: The Shamrock was a classic, I seem to remember a very old Labrador dog lounging about and an equally elderly owner.
I'm assuming from your tone that the place has closed ?

In reply to Trangia: Wht about the Festerhaunt in Groombridge run by Terry & Julie Tullis, great food, bread pudding to die for, and the only gear shop within 50 miles of Southern Sandstone.

In reply to Trangia: What about the Festerhaunt in Groombridge run by Terry & Julie Tullis, great food, bread pudding to die for, and the only gear shop within 50 miles of Southern Sandstone.

In reply to Removed User:

Oh yes! Terry and Julie's Festerhaunt I'd clean forgotten about it. Great cafe. Later there was also the mobile tea room run by a girl at Harrison's car park for a number of years in the 1980s, great bacon rolls.

In reply to Trangia:

One can get an heroic breakfast bap in the Hathersage Bakery.

In reply to Trangia: Midnight Express, Chamonix

In reply to Roberttaylor: How many can remember The Desert RAt? It used to park in the lay by above Millstone and was an essential call before and after climbing in the 60's.

In reply to Bulls Crack: Mrs Weston is still going strong, and her memory is as good as ever. This morning she dealt single handed with a dozen or so breakfasters, without the faintest hint of fluster.

In reply to Trangia: Can't believe this is even a debate. Has to be Pete's Eats in Llanberis.

In reply to CosmicHobo:

Pete's then or now? I once loved the place, now you'd have to pay me to go there.

In reply to Flatus Vetus:

It serves (aha) a purpose Breakfasts are ok and the photo's are good. Not good for evening meals

In reply to Trangia:

No mention of the late lamented York cafe in Clifton? Definitely my favourite, though I like the Grindleford and Pete's.

jcm

In reply to Trangia: Shepherd's was awesome, I remember the chocolate cake fondly

In reply to Trangia:

I recall long festers in the Fort William Nevisports caff on wet days - probably early 90's.
Loads of cafetiers coffee and perusing their awesome bookshop.

In reply to john morrissey:

The Lover's Leap in Stoney Middleton is now a curry house.

Pete's Eats is ace, but slightly greasy, and the tea was stewed (sorry, Pete)

In reply to Trangia:

It seems very rare that the best food coincides with the best Cafes. For instance Petes, Erics, Grindleford are all great places with their own character but they all do pretty mediocre breakfasts.

In reply to Dave Williams: Very true about al Harris's attitude to the punters! Nobody has mentioned The Lamplighter in Keswick, although when it closed I prefered The Lakeside Cafe next door, lots of attractive young things serving on. The cafe in Stoney in the late 60s was the classic climbers retreat, a huge mug of tea before and after doing battle with the steep stuff - was it called 'Erics'then?

In reply to Trangia:

Fond memories of the Hollies from my student days driving clapped-out minibuses up the M6.

No one has mentioned the little wooden tea hut by the bridge at Ogwen, which was tied down with steel cables. Hardly a cafe, but a warm brew was very welcome even if you had to stand in the rain.

I once spent a wet week camping in Llanberis Pass (you could get away with it in those days). Our day would start with a period of festering in the tents, then a late breakfast in Wendy's, then when the rain didn't let up we'd go to Tremadoc and sit in Eric's. Eventually it stopped and we'd do a climb, back to the Pass for another route, and then down to the Vaynol for a pint or three. Rinse and repeat.

Only once been to Ma Weston's - somehow the pull of the pub next door is greater!

I find the cafe at Outside a bit soulless, but it's a good spot for a brew while waiting for people to turn up.

In reply to Trangia:

For many years now the splendidly named Hound of The Basket Meals van in the Hound Tor car park has provided welcome sustenance for those recovering from the delights of Dartmoor bouldering and climbing before continuing their convalescence at the Rugglestone Inn in Widecombe.

In reply to John2:

Excellent - must get down there soon!

In reply to Trangia: For the oldies on here there was a cafe by the bus stop on the A6 (pre the by-pass) nr Combs (Chapel-en-le-Frith) think it was called the Santa Rosa (now a couple of bungalows) which was great for Saus,Egg and Chips before the haul up to Castle Naze for a days climbing in the 50's/60's. The old Bridge cafe in Hayfield was also great for a mug of oxo and cheese on toast coming off Kinder on a snowy winters day during the same period.

In reply to Bulls Crack:

It does still depend on your definition of breakfast being beans or egg or cheese on toast mind. A fine institution for tea and cakes but not really for breakfast IMO

In reply to Wink:

Yes it was called Erics, as I remember it he was the owner who emigrated to Austalia, he had a fit daughter who I only pulled on the night before they went, apparently she had fancied me for ages. Ah! All the missed opportunities of youth. similar thing happened at Tremadoc cafe, the obvious waitress had ginormous tits and was one of the wonders of wales when I was young, then I noticed that her sister was far more beautiful and dated her a couple of times, then they left

In reply to Bulls Crack: It's OK..

There are some nice cafe's in Llanberis now though..

Wide awake, which was safron is really nice, good healthy food, gluten free, vegan options etc.

Pantri.. next to the new Joe Browns, probably best coffee in the area, good food.

And then the one opposite Snowdon Garage, I forget the name, just opened, good cakes.

So there are lots of alternatives to Petes.

But Petes is Petes, big meals, decent food, a bit hit and miss. Hardly gourmet but you normally leave well fed. Can be slow, wireless is unreliable but generally its just what it is.

In reply to Howard J:


In other words, you'd prefer it if it had a mad proprietor, rude staff and questionable hygiene standards.

In reply to Chapel John.J:

Yep, the Santa Rosa.