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There is one cafe on the outskirts of Sheffield that you would be hard pushed to miss.
Though it is set within a rather ordinary house on the side of a busy A road, Bank View Cafe is unmissable because its bright and eyecatching pink polka dots stand out against the green, rural surroundings.
The cafe was painted spotty in 2014 to celebrate the Tour De France, as the route took riders right past the door of this long-favoured spot for local cyclists.
Sheffielders are known to have a penchant for getting about on two wheels and Bank View makes for the perfect pitstop for tired men and women, as they whizz around Stocksbridge and the surrounding area.
In fact, the cafe is so popular with cyclists that it was given a lifetime achievement award in Cycling UK’s Cyclist Cafe of the Year awards.
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In recent years though, the pretty cafe – which is also one of the UK’s prettiest polling stations – has become famous for its unusual decor, with striking pink polka dots set among whitewashed walls.
YorkshireLive visited the famous cafe for some impromptu lunch on a Thursday afternoon and found that the cutesy cafe certainly makes for an impressive Instagram moment.
Though we arrived at 2pm it was not as busy as we expected it to be, having just missed the lunchtime rush we had no trouble getting a table inside the cosy cafe – which was made up of three separate ‘rooms’, each housing plenty of tables.
The cafe also has a lovely outdoor area, with some traditional pub-style picnic benches, though it was a little too chilly (in August!) to enjoy a comfortable meal outside.
Inside, the cafe certainly has a no-nonsense vibe about it – a good old-fashioned, traditional cafe with the staple offerings you would expect (toasties, fry-ups, chip butties) and a few items that you wouldn’t (veggie lentil dhal, American pancakes).
(Image: Phoebe Fuller/YorkshireLive)
As a veggie, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of vegetarian food on offer and was unsure whether to go for the American pancake stack, the veggie fry-up or the lentil dhal.
In the end, I opted for a classic British choice: cream tea, which came – as you would expect – with jam, cream and a choice of hot drink (I opted for a mocha, having already inhaled multiple cups of tea that day).
The other members of my party ordered cheese toasties and we also shared a bowl of chips, which were absolutely delicious: real traditional, home-cooked chips that reminded me exactly of the ones that my dad would cook for me when I was little.
Nostalgia from a bowl of chips? Check.
(Image: Phoebe Fuller/YorkshireLive)
The cherry scones were served warm and they were really tasty, though I was just a little disappointed to find that they came with whipped cream instead of traditional clotted cream. Sigh.
The toasties were absolutely what you would expect from a toastie, nothing out of the ordinary or unnecessarily fancy, just simple cheese in bread and some salad to garnish.
I really enjoyed the coffee, it tasted like proper, strong coffee and I can certainly appreciate how much this must come in handy if you have spent the morning exhausting yourself on the pedals!
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Value for money was pretty good as well, with the toasties coming in at a fiver each and the cream tea £4 which included the drink, so a trip to Bank View is certainly easy on the old wallet.
All in all, our trip to Bank View Cafe was thoroughly enjoyable and it was made even better by the scenic drive which took us past some of the best reservoirs that Sheffield has to offer and into the Strines moorland area.
Have you tried the spotty cafe in Stocksbridge? Let us know in the comments!
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