A pot of tea, a slice of cake and the good armchair.
The Nook is a small, homely cafe on Lantern Lane. Mismatched armchairs, a wall of secondhand books you can borrow, pots of loose-leaf tea, cakes baked in-house every morning, and soup and toasties at lunch.
On the cake counter today
Theo bakes from six. By eight the scones are warm and the counter is full; by four it is mostly crumbs and the last slice of lemon drizzle.
The cake counter
- Victoria sponge 5.5
Two light sponges, raspberry jam, whipped cream, a dusting of sugar
- Lemon drizzle 5
Sharp, sticky, still slightly warm if you are early
- Carrot cake 5.5
Walnuts, a little nutmeg, thick cream cheese frosting
- Vegan chocolate cake 5.5
Dark, fudgy, nobody can tell
- Scone with jam and cream 4.5
Plain or fruit, strawberry jam, clotted cream. Cream first, we do not judge
Prices per slice. Add a pot of tea for one for $4.5, or make it a cream tea. Whole versions of most of these can be ordered for a birthday.
Little happenings
Nothing ticketed, nothing fancy. Turn up, order something, pull up a chair.
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Monday
18:00 – 20:00
Knitting circle
Bring your needles or borrow a pair. Beginners get a cup of tea and a patient teacher.
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Wednesday
19:00
Book club
One book a month, picked from the wall. Copies to borrow from the first of the month.
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Saturday
10:00
Story time
Half an hour of picture books on the rug for under-sixes. Babycinos after.
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Every day
15:00 – 16:00
Quiet hour
No laptops, no music. Just the kettle and the stove. The best hour of the day.
Somewhere to be for a while
Seven mismatched armchairs, a wall of secondhand books, a shelf of board games with most of their pieces, and a wood stove that gets lit in October and not put out until March.
Marnie used to walk past the empty shop on Lantern Lane on her way to a job she did not love, thinking it would make a good place to sit and read. In 2019 she signed a lease, moved her own armchair in and plugged in a kettle. The second armchair came from a house clearance, the third from a regular who was emigrating. The books arrived the same way, a box at a time, until they needed a whole wall. Theo joined in 2020 and started baking, which is when the queue began.
We are still small on purpose. Twenty-two seats, one oven, no music after three, and nobody in a hurry. No takeaway cups unless you bring your own, no clock on the wall, and nobody will move you along.
I came in from the rain for a tea and left two hours later with a borrowed novel and a slice of lemon drizzle in a paper bag.
Borrow one, bring it back whenever
About nine hundred secondhand paperbacks, roughly sorted, never catalogued. The rules fit on a postcard, and there is one taped to the shelf.
- Take any book off the wall and read it here, or take it home.
- Bring it back when you are done. No dates, no fines, no fuss.
- Left a book you loved? Add a note inside the cover for the next person.
- Donations welcome, one bag at a time. Cookbooks and crime go fastest.
Lit in October, out in March
A small cast-iron wood stove in the back room, with a fireguard, a basket of logs and a kettle that lives on top of it all winter. The hot chocolate with a flake comes back on the board the day it is lit.
- Lit
- October to March
- Best seat
- The green armchair
- Fuel
- Offcuts from the joiner next door
- Marshmallows
- On request, Sundays
The green armchair by the stove is the best seat in town. Get there before the knitting circle does.
Who you will meet
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Marnie Ellwood Owner
Opened The Nook in 2019 after years of wishing somewhere like it existed. Buys the armchairs, reads the book club book twice.
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Theo Baptiste Baker
In at 06:00 so the scones are warm by eight. Responsible for the lemon drizzle and most of the whole cakes.
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Priya Nair Front of house
Knows the tea wall by heart, runs Saturday story time and keeps the board-game shelf in order. Mostly.
Stamp card. Ask for a stamp card. Nine hot drinks stamped and the tenth is on us, with a biscuit.
Ordered the carrot cake for my mum. Three days later it was on the counter with her name piped on top. She cried, in a good way.
Down the lane, past the florist
No bookings, just turn up. If there are more than six of you, ring ahead and we will push the big table together.
(555) 019-8820 · hello@thenook.example
Lantern Lane runs between the high street and the old mill. We are halfway down on the left, past the florist, with the teacup painted on the window. Five minutes from Mill Quarter tram stop, step-free from the high street end. Bike rail and a bowl of water for dogs by the door.
Parking. No car park of our own. Two hours free on the high street, or the Mill Quarter multi-storey is three minutes on foot.
Public holidays: usually Sunday hours. We post on Instagram the night before.
Open in Google Maps- Free wifi (except quiet hour)
- Dogs welcome inside
- Step-free from the lane
- High chairs and babycinos
- Borrow a book, bring it back whenever
- Board games on the shelf by the stove
Quiet hour, every day, 15:00 – 16:00. Laptops closed, music off, phones on silent. An hour for a book, a crossword or a nap in the green armchair.
Need a cake for something?
Whole Victoria sponges, carrot cakes and a very good vegan chocolate fudge, baked to order with 3 days notice and collected from the counter.