This place is a little gem and a firm favourite of ours. From the street Designs looks like a nice gift shop and it is but it’s also one of the most popular cafes in the town.
The downstairs cafe specialises in vegetarian food with a great range of fresh delicious lunch options, like wraps, quality bread sandwiches, panini, platters, soups or lasagne. Good options for vegan and gluten free and meat eaters are catered for too. The cake selection is awesome too, all fresh baked and they have a good range of teas and excellent coffee.
They are always generally busy and you may have to queue at lunch especially in summer months but you never have to wait too long. The cafe runs the full length of the building and is surprisingly big with a conservatory at the very back end that over looks their lovely garden, although this can be slightly cooler in the winter. During the better days its the first choice of seats as are the few garden tables for eating outside. The staff are always friendly with fast and efficient service and there’s always a specials board with a few interesting options.
The upstairs shop is well worth a browse with an unusual range of good quality design led ideas including books, hand crafted jewellery (most of it local), mugs, soaps, quirky household gifts, scarves, bags, clothes and they quite often host exhibition towards the back.
