History
Our cafe has quite the history and we’re really proud of it so we thought we’d share it with you. As you’ve probably guessed from our name, the cafe was originally a waiting room for a train line between Mangotsfield and Bath. The line was constructed in 1869. Our cafe (the waiting room) and the signal box are the best preserved on the line.
In the early days, the trains would transport coal and ochre from local mines to Bristol. The station would have been coated in red from the passing ochre, which was being transported for paint. The route was also great for the workers and locals of Bath and Bristol, meaning they could travel for work easier as well as making it a lot more accessible to get to the beach on the weekends!
"The station was built in 1869 and in use until 1960"
The train line was closed in 1960 because it wasn’t economical to run anymore and remained unused for two decades. Fortunately for all of us, the Sustrans charity got onto it and transformed the overgrown route into the Bristol-Bath cycle path. The old waiting room would eventually find a second life in being a stopping point for walkers and cyclists. Over the coming years, it would undergo a lot of renovation. Today we are a proud family run cafe and we enjoy looking back at everything this place has been through.