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The destination café
The Beach Café, Tintagel
Children on the trail at the Wetlands Centre near Newport
An era of cheap flights and European city weekend breaks
has made it all too easy to neglect places to visit on our
doorstep. However, in recent times, our own tourist locations
have been enhanced by the addition of contemporary cafés,
often devoted to local sourcing, and becoming destination
outlets in their own right.
Hot spot a honey pot location, which always attracts style of menu we want to promote at our
The Beach Café at Tintagel Castle is one of so many visitors and has no direct sites.”
the busiest catering outlets in Cornwall competition on site,” says English Shortly after taking control of the café,
providing somewhere to eat and drink for Heritage’s newly appointed catering Nick and his team embarked on a £200,000
the tens of thousands of visitors who come manager, Nick Cole. “Visitors arrive hot and refit of the café, including the kitchen as well
to see the world famous castle in its awe thirsty and are naturally looking for as the 44 seat dining area. The decision to
inspiring cliff top setting. somewhere to have a quick drink or take source food locally was taken early on, and
For many years, the café operation was time to have a more leisurely lunch before is also being adopted at other English
leased out to a private operator, but now exploring the castle or embarking on a Heritage sites.
English Heritage (www.english- walk along the South West Coast Path.” “Local sourcing is very important to us
heritage.org.uk), who are the guardians of because it is beneficial on so many levels,”
the castle, have taken the café in-house - a Improvements says Nick Cole. “There is a growing
process which it is rolling out to many of its “We wanted to improve the experience that awareness among the public that caterers
other properties across the country. visitors have when they come to Tintagel. If should be using fresh local produce as much
The café, which is next to the castle they have a bad experience of food or as possible and this is particularly important
entrance, is about half a mile from the drink, at this or any of our properties, there in tourist areas like the South West.
village and is the only catering facility in is a danger that this is what they will “We want to provide the freshest, top
the immediate area. Access to the café is remember about their visit instead of the quality produce possible and local sourcing
free, and it is also a popular stop for positive time they had at the attraction,” also helps local businesses benefit as well.
walkers on the South West Coast Path. Nick Cole explains. “Taking the operation There are also benefits in cutting down on
“It would be easy to become of the Beach Café in house, has given us carbon emissions created by unnecessary
complacent about catering facilities at such control over the quality of the food and food miles.”
24 AUGUST 2008 CAFÉ CULTURE
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