About The Cafe

The history of the famous Wits End Cafe

The brief history of the Wits End Café
The proprietors acquired the café in November of 1999 It was then called ‘The Tea Shop’ and before that ‘Mirabel’s’ the café dates back to around 1908 before this it was a General Store for Sandsend.
The café used to be very popular with people coming down the hill from the train station that used to be immediately above the café. Trains used to run 100 feet above the café on the railway viaduct.
We have endeavoured to bring the café into the future, yet retain it traditional features. We started to build the wall garden at the rear of the café in January of 2003 This area used to be called the Boatyard but it also used to have a Butchers shop and building for housing beasts for slaughter to be sold in the butchers.
When we started on the wall garden area, all this was in a severe state of collapse and needed much work. After many long hours and hard work we completed and opened it in May 2003.
I built the Adirondack chairs to add a relaxed atmosphere to the garden; in fact the very first customers to sit in them fell asleep!
We also added full spec disabled toilets for our customers, a rarity in Sandsend! The cafe has easy access for the disabled.
The back café often called ‘The Clapboard Café’ is very popular in winter with its wood burning stove and cosy atmosphere; this is slowly becoming a gallery for my other interest in Photography.
Our pride and pleasure is to make the Wits End Café the most unique experience in North Yorkshire and not just another sea side café. We believe the coffee we sell is the finest in the area. The ice cream is real ice cream and is second to none for quality and flavour.
The food is all homemade and we use the best local produce. Deborah bakes many of the cakes each day in the Yorkshire tradition.We grow many of our herbs ourselves which are used in our famous Wits End Salads from the spring onwards.
The Extra Virgin 100% Arbequina Olive Oil we use is from a small olive grove in ‘Can Solivera’in Gerona - Spain. We use this often in the kitchen because of its superb flavour. Sold to take home too!
We have tried to keep the spirit of the simple café, offering a café culture without offering the so called ‘ponsy food’ but really good British food done the way your Grandmother or Mrs Beeton used to do! We have received quite a few 5 star reviews, so this makes the hard work worth while.