We list 12 Chester cafes and coffee shops, from Jaunty Goat to Delamere Forest Cafe, with hours, dogs, food and hygiene ratings. Checked October 2026.
Most people looking for a Chester cafe end up at Jaunty Goat, which brought specialty coffee to Bridge Street in 2015, Chalk Coffee on Watergate Street, Marmalade on Northgate Street, which has won the city’s customer service award for cafes, or Bean & Cole on Frodsham Street. Between them the twelve cover vegan brunch, gluten-free cake, Australian baking and a farm cafe on the Greenway.
Hours and menus change often, and four of these cafes publish their news only on Instagram, so check before a special trip.
Bridge Street and Watergate Street
1. Jaunty Goat, Bridge Street
Jaunty Goat says that specialty coffee was “a term largely unheard of in Chester” before it opened on Bridge Street in summer 2015. The shop’s own description mentions Scandinavian-influenced design, exposed Roman brickwork and handmade wooden furniture.
The June 2026 menu is vegetarian (it says vegan friendly too), and the pastries are baked each day in the company’s Bridge Street bakery. That bakery won Best Food on the Go at the 2024 Chester BID Customer Service Awards.
Open Mon to Sat 8am to 5pm; Sun 9am to 5pm
Food to 3pm
Price porridge £9; smashed avocado £11.80; Belgian butter waffles £11.50 (June 2026 menu)
Booking no reservations
Address 57 Bridge Street, CH1 1NG
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 17 December 2024
Website jauntygoat.co.uk/visit/bridge-street
Listing Our listing
Good for dogs welcome, cashless, vegetarian menu, vegan friendly, pastries baked daily
2. Chalk Coffee, Watergate Street
Chalk is an independent coffee shop under the Rows on Watergate Street. It does not run a website.
On 3 September 2026 its Instagram marked “8 years of Chalk on Watergate Street”, so it has been trading since 2018. One of the dishes it features is eggs royale with smoked salmon, poached eggs and homemade hollandaise, and recent posts introduce the staff and show the brews behind the bar.
Chalk does not publish its opening hours, so check its Instagram before you go.
Food kitchen open every day to 3pm
Address 24 Watergate Street, CH1 2LA
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 20 March 2026
Listing Our listing
Good for under the Rows, independent, eggs royale, open every day
3. The Flower Cup, Watergate Row
The Flower Cup is up on the Rows on the south side of Watergate Street. The coffee blog Brian’s Coffee Spot describes it as a “botanical” coffee shop that opened in 2016.
The cafe posts its menu news on Instagram. Its October specials were pumpkin spiced French toast on brioche and braised beans and tomatoes with burrata, a poached egg and sourdough.
For the rest of October, students with valid ID get 10% off food and drink on weekdays. A Christmas wreath workshop is booked for 6.30pm on 11 December.
Address 61 Watergate Row South, CH1 2LE
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 12 October 2026
Listing Our listing
Good for on the Rows, botanical setting, seasonal specials, workshops
4. Kookaburra Bakehouse, Goss Street
Kookaburra is a small Australian bakery in a lane off Watergate Street. Delicious magazine’s Chester guide says it is run by the self-taught baker Jessica Reynolds.
It is a bakery first, but other cafes rely on it: Bean & Cole, also in this guide, says on its website that it sells bread and pastries from “Chester’s favourite Kookaburra Bakehouse”. The Instagram page posts each day’s bake list and opening time.
Open recent posts gave 8am openings on Wed, Sat and Sun; check Instagram for the day's time
Address 2 Goss Street, CH1 2BG
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 16 July 2026
Good for Australian baking, cruffins, Anzac biscuits, carrot cake croissants, focaccia
Northgate Street and Frodsham Street
5. Jaunty Goat, Northgate Street
Jaunty Goat opened its second shop in January 2019, in what it calls the “Northgate Quarter”. This one is entirely plant-based. The company says it took that decision for environmental reasons and describes the room as “bright, communal” and “filled with plants”.
The menu offers brunch classics and seasonal dishes, made in-house as far as possible.
Open every day 9am to 4pm, including bank holidays except Christmas Day
Food to 3pm
Booking no reservations
Address 128 Northgate Street, CH1 2HT
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 7 August 2026
Website jauntygoat.co.uk/visit/northgate-street
Listing Our listing
Good for plant-based, dogs welcome with treats, cashless, open bank holidays, brunch
6. Marmalade, Northgate Street
Marmalade calls itself “an intimate licensed cafe on Northgate Street in the heart of Chester’s independant scene”. It serves breakfast and lunch, homemade cakes and coffee, and beer and prosecco too.
Gluten-free food is what it is best known for: it says “almost everything we do can be gluten free”. Marmalade won Best Coffee Shop/Café at the 2024 Chester BID Customer Service Awards (Deeside.com).
On 16 October 2026 it posted “we only went and won!!”, thanking Chester BID after this year’s awards night.
Open Mon to Sat 9am to 5pm, according to its website
Booking recommended
Call 01244 314565
Address 67 Northgate Street, CH1 2HQ
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 11 February 2025
Website marmalade-chester.co.uk
Listing Our listing
Good for gluten free, licensed, homemade cakes, breakfast and lunch, award winner
7. Bean & Cole, Frodsham Street
Bean & Cole opened in 2018. Its founders, Ian and Nicole (the Bean and the Cole), had spent a year in the Australian coffee trade and wanted “the neighbourhood cafe feel” in the city centre.
It serves single-origin coffee from PLOT Roasting in Woolwich, with guest roasters from around the UK and Europe, plus an all-day brunch menu. Bread and pastries come from Kookaburra Bakehouse.
It also has a counter in the New Chester Market on Exchange Square (visit page).
Open Mon to Sat 9am to 5pm; Sun 10am to 5pm
Market counter Tue to Sat 9am to 6pm; Sun 10am to 6pm; closed Mon
Address 41 Frodsham Street, CH1 3JJ
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 28 March 2026
Website beanandcole.co.uk
Listing Our listing
Good for single-origin coffee, guest roasters, all-day brunch, Kookaburra pastries
Hoole and Grosvenor Park
8. Little Yellow Pig, Hoole and Godstall Lane
Little Yellow Pig describes itself as “specialist coffee, baked goods, breakfast & brunch”. The original cafe is in Hoole, on Westminster Road.
The second is in the city centre, on Godstall Lane, the passage between Eastgate Street and the Cathedral. The two cafes have different hygiene ratings: Hoole is rated 5, and Godstall Lane is rated 3, which means generally satisfactory.
Open Mon to Sat 9am to 5pm; Sun 10am to 3pm
Booking no bookings; pre-orders taken
Address 31 Westminster Road, CH2 3AX, and 5 Godstall Lane, CH1 1LN
Hoole hygiene 5 (FSA, 23 April 2026) ratings.food.gov.uk/business/667458
Godstall Lane hygiene 3 (FSA, 16 April 2026) ratings.food.gov.uk/business/1933876
Website littleyellowpig.co.uk
Listings Hoole, Godstall Lane
Good for dogs welcome, eat in or take away, pre-orders, breakfast and brunch, baked goods
9. Fika+ at the Lodge, Grosvenor Park
Fika+ is a plant-based cafe in Grosvenor Park Lodge, by the Grosvenor Park Road gate, and it posts its news on Instagram. Its autumn menu, announced on 12 October, brings back the Park Breakfast, now with vegan bacon, and adds more children’s meals, soups and a “bowl of the moment”.
Its Sunday Roast Club returned on 25 October, with roasts served from 12.30pm. The cafe says dogs are among its favourite customers, and a recent post introduced several regulars.
Opening hours are not published, so check Instagram before you go.
Address The Lodge, Grosvenor Park Road, CH1 1QQ
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 9 July 2025
Listing Our listing
Good for plant-based, dogs welcome, children's meals, Sunday roast, in the park
Out of the city
10. Meadow Lea Farm Coffee Shop, Mickle Trafford
Meadow Lea is a family-run coffee shop on a working dairy farm at the end of the Greenway, the shared cycle and walking path that runs from Mickle Trafford through Chester to Deeside. It serves all-day breakfasts, lunches, homemade cakes and Lavazza coffee, along with Meadow Lea Moos ice cream made from the farm’s own cows’ milk.
The cafe welcomes “families, cyclists, walkers and friends (including the four legged variety!)”. In winter there is a log fire, and a recent extension added more indoor seats and a large patio.
Open every day 9.30am to 4pm
Call 01244 300084
Address Station Lane, Mickle Trafford, CH2 4EH
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 13 November 2025
Website meadowleacoffeeshop.co.uk
Listing Our listing
Good for dogs welcome, cyclists and walkers, log fire in winter, patio, farm ice cream
11. Delamere Forest Cafe, Delamere
The cafe at Delamere Forest Park is about ten miles east of Chester. Forestry England, which runs the forest, describes it as a family-run cafe with forest views serving “a wide range of freshly made hot and cold food and drinks throughout the day”. Ingredients are sourced locally, including coffee roasted on the Wirral, and the cafe has its own wood-fired pizza van.
Forestry England’s page lists dogs as allowed in the forest and Changing Places facilities. Cafe hours change with the seasons, so check the Forestry England page before you go.
Address Delamere Forest Park, Station Road, Delamere, CW8 2JD
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 17 November 2025
Website forestryengland.uk/delamere
Listing Our listing
Good for forest views, dogs allowed in the forest, Changing Places facilities, wood-fired pizza, local coffee
12. Ginger and Pickles, Tarporley
Ginger and Pickles is a tearoom and bakery group with branches in Byley, Nantwich and Tarporley. The Tarporley tearoom is on Chestnut Terrace, and its bakehouse across the road sells takeaway food.
The tearoom offers English breakfasts, light lunches and afternoon tea, and its site promises “homemade cakes stacked to the ceiling” and loose leaf teas. The site says a gentle slope leads up to the door, there are no steps inside, pushchairs are welcome and there is baby changing.
The 84 bus to Chester stops nearby.
Open Mon to Thu 9am to 4pm; Fri and Sat 9am to 5pm; Sun 10am to 4pm
Food hot food stops an hour before closing
Booking tables first come, first served; reservations only for afternoon tea or brunch, paid in advance
Call 01829 863549
Address 6 Chestnut Terrace, Tarporley, CW6 0UW
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 22 May 2026
Website gingerandpickles.co.uk/pages/tarporley-tearoom
Good for afternoon tea, no steps inside, pushchairs welcome, baby changing, takeaway bakehouse, 84 bus to Chester
How we chose
These are the cafes Chester people search for and talk about: long-trading names, Chester BID Customer Service Award winners, cafes the coffee and food guides keep naming, all with a good food hygiene rating. Nothing here is rated below 3, and only one site, Little Yellow Pig’s Godstall Lane cafe, is below 5. Every cafe here has a working website or an active social page of its own. Hours and menus change, so check with the cafe before you set off.
Run a place that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@chesteronline.co.uk.
For more to do locally, see things to do in Chester and what’s on in Chester this month. Our other guides cover Chester restaurants, Chester pubs, Sunday roasts, playgrounds and walks near Chester. Every cafe is in our Chester business directory.
Frequently asked questions
Which Chester cafes are dog-friendly?
Jaunty Goat says both its Bridge Street and Northgate Street shops are dog-friendly, with treats for dogs. Little Yellow Pig in Hoole says it is dog friendly, Fika+ at the Lodge in Grosvenor Park posts about its regular dog customers, and Meadow Lea Farm Coffee Shop at Mickle Trafford welcomes four-legged visitors.
Where can I get a vegan breakfast in Chester?
Jaunty Goat’s Northgate Street shop has been entirely plant-based since January 2019, and its Bridge Street shop serves a vegetarian menu that it describes as vegan friendly. Fika+ at the Lodge in Grosvenor Park is a plant-based cafe whose autumn menu brings back its Park Breakfast, now with vegan bacon.
Do Chester cafes take bookings?
Mostly not. Jaunty Goat and Little Yellow Pig say they take no bookings. Marmalade on Northgate Street is the exception: it recommends reserving and takes bookings on 01244 314565. Ginger and Pickles in Tarporley seats walk-ins first come, first served, and takes reservations only for afternoon tea or brunch paid in advance.
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