On Bristol's Park Street Woodes café would have certainly seen a lot of businesses come and go along the shopping strip over the years. The café has been running at number 18 Park Street since 1966 but has scarcely changed at all inside.
Today Park Street is a popular shopping and food destination lined with restaurants, bars and shops with new arrivals popping up all the time. There are some empty units with the departure of The Florist, Yia Mass and All In One recently, but has welcomed Sichuan restaurant Guoguoyan in the last week.
The café had a palpable atmosphere on my lunchtime visit as people queued up for takeaway hot drinks or trays waiting to take a seat. It felt immensely reminiscent of the tearooms I used to visit when I was younger where I'd pester my mum for a slice of cake or a pastry from one of the fridges on the counter. Just one sausage roll remained in Woodes when I visited, although there were plenty of brownies, flapjacks and muffins for the afternoon customers.
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Woodes manages to retain that old-fashioned tea room look without looking the slightest bit drab. The ground floor is mostly smaller tables clustered in front of the till and upstairs is filled with wooden tramcar-style seating and bar stools.
Tray in tow, I settled for a flat white and freshly prepared sandwich, although I became increasingly envious of the jacket potatoes being brought out to customers around me. For £2.90, you'll get a barista-style coffee made from freshly ground beans served in a proper caff mug.
From £2.95, you can get every traditional sandwich filling under the sun - ham, tuna, coronation chicken, prawn mayonnaise, cheese and pickle. I went for perhaps the more unconventional hummus and olive filling, crammed full of fresh veg.
I also tried a Jammy Dodger style blondie (£2.25), which resembled a Madeira birthday cake you have at children's parties, overly sweet and filled with a syrupy raspberry jam. I hadn't eaten a Jammy Dodger biscuit in years, so it leant into that sense of nostalgia again that seems to envelop the place.
If you are looking for hot food, jacket potatoes from £3.45 with additional toppings costing a smidge extra. Simple, cooked breakfasts are served in the morning for less than a fiver, including bacon butties, no-frills fry ups and eggs on toast.
It has to be one of the most affordable cafés in the city centre, joint with Santiago’s by Bristol Bus Station. It’s honest pricing - which hasn't seemed to have changed in years - without any loss of quality, something that’s difficult to come by on Park Street.
My order of three items came to £8.10, which is almost inconceivable in that area, or in this city for that matter. The people behind the counter were also a testament to the café's unmatchable charm.
Woodes deserves all the custom and recognition it gets, a place where you instantly feel at home. Here's to another 60 years of the café in Bristol city centre.
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