The café at the New Room is now opening from 9.30 due to popular demand, with a series of rolling special offers such as organic Fairtrade tea or coffee plus a ‘proper bacon sandwich’ for a deal-busting £5.25.

2018 winner of a gold award in the ‘Best Café or Restaurant’ category in the South West Fairtrade Business Awards, the café opens from 9.30am to 4pm Monday to Saturday, starting off with breakfast, then light lunches, and finally afternoon teas – which have developed a loyal local fan-base.

Café manager, Ewa Kozdeba, who devises the regularly-changing menu and does much of the baking herself, has been delighted by the public response.

“It’s great to see people tucking into our breakfasts, and it makes me very happy to know there are so many folk around who appreciate the trouble we take to ensure the food and drink we serve is full of flavour and genuinely enjoyable,” said Ewa.

With consistent ‘excellent’ ratings on Tripadvisor and equally positive feedback from clients in-house, the 55-seater café sells mostly home-produced goods, aside from its gluten-free items, and bread (provided by Hobbs House Bakery).

The Fairtrade tea is exclusive in Bristol to the New Room, and the coffee served in the café is available at only one other outlet in the city. Both were selected as the best after extensive sampling by the New Room team. The coffee – memorably named ‘Grumpy Mule’ – is produced by ‘real coffee’ connoisseurs, with beans roasted locally in Melksham, and the tea is  ‘Eros,’ supplied by Bewley’s.

Ewa said: “Smoked backed bacon on granary bread is a consistent favourite for breakfast, and our free-range creamy scrambled eggs on toast has a loyal following too.

“The café is open to all and attracts many locals who pop in regularly.

“We are also pleased to welcome the people who visit our museum – there’s so much to see up there, and a lot of them like to relax for a while before they move on.”

Located on the Horsefair in the heart of Broadmead, the café is part of the New Room’s Heritage Lottery-funded visitor centre and was launched last year, along with the state-of-the-art museum on the upper floor, a new library and archives store, a gift shop and an education/conference centre.

New Room café’s lunch-time specials include baked potatoes with a variety of toppings, home-made soup, paninis and a selection of daily specials, and best-sellers from the afternoon tea menu include Ewa’s own ‘secret recipe’ bread pudding.

The cake selection changes three times a week, and – new for 2018 – includes sugar-free options such as banana bread, and apple and cinnamon cake. Both sweet and savoury vegetarian and gluten-free choices are always available.

The café team are happy to reserve tables for large group bookings and the visitor centre has disabled access to all floors.

The museum and chapel open an hour after the café at 10.30am. For further information see www.newroombristol.org.uk