Crofton Hall Coffee Shop

Who doesn’t love a coffee shop? The Crofton Hall Coffee Shop is located on the Crofton Hall estate and takes pride in the history of the location. I was excited to work with Jane on this business spotlight feature and she did not disappoint. I hope you enjoy learning about the Crofton Hall Coffee Shop.

They were initially based at the Plough Inn, Wreay, from 2014 until 2020, but like many businesses, they were forced to close due to COVID restrictions. As their lease was due for renewal, they decided to leave and not renew it due to the uncertainty of COVID at the time.

However, in 2021 they found Crofton Hall and the owner was looking to open a coffee shop at the time. They decided to take two units, merge them together and create a capacity for 65 people inside, and in the summer months, they can have another 40 people outside.

The coffee shop uses locally sourced ingredients in its food. They source their ingredients using Mulholland Butcher’s, Interfresh Greengrocers, Pioneer Foods and Caterite Foods. Jane’s son was one of the chefs at the Plough Inn and Jane would bake the cakes and desserts so it made sense that their customers from the Plough could still enjoy the same dishes at Crofton. It is for that reason that Jane and her son still chef together and make all dishes fresh to order whenever possible.

I was also interested in the history of Crofton Hall. Jane explained that the Hall goes back to 1166 and the history of the hall is in the front of their menus. As well as food and drinks, the coffee shop also sells local books about the land settlement at Crofton and personal memoir books of those who lived through the land settlement at Crofton. They find it important to promote the history of the site whenever possible.

The old Victorian ice house is still present on the site as is the old Victorian wall that now houses the car park. The old stable block, coach house and boating lake are also still present and can be walked around whilst visiting. The architecture of the buildings is beautiful and very eye-catching to those visiting from the start of the Crofton Archway at the entrance of the estate. The coffee shop is very proud to be part of a large piece of history and promotes this in menus, its website, Facebook and social media pages.

The Brisco family have been part of the history of Crofton Hall since the 11th Century and their family motto was “Gratu Sume Manu”, which translates to “Take with a Grateful Hand”. This is the motto that the cafe now promotes in their business as they are grateful to their customers.

As for the food that they do. Afternoon tea can be ordered on the day and is made fresh to order. Their breakfasts are made fresh to order and their cakes are iced using a stunning mascarpone American frosting which customers love. They have a street food section on the menu selling freshly prepared Korean and Spanish dishes alongside staples such as large filled Yorkshire pudding with Cumberland sausage and onion gravy and homemade steak pies that keep customers coming back. Their homemade sticky toffee pudding has been compared to Cartmels’ sticky toffee pudding and their cheesecakes and cakes have proved so successful that customers now order full ones for parties and functions - which is fabulous!

Recently, Jane’s partner and business partner died after 25 years together. He was a large part of the business and his passing has deeply affected both staff and customers. Jane’s daughter has now come on board as part of the team and Jane is proud that Crofton is a family business.

They care about customers’ dining experience and many customers have become firm friends and have been very supportive over the last 6 months since Jane’s partner’s passing. They hope that the business can go from strength to strength as they enter their fourth year of trading although they acknowledge the very difficult financial times that we are going through. 

I wish Crofton every success with their business and have added it to my list of places to visit. I want to thank Jane for providing all of the information for the feature and will encourage those who read this to make a visit to the shop if you are able to.