Outside The Box Cafe

What a lovely spot!!! Called one cold Thursday afternoon for coffee and cake whilst visiting Ilkley for the first time. Hadn't seen many cafes ( and I refuse to queue outside and pay inflated prices of a certain other cafe in the area!!) when we spotted this by the car park. The cafe was lovely and warm. It is really quite big with some of the tables being out in an old, covered arcade. There were even blankets out here for the more colder days. There are tables for two or four then longer tables for larger groups. The tables and floor were spotless, the staff were welcoming. Our coffee was good and hot and full of flavour and the coffee cake was a proper Yorkshire size!! There are some vegan options - plus ice cream for dogs! And I saw a lady come for take away. It wasn't until I started looking at the boards in the arcade that I realised it was a Community type cafe and I started to take more notice. It was wonderful to see the adults working together! What a fabulous place! So, if it does take a minute or two longer for your food to arrive , don't moan , just think how lovely it is that people with disabilities are being given the opportunity to be trained up for a job! The beautiful young lady that served us couldn't have been more pleasant!! She had a constant smile on her face!! How gorgeous! She looked so proud to be working - and so she should be! Two words of warning - you do need to pay by card ( not a problem to the vast majority of people ) and, I've been told, they sell out of scones quickly on busy days!! So, if you give them a visit remember - There is still some good things happening in this world !❤️❤️❤️ Ps we added £1, as a donation , to our bill and they were so genuinely pleased. We won't miss the £1 but it means a lot to them.

Called in for lunch with my teenage granddaughter. we like to eat in local independent cafes with homemade food. My granddaughter had a cheese and ham panini. I had jacket potato with cheese and salad . We shared a scone with butter and homemade preserve. Everything was lovely, and fresh service was good . If you are in the area, give it a go