Holy Island coffee shop wins TripAdvisor accolade based on customer reviews

Pilgrims Coffee House and Roastery is the latest north Northumberland business to be recognised in the 2020 Travellers’ Choice awards.

The accolade, based on consistently positive reviewers on the platform from visitors during 2019, puts the Marygate venue in the top 10% of popular attractions worldwide.

It is run by Victoria and Andrew Mundy who set up Pilgrims Coffee in 2006.

Andrew then started roasting coffee in 2014, ably supported by roaster Joe Carrdus.

"We're over the moon to get the award,” said Victoria.

"We've had to reconfigure our whole setup post-Covid, and the TripAdvisor reviews have been brilliant.

"We're so grateful for all our customers, who've been very understanding of all the changes we've had to make recently. We're a small, family run business so we really appreciate nice feedback.”

The construction of a new roastery building in the rear of the garden last year has proved invaluable in helping the business continue to operate.

"We are no longer operating out of our usual cafe building, as it's a centuries old rabbit warren and we couldn't guarantee social distancing inside,” said Victoria.

"Luckily in 2019 we completed the construction of our new roastery building, which is made up of two shipping containers at the top of our walled garden.

"During lockdown we were able to reconfigure this building into two halves – one containing the existing coffee roastery setup and the other with everything needed to run a takeaway cafe service.”

This includes homemade cakes and delicious pies from from Tynemouth Gourmet Pies.

Outdoor seating has also been added – with more covered seating to be installed ready for the autumn.

"Throughout the lockdown period the roastery side of the business kept us going, as online orders flourished as people searched for speciality coffee that could be delivered to their homes,” explained Victoria.

The team also includes Toby and Jenna Hanson, Jasmijn Nieuwkoop, Marcus Hahn and Hugh Renner-Thompson.

Other local recipients of the Travellers’ Choice award include The Cookie Jar in Alnwick, Doddington Dairy Milk Bar in Wooler and the Hay Farm Heavy Horse Centre on Ford and Etal Estates.

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