Fresh start for Dales café

This month will see a change at a long-established Wharfedale café and shop.

The café and shop at Kilnsey Park was established in 1994 and has been run by the Roberts family ever since, making it one of the longest family-run cafés in the Dales.

‘We’ve loved running the café for the past two decades but we knew the time was right to let someone else take the business forward’, says Kilnsey Park owner Jamie Roberts.

New owners James McNamara and Tracey Gill are happy to be returning to their roots after working in catering across Europe: ‘For the past 9 years we’ve catered to the rich and famous in luxury ski chalets and hunting lodges, but we always hoped to run our own business at home in the Dales’, says Tracey.  ‘When the Kilnsey café became available just down the road from where we live we couldn’t believe our luck’.

357To mark the change the business will be rebranded as the ‘Café by the Lake at Kilnsey Park Estate’. The cafe was awarded ‘Yorkshire Food Destination of the Year’ in 2014 and has a number of national Great Taste Awards for its fresh patés and pies.

James, an experienced chef, is looking forward to this new chapter in the cafe’s history: ‘We’re passionate about great taste and flavour delivered with a smile and we want to make sure the café keeps its friendly family atmosphere.’

The café menu will continue to feature the best of local produce, including traditional favourites such as its unique fish and chips made from rainbow trout reared in spring water at Kilnsey. ‘To have such fantastic and fresh ingredients right outside our own front door is a dream for a chef,’ says James.

The Roberts family will continue to run the Kilnsey Park visitor attraction and fishery, which was established in 1978. ‘We’re delighted that James and Tracey are now part of the Kilnsey Estate family, we’re looking forward to exciting times ahead and working together to ensure that Kilnsey Park is a must-visit destination in the Dales,’ says Jamie Roberts.