CAFE West is located on King Street in Whitehaven town centre and gives people with disabilities and learning difficulties employment opportunities.

The venue is part of the West House group, and they also have locations in Workington and Maryport.

It proves to be very popular with locals and many people frequent the cafe. I decided that I wanted to try a couple of different items from the menu and opted for a vegetarian breakfast to sit in with - and was also given a small breakfast to take away.

The vegetarian breakfast consisted of a vegetarian sausage, a hash brown, mushrooms, beans, and a tomato. 

I also opted for a poached egg and two slices of brown toast. The food was served very quickly, and I had a can of Diet Coke to go with it. 

The staff were very friendly and regularly checked in to see that I was enjoying my food and ask if there was anything else that I needed.

The food was very enjoyable and there was a more than sufficient portion size. The vegetarian sausage was a refreshing change from a regular sausage and all the food served was cooked to a decent quality.

When leaving I got a small breakfast to take away to eat later in the day. This consisted of eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, and toast.

The meat was all prepared very well and I found it to be a very enjoyable meal, alike the vegetarian breakfast I could find no faults.

As it is October the cafe has recently been decorated by volunteer June Pearson, and this time they have decided to go with a Harry Potter theme.

Some of the themes included potion bottles and witches’ hats which gave the cafe an interesting ambience that was in keeping with the time of year.

In recent years volunteers created a storyboard telling the legendary tale of how rum butter was invented.

The story claims that smugglers were stranded in a storm and sheltered in a cave with only rum, butter, and sugar to eat, and so... the local delicacy rum butter came to be.

Whenever visiting Cafe West, I always feel that this adds a nice touch.