Six cafés worth the detour, from a narrowboat to a former lock-keeper’s cottage.
The Calder canal runs for eleven miles from the basin behind the old town to the top lock at Thornside, and for most of the last century nobody would have gone there for a drink of anything but beer. That has changed. The towpath has been resurfaced, the warehouses have filled with studios and flats, and a small but serious coffee scene has grown up along the water. We walked the full length over two mornings, drank far too much, and came back with six places worth going out of your way for.
The city stretch
Start at Basin Roasters, in a former grain warehouse at the head of the canal. The ground floor is a working roastery, with a squat cast-iron drum roaster behind a glass screen, and the café occupies a mezzanine above it. They roast twice a week and rotate three single-origin beans, served as filter or espresso. The flat white is excellent – rich without being heavy – and the almond croissants arrive from a bakery in the old town at eight each morning. Expect queues at weekends.
Half a mile east, beneath the railway arches, Arch Seven is smaller and scruffier and all the better for it. Seating is a long bench made from reclaimed scaffolding boards, and the owner, Ollie Brannigan, pulls every shot himself. His house blend leans towards chocolate and roasted nuts, ideal with milk, and he makes a cardamom bun that has developed a small cult following among the rowing crews who train on this stretch.
Out towards the locks
The third stop floats. The Kettle is a converted narrowboat moored permanently by the footbridge at Wharf Lane, with a hatch on the towpath side and three tables on the bank. Its owners, Siân and Marcus Pell, run the boat from March to December and spend the winter months travelling the canal network. Coffee comes from a lever espresso machine squeezed into the galley, and the hot chocolate, made with grated dark chocolate and whole milk, is the best on the canal.
“People think we are mad to make proper coffee in a space this small. But the boat forces us to keep it simple. One machine, one grinder, two beans, and do it well.”
That was Siân Pell, leaning out of the hatch on a cold Tuesday morning while a queue of dog walkers formed on the bank. She told us the boat sells about 150 cups on a busy Saturday, all of them made by hand by the two of them.
Another two miles on, the towpath passes Millbank Studios, a cluster of artists’ workshops in a former dye works. The café on the ground floor, Pigment, is run as a co-operative by the studio tenants and is open only from Thursday to Sunday. The coffee is roasted in small batches by one of the members, a ceramicist who took up roasting during a quiet winter, and the cups are made in the pottery upstairs. Order a cortado and a slice of whatever cake is on the counter.
At the fifth lock, Hollow Bridge Coffee sits in a former stable block, with a yard full of picnic tables and a resident cat. It is the best place on the canal to stop with children, with a covered play area and a menu of toasties that goes well beyond cheese. The espresso is solid rather than spectacular, but the setting makes up for it, especially on a bright autumn afternoon.
Save the last for the walk’s end. The Lock-Keeper’s Cottage at Thornside top lock was occupied by lock-keepers until 1974 and stood empty for decades before a local charity restored it. Today it is a café run by volunteers, with proceeds going towards canal restoration. The coffee is supplied by Basin Roasters, which brings the journey neatly full circle, and the cottage’s two small front rooms, with a log burner and views over the lock, are the cosiest on the route.
Before you set out
All six are on or within a minute’s walk of the towpath. The full eleven miles takes around four hours on foot without stops, or about an hour by bicycle at a gentle pace. Opening hours vary, especially in winter, and The Kettle and Pigment are closed early in the week, so check before travelling. Most take cards, though The Kettle prefers cash on quiet days when its card reader struggles with the signal under the bridge.
