Violet’s Cafe Selby – A Hidden Gem in the Heart of Selby

Michael Palmer
4 hours ago
4 min read

Violet’s Cafe Selby – A Hidden Gem in the Heart of Selby

We came across Violet’s Cafe while doing our Selby Circular Walk and stopped for a coffee. Tucked away on Market Lane in the centre of Selby, it turned out to be a lovely little find and exactly the sort of independent Yorkshire business we like discovering while we're out and about.

We only called in for a drink, so we're not going to pretend we've sampled the menu. What we can say is that the food being served looked great, the service we received was brilliant, and all the other customers seemed very pleased with everything.

For us, Violet’s was a genuine hidden gem and somewhere we'd happily visit again.

Violet’s Cafe at a Glance

Business: Violet’s Cafe

Location: Market Lane, Selby, North Yorkshire

Type: Independent café

Food and drink: Breakfasts, lunches, lighter meals, cakes and hot and cold drinks

Our visit: Coffee during our Selby Circular Walk

Our experience: Brilliant service, a friendly atmosphere and food that looked great

Good for: Breakfast, lunch, coffee or a stop while exploring Selby

Violet’s Cafe Selby on Facebook

Our Visit to Violet’s Cafe

We found Violet’s while walking around Selby.

We'd been following our 4.86-mile Selby Circular Walk, which starts with a good section alongside the Selby Canal before continuing mainly on good surfaced roadside paths.

While we were in town, we stopped at Violet’s for a coffee.

It was a lovely little place and immediately felt like one of those businesses you could easily miss if you didn't know it was there.

The service was brilliant, and all the customers seemed pleased with everything while we were there. The food being served looked great as well.

We didn't actually have anything to eat.

We had some ham that was on the turn in the fridge at home and some questionable bread, so we had a picnic!

Next time we're in Selby, we'll hopefully get the chance to try the food ourselves.

Food and Drink at Violet’s

Violet’s isn't simply somewhere to grab a coffee.

The café offers breakfast and lunch options alongside lighter café food and drinks. Because menus, prices and availability can change, we'd recommend checking Violet’s own Facebook page for the latest information rather than us reproducing a menu that could quickly become outdated.

Check the latest from Violet’s Cafe

We can only comment personally on the coffee and service because that's what we had.

The food looked very good, though, and judging purely by what we saw during our visit, the other customers appeared very happy with what they were being served.

An Independent Cafe Worth Finding in Selby

One of the things we want The White Shire to do is help people find independent Yorkshire businesses they might otherwise walk straight past.

Violet’s fits that perfectly.

It's tucked away in Selby rather than being somewhere we specifically travelled to visit. We simply found it while we were exploring the town, went in for a coffee and came away thinking we'd discovered somewhere worth remembering.

That's also how we prefer to feature businesses on The White Shire.

We're not claiming somewhere is the best café in Yorkshire because we've had one coffee there. We're telling you what we actually experienced.

In this case, that was brilliant service, a pleasant atmosphere, customers who seemed very pleased with everything and food that looked good enough to make us wish our picnic hadn't already been decided.

Visiting Selby

Violet’s is well placed for anyone spending some time exploring Selby.

The town has considerably more to see than you might expect if you've previously only driven through it.

Selby Abbey dominates the historic centre, while the River Ouse and Selby Canal tell another part of the town's story.

The canal opened in 1778 and became an important commercial waterway, helping Selby develop as an inland port before changing transport patterns eventually shifted much of the traffic elsewhere.

Today the canal provides a much quieter route through the area and is particularly good for walking.

Combine a Visit With a Walk

We found Violet’s while doing one of our own walks, so combining the café with a walk around Selby makes perfect sense.

Our Selby Circular Walk is an easy 4.86-mile route.

The first part follows the Selby Canal on good paths before the walk continues mainly on roadside pavements and surfaced paths.

It's particularly useful when Yorkshire's countryside paths are muddy because very little of the route depends on crossing wet fields or unsurfaced ground.

You can find more routes we've walked ourselves in our collection of North Yorkshire Walks on The White Shire.

Why We Feature Independent Yorkshire Businesses

The businesses we feature on The White Shire aren't simply there to fill a directory.

We want to highlight independent Yorkshire businesses that people might genuinely find useful while exploring the county.

Sometimes that's somewhere we've specifically gone to visit. Other times, as with Violet’s, it's somewhere we simply discover while we're out walking.

We're also careful about separating what we've personally experienced from what we haven't.

We didn't eat at Violet’s, so we're not going to review the food.

We did have coffee, we experienced brilliant service, we saw food that looked great and we noticed that the other customers seemed very pleased with everything.

That's enough for us to say Violet’s is somewhere we'd be happy to return to.

Find Violet’s Cafe

If you're visiting Selby and fancy finding Violet’s for yourself, check its Facebook page for the latest opening times, menu information and updates before travelling.

Visit Violet’s Cafe Selby on Facebook