Chapel Bar, Eatery & Coffee Shop

What a hidden gem this place is !! The first thing that hits you is the amazing architecture, as this beautiful place is an old church. The vibe of the cafe is a combination of the building and the staff who are so friendly, and the feeling of being able to really relax with plenty of space is perfect. The choice of coffees, teas, shakes and other food and drinks is great, and honestly one of the mochas I have ever had. The cafe is a family run business and looks they’re putting on quite a good mix of evening events and also acoustic and various other entertainment during certain days. I would highly recommend this place to anybody wanting a chilled friendly feel good vibe with a customer first attitude.

One of the newest tearooms and venues in Whitby. Just had afternoon tea and this has to be the best in whitby. The inside has kept its original features and the tearoom is cosy with friendly polite staff and the food and drinks are beautifully presented and taste fantastic. Hot and cold snacks are available and the Yorkshire tea with sandwiches, cakes, scones and much more is the best in whitby. If you live or are visiting Whitby make sure you visit this unique tearoom.

This delightful, architecturally interesting and inspiring, location holds a delightful café and an events centre - hosting a variety of events (Weddings, “Mark Steel’s in Town”, Goth Weekend, Craft Fairs, Music concerts etc.). The friendly young owners obviously have great enthusiasm and lots of energy because they have renovated and invigorated this place in record time! Fairly recently opened, it is already very popular with locals. Having very high ceilings and a special ventilation unit, it is probably one of the most Covid-safe places to enjoy a lovely coffee, delicious cake (or something savoury) whilst having a break from shopping or sight-seeing. My husband and I are local but had never entered this place previously, until we hit upon it whilst going back to our car parked on West Cliff. My husband was so inspired by the Chapel and welcome we received, that it inspired him to write this poem: The Whispering Chapel Half-light hangs above the deep pool of silence In the belly of the empty chapel, resting in between the life that was and the life to come. Gone now the human actors: the ministers, the choirs, the faithful souls in attendance. Here, in this intimate moment, with a fathomless silence upon her stones, what does the chapel say for herself? Abandoning the steps I was going to take, I enter the stillness in the wan light of waning day through the sentinel round-headed windows. A soft, deep sigh moves across the face of the silence – not from within me, but descending from the high coffered ceiling to the shadowed floor, enveloping me in a cocoon of sound beyond sound, of a world beyond the world: a sigh at the end of a day, or a year, or a century and more well spent – a sigh for the warm wonder living yet within these walls… And up there, in the high place of the gallery, the whispers are moving, visiting one another in the way of old friends - snatches of the voices of the people of the chapel: a hushed greeting before the service, an enquiry about an ailing father, the preacher’s exhortation to self-restraint and sobriety, punctuated by snippets of hymns drifting past: “for those in peril on the sea”, followed by a rousing “Come, ye thankful people, come!” In this place, in this unsilent silence, just beyond the touchable, there is no time between now and then. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end on Brunswick Street. From the lofty, commanding pulpit, overlooking a thousand souls in Sunday best, did the minister see fishers of men in the making, or fishers of fish seeking the protection of the mighty hand of the Lord out there in the thunder of those wild waters? Just at the foot of the towering organ loft, the gallery of whispers shakes hands with itself, closing the circuit, joining for ever the hands and hearts of those whose petitions rose up through the great coffered ceiling on their way to the realms beyond. In the strong arms and locked hands of the sweeping gallery of whispers, the soul of a community is held, undiminished by the passing of years: close-knit, strong, undaunted, resilient, standing and working together, caring for one another, sharing the little they had in the lean times, raising their voices together in praise and thanks, bowing their heads together in remembrance… All is here in this forgotten sanctuary, whose portals have again been opened through the vision and love of her new guardians. And so the venerable chapel waits for her thankful people to come once again, though they partake of sumptuous and rich food and shun not the temptation of coffees brewed in the manner of Italy and other beverages to delight the palate, yet shall they be her congregation and she, for a time, shall be their chapel and those upon whose ears her whispers fall shall touch the soul of Whitby… Chris Percy / 23rd November 2021 We highly recommend a visit! It would truly make an inspiring venue if you have an event to organise in this are.