The best coffee in Cambridgeshire is not all in Cambridge. Two of the county’s small roasters work out of St Neots and the Ely area, a third sits above a country park café at Milton, and some of the friendliest cups are poured in market towns and villages where the café is also where people catch up on the week. This guide picks twelve independents spread across the county, with a deliberate lean away from the city centre.
We have left out places that are mainly about brunch, as those get their own guide next, and we say plainly where a café keeps short or unusual hours.
Details were accurate at the time of research in November 2026. Opening hours change with the seasons and small cafés sometimes close for holidays, so please check each café’s own website or social media before a special trip.
Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire
Cambridge has the biggest coffee scene in the county, but two of the three picks here are outside the centre. One is a country park café with its own roastery upstairs, and one is a volunteer-run village café south of the city.
Hot Numbers, Cambridge
Indoor activity
- Hot Numbers is a Cambridge speciality coffee business with two cafés in the city, on Gwydir Street and on Trumpington Street
- All of its coffee is roasted in small batches at its own roastery at Shepreth, south west of Cambridge, which we covered in our food and drink producers guide
- The Gwydir Street café sits in the old Dales Brewery buildings off Mill Road and opens every day from 7am to 5pm
- The Trumpington Street café, close to the Fitzwilliam Museum, opens every day from 7am to 6pm
- Gwydir Street doubles as a gig venue, with live music and events listed on the Hot Numbers website
- In November 2026 the Gwydir Street café is showing The Mighty Crow, a solo exhibition by Cambridge artist Judy Logan
- Well-behaved dogs are welcome at every Hot Numbers café
- Beans, brewing kit and barista training are all sold through the website, alongside a coffee subscription
Address: Gwydir Street, Cambridge CB1 2LJ; 4 Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1QA
Website: hotnumberscoffee.co.uk
How to book: No booking needed; venue hire and gig tickets through the website
Gwydir Street is the one locals mean when they say Hot Numbers, a café by day and a music venue on gig nights. Trumpington Street is handier for anyone heading to the Fitzwilliam or the colleges at the southern end of the centre. Both serve the same house roasts, so if you find a coffee you like, the bag on the shelf is the same one. The 7am start every day makes it one of the more reliable early coffees in the city.
Grounds Café and Roastery, Milton Country Park
Indoor and outdoor
- Grounds runs the café at Milton Country Park, on the northern edge of Cambridge beside Milton village
- The company’s coffee roastery is in the same building, upstairs from the café
- Grounds runs cafés in country parks across the region, and its head office is at Waterbeach
- Winter hours, November to January, are 9am to 4pm on weekdays and 9am to 4:30pm at weekends
- Summer hours, February to October, are 9am to 5pm on weekdays and 9am to 5:30pm at weekends
- The menu covers coffee, tea and homemade cakes, plus soups, toasties, paninis and sandwiches at lunchtime
- Dogs are welcome inside the café, and there are homemade dog treats on the counter
- Beans roasted at Milton, including a decaf, can be bought online through the Grounds website
Address: Milton Country Park, Cambridge Road, Milton, Cambridge CB24 6AZ
Website: groundscafe.uk
Phone: 01223 425231
How to book: No booking needed for the café
This is the coffee stop for a lap of the lakes at Milton, and the obvious place to warm up after a winter walk. The roastery upstairs means the coffee has travelled about as far as the ceiling. Food is simple and filling rather than fancy, which suits a park café. It is also one of the few places in this guide where you can sit with a dog inside without asking first.
Cara Coffee, Great Shelford
Indoor activity
- A community coffee shop on the High Street in Great Shelford, a large village just south of Cambridge
- It is a social enterprise run mainly by volunteers, in partnership with Great Shelford Free Church
- Money raised supports the work of Romsey Mill, a Cambridge charity
- The name comes from the Gaelic word for friend
- It opens from 9am to 4pm Tuesday to Friday and from 10am to 1:30pm on Saturdays
- It is closed on Sundays and Mondays
- The café was awarded a top food hygiene rating of 5 in October 2025
- New volunteers are welcome, and details are on the Romsey Mill website
Address: 29 High Street, Great Shelford, Cambridge CB22 5EH
Website: romseymill.org/cara-coffee
How to book: No booking needed
Cara Coffee is the sort of place that makes a village feel like a village. It is not trying to be a third-wave coffee bar, and nobody minds if you stay for an hour over one cup. Spending money here goes back into youth work, which makes a second slice of cake easier to justify. Note the short Saturday hours, as it closes at 1:30pm.
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire’s market towns have a strong run of independent cafés along the Great Ouse, including a micro roastery in St Neots and a cake shop on Market Hill in St Ives. Kimbolton and Godmanchester add two smaller cafés away from the main towns.
Bohemia, St Neots
Indoor activity
- A café, coffee roaster and events space in Cross Keys Mews, just off the High Street in St Neots
- Coffee is roasted in its own micro roastery under the Bohemia Roasts name and ground fresh for each cup
- When the roastery opened, the business said it would also make custom roasts for individuals and companies
- The café opens from 8am to 4pm Monday to Saturday and from 9am to 3pm on Sundays
- Food covers breakfast, brunch and lunch, with healthy options and blackboard specials
- Tapas nights run on the last Saturday of every month, with a seasonal menu
- The space is available for private hire from 6pm, seven nights a week
- A Christmas menu is posted on the website
Address: 16 Cross Keys Mews, St Neots PE19 2AR
Website: bohemiastneots.com
Phone: 01480 716265
How to book: Walk in for coffee; private hire through the website
Bohemia is the reason to look up from your phone in St Neots. Roasting its own beans puts it in a small club in this part of the county, and the coffee tastes fresher for it. Cross Keys Mews is tucked away, so it feels quieter than the High Street a few steps away. Come for a flat white in the morning and you may well be back for tapas at the end of the month.
The Commute Café, St Ives
Indoor activity
- A family-run café on The Broadway in St Ives, serving speciality coffee, homemade food and cakes
- The house blend is a medium to dark roast of Colombian, Costa Rican and Indian beans
- Staff go through regular in-house barista training
- It opens from 9am to 3pm Wednesday to Friday, 9am to 4pm on Saturday and 10am to 3pm on Sunday
- Mondays are given over to French conversation classes and Tuesdays to events, so the café is not open as usual on those days
- Sourdough toasts on the current menu cost £11.50, including a vegan version with hummus and avocado
- Toasties cost £8 and come with a side salad, and all-pork sausage rolls made in Somerset cost £4.80
Address: 33 The Broadway, St Ives PE27 5BX
Website: thecommutecafe.com
How to book: No booking needed; ask the café about classes and events
The Commute feels like a café built around its regulars. The French conversation mornings and event days give it more of a community hub feel than most coffee shops in town. The sourdough toasts are proper meals rather than snacks, so it works for an early lunch as well as a coffee. The Broadway is a short walk from the river and the old bridge, so it fits into any stroll around St Ives.
Tom’s Cakes, St Ives, Ely and Somersham
Indoor activity
- A local cake shop and café business with cafés on Market Hill in St Ives and on the High Street in Ely, plus a bakery shop in Somersham
- Cakes, biscuits and savoury food are made from scratch with natural ingredients sourced locally
- Everything can be eaten in or taken away
- The St Ives and Ely cafés open from 8:30am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 5pm on Sundays
- The Somersham bakery shop opens from 8am to 5pm Tuesday to Friday and 8am to 3pm on Saturday, and is closed on Sundays and Mondays
- Coffee and tea are served alongside the cakes in both cafés
- The St Ives café was inspected and given a food hygiene rating of 5 in May 2026
Address: 19 Market Hill, St Ives PE27 5AL; 31 High Street, Ely CB7 4LQ; 3 to 5 West Newlands, Somersham PE28 3EB
Website: tomscakes.co.uk
How to book: No booking needed
Tom’s Cakes is the cake stop for two of the county’s busiest market towns. The St Ives café is right on Market Hill, so it suits a break between the market stalls and the river. In Ely it sits on the High Street a few minutes from the cathedral, which makes it an easy add-on to a visit. The Sunday opening at both cafés is handy, as plenty of small cafés in this guide close or shorten their hours at the weekend.
The Grand Piano Café, Godmanchester
Indoor activity
- An independent café on Cambridge Street in Godmanchester, the small town across the Great Ouse from Huntingdon
- It serves breakfasts and lunches as well as coffee
- There is a children’s menu and there are highchairs
- The entrance is step-free, so buggies can go straight in
- Gluten-free options are on the menu
- Booking is a good idea at weekends, when it gets busy
- The café’s web presence is its Facebook page
Address: Cambridge Street, Godmanchester, Huntingdon PE29 2AY
Website: facebook.com/TheGrandPianoCafe
How to book: Booking is recommended at weekends; contact the café through its Facebook page
The Grand Piano is a family favourite in Godmanchester, and the step-free entrance and highchairs make it an easy choice with small children. It is a good place to warm up after a walk across Port Holme meadow or along the river from Huntingdon. Weekends are busy, so a quick message ahead saves a wait at the door. Godmanchester’s old streets are worth a wander afterwards.
Maison Sixteen, Kimbolton
Indoor activity
- A village café at 16 High Street, Kimbolton, in the west of Huntingdonshire close to the Bedfordshire border
- Kimbolton is about ten miles west of Huntingdon
- The parish council lists it as a café for coffee, homemade food and cakes
- It was given a food hygiene rating of 4 after an inspection in April 2026
- Kimbolton’s High Street is wide and lined with old houses, with the gatehouse of Kimbolton Castle, now Kimbolton School, at one end
- Grafham Water is a short drive away, so it fits into a day around the reservoir
Address: 16 High Street, Kimbolton, Huntingdon PE28 0HA
How to book: Walk in
Kimbolton is one of the best-looking small towns in Huntingdonshire, and Maison Sixteen gives you a reason to stop rather than drive through. A coffee here pairs well with a look at the castle gatehouse and a stroll down the High Street. It makes a good start or finish to a day around Grafham Water, a few miles to the south east. As a single small café in a quiet town, it is a more relaxed stop than the busier towns on the Great Ouse.
Ely, the Fens and Peterborough
North of Cambridge the cafés follow the market towns, and the coffee gets more interesting than you might expect. Ely has a roaster with its own yard, Wisbech has an old favourite on the Market Place, and the villages west of Peterborough have a café on the green.
Silver Oak Coffee at The Yard, Ely
Indoor and outdoor
- The Yard is Silver Oak Coffee’s home in Ely, an outdoor site off Newnham Street made from five shipping containers
- Silver Oak is an independent roaster based in the Ely area that roasts fresh on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
- One container is the coffee bar, and the others serve pizzas, brunch, burgers, cocktails and a seasonal bar
- The Yard opened in March 2023, and Silver Oak says it won Cambridgeshire’s Best Independent Café in 2024
- It opens from 9am to 9pm Tuesday to Thursday, 9am to 10pm on Friday and Saturday and 9am to 6pm on Sunday
- It is closed on Mondays
- Events run most months, with live music, comedy, open mic nights, workshops and themed food nights
- The Ely Coffee Festival takes place here on the second Saturday of September, and the 2026 festival was on 12 September
- Free parking is available, and Silver Oak also runs a mobile coffee bar called The Rig on Ely Market Square
Address: 35A Newnham Street, Ely CB7 4PG
Website: silveroakcoffee.co.uk
Phone: 07498 190690
How to book: No booking needed; event details on the What’s On page of theyardely.co.uk
Silver Oak featured in our producers guide as a roaster, but The Yard is where most people actually drink its coffee. It is part café, part outdoor bar, part small venue, and the late opening makes it unusual among coffee shops in the county. Daytime is for coffee; evenings bring pizza and live music. It is a five-minute walk from the Market Place, and the September coffee festival is the best day of the year to visit.
Prosper, Ely
Indoor activity
- An independent coffee shop on Broad Street in Ely with a plant-based menu and a focus on wellbeing
- Visit Ely describes it as a home from home
- Everything on the menu is plant-based, which makes it the easiest choice in Ely for vegans
- It was awarded a food hygiene rating of 5 in April 2026
- Broad Street is a few minutes’ walk from both the riverside and the cathedral
- News and opening times are posted on its Facebook page
Address: Richmond House, 16 to 18 Broad Street, Ely CB7 4AH
Website: facebook.com/ProsperCambs
How to book: No booking needed
Prosper is a calmer alternative to the busy cafés around the cathedral and the riverside. The plant-based menu means nobody in a mixed group has to quiz the staff about what they can eat. It is a good choice for a quiet coffee before or after a walk along the river. Its Facebook page carries the latest opening times.
Loafers Coffee Shop, Wisbech
Indoor activity
- A coffee shop and eatery on the Market Place in the centre of Wisbech
- It was extended onto the first floor a few years ago, adding seating for around 20 more customers in an upstairs lounge
- The upstairs lounge is the place for homemade cakes and coffee
- The menu includes all-day breakfasts, salads and loaded jacket potatoes
- Afternoon tea can be pre-ordered
- It was awarded a food hygiene rating of 5 in September 2025
Address: 34 Market Place, Wisbech PE13 1DP
How to book: Walk in; call in advance to pre-order afternoon tea
Loafers is the Market Place coffee stop that Wisbech shoppers keep going back to. The upstairs lounge, added when the café was extended, is the reason to choose it over the chains nearby. Wisbech has some of the finest Georgian streets in the county along the North Brink, and Loafers is a few minutes’ walk away. It is a good place to sit out a shower before a walk along the river.
The Coffee House, Ailsworth
Indoor and outdoor
- A village coffee shop on Peterborough Road in Ailsworth, just west of Peterborough next to Castor
- The Peterborough Telegraph named it among the best-rated coffee shops in the Peterborough area in September 2025
- It serves coffee, teas, breakfasts, lunches and cakes, and is known locally for its cream teas
- There is outdoor seating on the green, under weeping willow trees
- It is dog friendly
- Ferry Meadows in Nene Park is a short drive away
Address: 107A Peterborough Road, Ailsworth, Peterborough PE5 7AJ
Phone: 01733 380093
How to book: Tables can be booked by phone
The Coffee House is the kind of village café Peterborough people drive out to on a sunny afternoon. Tables under the willows on the green are the ones to get in summer, and the cream teas are the order. Ailsworth and Castor sit on the edge of the Nene valley, so it pairs well with a walk at Ferry Meadows or along the river. It is also a far nicer coffee stop on the A47 than anything at a petrol station.
Seasonal Highlights
Spring: Grounds at Milton Country Park moves to its longer summer hours from February, and Bohemia in St Neots keeps up its tapas nights on the last Saturday of each month.
Summer: The tables on the green outside the Coffee House at Ailsworth come into their own, and The Yard in Ely stays open until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays for coffee, pizza and live music.
Autumn: The Ely Coffee Festival takes over The Yard on the second Saturday of September, and in November 2026 Hot Numbers on Gwydir Street is showing Judy Logan’s exhibition The Mighty Crow.
Winter: Hot Numbers has festive baking, live music and party nights across its Cambridge cafés and the Shepreth roastery for Christmas 2026, Bohemia in St Neots has a Christmas menu, and Grounds at Milton keeps winter hours until the end of January.
A Note From Inside Cambridge
A good café is about more than the coffee. It is the welcome, the cake and a table you are happy to sit at for an hour.
If your local roaster or village café deserves a place, or one of these has changed its hours, tell us. We would much rather add a good café than leave someone standing outside a locked door.
Before You Go
- Many of these cafés close at 3pm, 4pm or 5pm, so plan an afternoon coffee earlier than you would in a city
- Check closing days: the Commute Café in St Ives is not open as usual on Mondays and Tuesdays, Cara Coffee closes on Sundays and Mondays, and The Yard in Ely is closed on Mondays
- Several cafés post their current opening times on Facebook rather than a website, including Prosper and the Grand Piano
- Hot Numbers, Grounds at Milton and The Coffee House at Ailsworth all welcome dogs, but ask before bringing one into any other small café
- Bring a reusable cup if you are taking coffee away
- Beans from Hot Numbers, Grounds and Silver Oak are roasted in Cambridgeshire and can be bought online or in person
- Cafés in Ely and St Ives fill up on market days and summer weekends, so arrive early or late for a table
- If you need gluten-free or plant-based food, Prosper in Ely is fully plant-based and the Grand Piano in Godmanchester lists gluten-free options
