Wilkinson, Clifton Moor Shopping Centre

11:34am Saturday 29th March 2008

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ANOTHER shopping emporium and, yes, it has a café. It is spacious, being able to seat about 100 at a time. Tables are well spread out and wheelchair access to the servery and within the seating area is good.

Should you shop before trying a snack, there are lockable cabinets where a trolley or basket can be stored temporarily.

The venue is self service with most items clearly priced before you are committed.

The first thing that caught our eye was the Kids Pick And Mix offering any five items on display for £2.49. Close inspection revealed that while some of the items might be classified as healthy, others were questionable.

An all-day item of a Danish pastry and a regular cappuccino for £2.25 was also well advertised.

Although it was late morning, the café was about one third full, with many customers tucking into breakfast dishes of either five items (£2.25), eight items (£2.65) or up to ten items (£3.25). Free toast was provided.

While Ann selected a table, I chose a toasted teacake (£1.10), a pot of tea (£1.05), a pastry and latte which qualified as a special for £2.25.

I was given a numbered flag for my teacake to be delivered to the table. However, the service was so slow that the teacake appeared from the kitchen long before I had paid for the food.

Bacon or sausage baguettes and sandwiches were popular with other customers.

The teacake was not a world beater and although my pastry was tasty it was very sticky. The drinks were fine.

From our vantage spot, at one time we counted 11 uncleared tables and we couldn't help wondering how the staff would have coped had the café been really full. There was an absence of background music but more tannoy announcements than to be heard at an airport.

After the snack, we had a walk round the store which was well laid out with reasonably wide gangways.