The Lock Keeper’s Inn

I always make it a point to park at the furthest car park so I can walk off the coffee and buns from the Lock keepers Inn lol always a busy place and good atmosphere. If it’s a light lunch for coffee and cake or their great offer on a sandwich (they’re huge!) And cup of soup this is a great café. It’s a lovely walk to get to with the Lock Keepers in placed along the Lagan Towpath

Been a few times over the last couple of years as we really enjoy walk and the beautiful surroundings.
We visited last Sunday just for coffee to warm us up after our walk. The hygiene left a lot to be desired. The table was sticky and their were used napkins on the floor and even cutlery under some of the other times.
I am hoping we just got a bad day and that’s why standards were dropped. Hopefully our next visit will be more positive.

Stopped here for lunch today while out for a very long walk. Great outdoors seating area as well as indoors for those of us with little tiny people with us.
Service was great, (even offering table service as handful with young baby). Food was good too and the portions were huge. Had club sarnie which came with chips –although I was only after something light so dodged the chips and half of sandwich as too much for me.
Facilities were plentiful however toilets could be cleaner. Good that disabled and baby change cubicle locked as means less traffic and a little cleaner.
The coffee is great.

For coffee in Belfast, you can’t go wrong many places. Between the great food, ready access to nature and trails, coffee scene, and unfortunately weather, I found myself comparing Belfast to Seattle. One of the highlights for coffee was Lock keeper’s, housed next to the old Lock Keeper’s residence along the canal locks on the River Lagan.
The area is perfect for recreation and is packed with runners, dog walkers, and stroller strollers. You can even tour the tiny two room lock keeper’s house which until the early 1990s housed the lock keeper’s family without electricity or water. The volunteers on staff are super friendly and spin a great yarn.
The coffee here was excellent and goes perfectly with a sit outside along the water by the locks.

Lovely setting and great location. However, this place seems to get the basics wrong. Queued for coffee, everyone had to queue whether they were sitting in or taking away. We wanted takeaway, after 15 mins queueing we were told the coffees would be 10 mins (for takeaway coffee!) We were given a table number, sat for over 20 mins and watched the staff just walk around asking people what they ordered (why give us the numbers?) The coffee wasn’t too great either after all that. They will always be busy as it is only café down there, but they shouldn’t take that for granted. Why not have table service and keep counter for takeaway drinks?

Nice place. No competition though as it is the only one of its kind on the Lagan towpath. Nice setting, therefore nice to sit outside. Was there on a Friday morning and it was not busy but service was slow and the staff looked like they were all dealing with a major hangover. I ordered a scone and a hot chocolate. Hot chocolate was good but when I asked the man (who I assume runs the place) if they had any clotted cream he didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. He said he had and I got served whipped cream. Whipped cream on a scone?! If you’re reading this and you don’t know what it is
. Simples. The scone was heated and it was nice.
Be warned there will probably be dogs there and lots of them and kids. I love dogs but there are some very laissez-​faire dog owners that go there so be prepared for lots of barking and irritatingly stupid dog owners meekly saying «Fifi, Fifi be quiet Fifi». As the near-​wolf thing barks in their face. The children are not as bad :). I appreciate the manager or proprietor can do nothing about the dogs but you’ve been warned. It gets four stars for the setting, good selection of food and drink. It loses a star for persistent slow and grumpy service. The lack of clotted cream is not significant. Nice soft butter is just as good :).