Last Chance Cafe

I do often wonder how Stirchley manages to support so many greasy spoon cafes — there must be 6 or 7 in total, and I’ve tried them all! A little local knowledge perhaps explains it all — there are a couple of small but busy industrial estates nearby, and the Pershore Road is one of the busiest routes in South Brum. As such, this place, which has been around for donkey’s years, provides what the working man (and the idle non-​working man on a day off) truly requires from about 10am onwards — a big plate of fried food and a great cup of tea for a reasonable price. If you’re in the area and have a craving for a full English, I can recommend this place.

The Last Chance café has been a Stirchley trdition for decades.
The name might seem like a grim nod to the nearby funeral home but in reality it was taken from the original Last Chance Café which was situated in Aston just before you got onto the motorway… hence the ‘last chance’ you would get to have some grub before you hit the road. How’s that, history fans!
|t’s a greasy spoon so don’t expect anything more than that, but it’s a great greasy spoon that will do all your favourites, beans on toast, full English, mug of tea and at a great price too. You know what you are going to get, there’s no need for a big list of food they supply or prices.
It’s been around forever, it’s always full of workmen and locals, that alone should tell you it does the job. It’s a good, reliable, no frills café.

Let’s forget the food here for a moment and concentrate on the name. This café is located a stone’s throw away from a funeral parlour which makes the name either a brilliant piece of dark humour or slightly inappropriate, I’ll leave that up to you to decide. This café has had various reincarnations over the years with every kind of décor imaginable including American diner style all of which have added to a sense of individuality. On the subject of food it is one of the best cafes in the Stirchley area. The acid test of any good café is the amount of tradesman who venture in at about ten in the morning to stock up on some calorie filled fuel for the day. Last Chance certainly passes that test as it is always filled to the brim with all manner of workmen enjoying the wonderful fare on offer. This is a great greasy spoon which never fails to provide customer satisfaction.