The Arch Cafe

I have been here for tea and cake and also for lunch, and the food and service were excellent. As others have said, it is a safe place for people with extra support needs, and also dementia friendly. Definitely recommended.

Tucked away behind a church off new briggate this café is an appendage to the beautiful building giving it a gorgeous interior wall and glass surroundings for the exterior.
They are baby friendly, happy to move tables around to accomodate prams and baby seats which they bring to you.
The food is top notch but it can get smoky indoors which is not great.
Does not feel like you are in the middle of town, great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of life.

We came here to eat cake.
An awful lot of cake.
monstrous amounts in fact.
Alas, not from the café itself, but as part of the Leeds loves Food, Leeds Bake Off, which had been arranged by Age UK. I later found that this is actually a safe space for people with extra support needs and (i think) Age UK Leeds HQ… and what a wonderful space it is! Attached to the grounds of the Church, you almost feel like you are in an idyllic country village surrounded by trees and birds signing… not surrounded by shopping centres and trendy bars. It is partially hidden up a side street, so I’m not sure how much footfall they get along there.
The coffee was lovely and the cakes all looked delicious… although the thought of eating any more cake (we tried 36 in the competition) was one sugar lump short of a diabetic sweat.
The prices were the thing that stood out to me, however. Very cheap compared to other cafes and certainly a nicer environment that Starbucks!
I shall be back, once this sugar high has subsided!

I nipped into The Arch earlier on for two reasons. One was the ever burning desire to find places in Leeds to quaff a coffee/​tea & munch on some chocolate/​cake etc without having to resort to the ubiquitous and (let’s be honest here) blandly samey generic multi-​national coffee chains that so many people seem to think are the only options when in a city/​town centre. (In their defence — they frequently are. but let’s save that rant for another time.)
Yes Starbucks, Caffe Nero, Costa Coffee etc — I mean you.
*waves rather crumpled copy of «Socialist Worker August 2004» in the air threateningly* ;)
The other reason was that I’d walked by here several times before & thought it looked interesting. (There was also a third reason — the desire to increase my blood sugar levels after a few, erm, swift halves in the pub after finishing a rather dull Friday at work & then several more vinos in my flat singing along & waving an unsuspecting pet rabbit around to the eternal and ever chirpy strains of the one and only Steven Patrick Morrissey. but enough about my Friday nights in.)
The décor in the café is nothing special, if I’m absolutely honest (it would be an even poorer review if I wasn’t.). It’s a bit plastic and modern looking really, but you shouldn’t always judge a book by its cover (unless it’s published by Mills & Boon, in which case it will provide you with a pretty good idea of the «plot»). However, the staff are friendly, the prices are reasonable (not insanely cheap, but it is in the heart of Leeds city centre) and the coffee & the Rocky Road cake very enjoyable.
I paid £2.95 for a cappuccino & (a rather delicious) Rocky Road cake, which I suppose is a bit cheaper than average.
The main reason I’m really recommending this café is that the proceeds go to helping Age UK, which in my opinion is a good enough reason to go in there and support them. It’s not a trendy place at all — there are quite a few elderly people in there (as to be expected) but personally, given the choice of some polite OAPs having a gossip about War Bonds, Neville Chamberlain and the ever increasing cost of Brylcreem (all right, that was a tad stereotypical. I think they were actually discussing Justin Bieber, «iPods» and the Harlem Shake. three things I personally know absolutely nothing about) or sitting in a bog standard find-​me-​anywhere-​in-​the-​world-​and-​possibly-​on-​Saturn-​too corporately bland coffeestuffs emporium surrounded by hipsters all perusing their «iPods» or suffering mothers & squealing children (presumably crying about not having an «iPod») I know which I’d prefer :)
And best of all — the proceeds go towards helping elderly people. Did I mention that part? ;)
*retires now to the strains of Pulp’s classic 1997 number 8 hit «Help The Aged».
All right :)

I wanted to try The Arch because it had been recommended elsewhere and it supports a charity.
The service was really quick and pleasant and I can confirm that they do a decent latte. The sandwiches and cake were absolutely delicious and very fresh and the whole place was lovely and clean and fresh.
Price wise, it may be a teeny bit more than similar cafes in the city centre but I think that’s forgivable as it’s helping fund a worthwhile charity.

This is going to be a quick one as I’ve only just nipped in quickly and grabbed a sandwich, but! Oh. My. Word! What an amazing place! A stunning building, gorgeous food and a great cause!
The Arch Café only opened yesterday, it’s run by Age UK and has been set up to bring in a bit of income to help support the work that Age UK does in Leeds, a bit of a social enterprise you could say. The (amazing!) cakes are homemade, the bread for the sandwiches is from the lovely Riverside Sourdough Bakery in Dock St Market, and I spotted some Nanaimo Bars made by the lovely local business Fayre By Alley.
I’m sat here now scoffing as I type — I’ve got a ciabatta with tuna carrot and mayo with thai dressing, and it’s lovely. I’ve also picked up a peice of the homemade lemon layer cake which is a huge doorstep and I can’t wait to have a bite. In fact, hang on… *scoffs*… mmm have just tried a bite and that is really something (excuse me Unilocaling with my mouth full)
So — yummy food? Check
Lovely surroundings? Check
Locally sourced? Check
In aid of a good cause? Check
So why not that fifth star? Quite simply, the pricing structure. Some items on the menu are well worth the cash — for example that massive slab of lemon loveliness I’m eating was £1.60 which I think is very reasonable. However the sandwich was £3.25 (take out price, eat in was £3.75), which I think is a bit steep, as is £3.50 for a bowl of soup (albeit homemade). At those kinds of prices it takes it out of the realms of affordability for somewhere I’d eat quite often on my lunchbreak, and turns it into somewhere I’d only really be able to go as a treaty lunch, maybe just after payday.
But I’m hoping this is just a ‘newly opened, finding it’s feet’ kind of issue, and I will absolutely definitely be going back again fairly soon. Even if it’s just for some more of this gorgeous lemon cake! *wipes crumbs off of keyboard*