We checked 11 Canterbury, Whitstable and village cafes, from Tiny Tim's Tearoom to HatHats in Reculver, for hours and hygiene ratings. Updated October 2026.
Canterbury, Whitstable and the villages around them have 11 independent cafes worth the walk in 2026, and this guide puts them in one place with opening hours, prices and what each does best. The ones most people look for first are Tiny Tim’s Tearoom on St Margaret’s Street, for afternoon tea served all day; the Moat Tea Rooms, in a 16th-century building on Burgate since 1998; and Micro Roastery, which roasts its own coffee just outside the city.
Small cafes change their hours with the seasons, so check before a long trip.
Canterbury city centre
1. Tiny Tim’s Tearoom
Tiny Tim’s calls itself “the only traditional English tearoom in Canterbury”. Its site lists more than 30 loose leaf teas, breakfast served all day, and bestsellers including the Kentish Cream Tea, Eggs Chaucer and a Spitfire rarebit. Afternoon tea is served whenever it is open.
Wheelchairs can get into the tearoom, but the toilets are on the second floor. Dogs can sit in the courtyard, weather and space permitting.
Open Mon to Fri 9.30am to 5pm; Sat to 5.30pm; Sun 10am to 4.30pm
Price afternoon tea £24.95 a head
Booking Mon to Fri only; queue only at weekends
Call 01227 450793
Address 34 St Margaret's Street, CT1 2TG
Website tinytimstearoom.co.uk
Good for afternoon tea all day, breakfast all day, loose leaf tea, dogs in the courtyard, wheelchair access
2. The Moat Tea Rooms
The Moat Tea Rooms has been at 67 Burgate since 1998, when Nimmy Sandhu bought the building to open a traditional English tea room; he now runs it with his nephew Kelvin. The building has exposed beams, its original frontage and low ceilings, and there is a garden behind.
It offers 47 loose leaf teas and, the tea room says, more than 15 different coffees, with breakfast and lunch made to order to eat in or take away.
Its special afternoon tea is £26.50 a person: finger sandwiches, a fruit scone and a plain scone with jam and clotted cream, freshly baked cakes and a pot of loose leaf tea of your choice. Afternoon teas can be adapted for a birthday or anniversary.
The tea room says it stocks local produce: homemade jam from a Kent company, coffee from a Canterbury espresso roaster and teas from a Kent-based supplier. It aims for zero waste and uses recyclable products where it can.
A short video on its Instagram shows the room and some of the staff.
Corrected 3 November: Matthew no longer works at the tea room, and it opens at 10am on every day it is open, not 9am.
Open Tue to Sun 10am to 5pm; closed Mon
Price special afternoon tea £26.50 a person; high tea voucher for two £60
Booking by phone
Call 01227 784514
Address 67 Burgate, CT1 2HJ
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 3 December 2025
Website moattearooms.co.uk/about-us
Good for loose leaf tea, breakfast and lunch, special afternoon tea, takeaway coffee and food, garden
3. Micro Roastery
Micro Roastery is a coffee shop on St Margaret’s Street that roasts its own beans “just outside Canterbury”, according to its Instagram. Its offer is simple: choose your usual drink and they will make it with the single origin of the moment.
In the last few weeks that has been a Costa Rica natural, a Kenyan peaberry and a Peruvian lot from Osmer Cruz Guerrero, a former mechanic who took up coffee farming in 2019. Beans are also sold online, and its site gives the opening hours.
Open Mon to Fri 7.30am to 6pm; Sat 8am to 6pm; Sun 9am to 5pm
Call 07702 096129
Address 4 St Margaret's Street, CT1 2TP
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 17 April 2026
Website microroastery.co.uk
Good for speciality coffee, single origin of the week, roasts its own beans
4. Burgate Coffee House
Burgate Coffee House is in 43 Burgate, a Grade II* listed building that Historic England’s listing describes as a late 14th-century timber-framed range. It has no website.
A September post shared on the cafe’s Instagram with Cathedral Quarter Canterbury describes it as “offering locally roasted coffee and freshly baked treats”, and the Instagram account posts the cake of the day, most recently a caramelised banana cake on 23 October.
Address 43 Burgate, CT1 2HW
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 20 July 2026
Good for Grade II* listed building, locally roasted coffee, cake of the day
5. Real Eating Company
The Real Eating Company is an independent cafe group founded by Helena Hudson in 2004, with branches in Chichester, Horsham, Cambridge and London as well as Canterbury. Its Canterbury page describes hand-crafted coffee, freshly made toasties and cake in Whitefriars Square, and the group says it makes its food on site every day, serves breakfast all day and roasts its coffee weekly.
Open Mon to Sat 8am to 5pm; Sun 9am to 4.30pm
Address Unit 23, 16 Whitefriars Street, CT1 2TD
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 7 April 2025
Website real-eating.co.uk/locations/canterbury
Listing Our listing
Good for breakfast all day, toasties, food made on site
Whitstable and Tankerton
6. Garage Coffee, Whitstable
Garage Coffee is a Kent roaster that its founder Luke started in a converted garage in 2015, according to Produced in Kent; it now roasts at Calcott Oast, between Canterbury and Herne Bay. Its Instagram has advertised evenings at the Whitstable shop this month with live music, cocktails, wine and beer.
According to its stores page, there is also a roastery cafe at Calcott Oast (daily 9am to 3.30pm) and a shop at 17 Sun Street in Canterbury (daily 9am to 4.30pm), rated 3 (FSA, 5 June 2026). The card below is for the Whitstable shop.
Open Mon to Fri 8.30am to 4pm; Sat 9am to 5pm; Sun 9am to 4pm
Address 21A Oxford Street, CT5 1DB
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 14 February 2025
Website garageroasted.co.uk/pages/visitus
Listing Our listing
Good for Kent-roasted coffee, evening live music, cocktails, wine and beer
7. Amedea
Amedea, on the same stretch of Oxford Street, calls itself a “half Croatian cafe-bar”. Its site says its garden is open until 9pm, and it runs later than most cafes here. A snack menu is linked from the home page.
Open Mon 10am to 9pm; Tue and Thu 10am to 10pm; Fri and Sat 10am to 11pm; Sun 12pm to 10pm; closed Wed
Booking no bookings
Address 3 Oxford Street, CT5 1DB
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 18 July 2025
Website amedea.co.uk
Listing Our listing
Good for garden, open late, cafe-bar, snack menu
8. The Bears Trading Company, Tankerton
The Bears is “part coffee house, part bear shop”, run since 2016 by Peter and Darren, its site says, and styled on the lodges and trading posts of the American wilderness. It serves breakfast, brunch, lunch and homemade cakes, and an afternoon high tea with unlimited tea or Americano.
There is a garden at the back, where dogs are “very welcome”.
Open Tue to Sat 10am to 4pm; closed Sun and Mon
Price afternoon high tea £29.95 a head
Booking essential for afternoon high tea
Address 134 Tankerton Road, CT5 2AN
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 13 November 2024
Website thebearstradingcompany.co.uk
Listing Our listing
Good for garden, dogs welcome, brunch, homemade cakes, afternoon high tea
Villages and the coast
9. Chapters, Sturry
Chapters is “a local, independent coffee and book shop” on Sturry High Street. Its site says the coffee comes from Redemption Roasters, which roasts inside UK prisons and trains prison leavers, the loose leaf tea from SUKI, and the cakes from local bakers. It suits a laptop session as well as a meet-up, and hosts author signings, book clubs, pop-up meals, quizzes and live music.
It asks visitors to check its social media for current opening hours.
Address 6 High Street, Sturry, CT2 0BD
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 21 August 2024
Website chaptersofsturry.com
Listing Our listing
Good for books, laptop friendly, author signings, book clubs, quizzes, live music
10. Mama Feelgood’s, Chalkpit Farm
Mama Feelgood’s is a farm cafe on Chalkpit Hill, between Bekesbourne and Bridge. Its Instagram said on 19 October that the cafe is “open 7 days a week”, and it posts a cake of the week (this week, a pumpkin spice latte cake) and seasonal biscuits.
Ring ahead or check Instagram for hours before making the trip.
Open 7 days a week (Instagram, 19 October)
Address Chalkpit Farm, Chalkpit Hill, CT4 5EU
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 9 June 2025
Website mamafeelgoods.com
Listing Our listing
Good for farm cafe, cake of the week, seasonal biscuits
11. HatHats Coffee, Reculver
HatHats runs the cafe at the Reculver Visitor Centre, by the twin towers, and says on its stores page that it is open 364 days a year. It serves coffee, tea, cakes, ice cream and sweet and savoury crepes, and lists itself as dog friendly and wheelchair accessible, with Changing Places toilets in the council building next door.
Its Instagram says founders Louis and Lisa won Sustainable Business of the Year at the Taste of Kent Awards on 8 October.
Open 364 days a year; winter hours (from when the clocks go back) Mon to Fri 8am to 4pm; Sat and Sun 8am to 5pm
Call 01227 740676
Address Reculver Lane, CT6 6SS
Hygiene rating 5, Food Standards Agency, 9 February 2026
Website hathats.co.uk/pages/simple-store-finder
Listing Our listing
Good for dog friendly, wheelchair accessible, Changing Places toilets nearby, crepes, ice cream
How we chose
We began with the cafes Canterbury people search for and those that show up in public coffee guides. We kept the ones we could check on their own website or recent Instagram posts, so that we know they are open this month. Every place here except Tiny Tim’s, which we could not find on the register, has a Food Standards Agency hygiene rating of 3 or above on the FSA register, checked on 25 October 2026. We left out cafes that have closed, including Fond Coffee and Water Lane; places whose websites have lapsed or now point somewhere else; and the Refectory Kitchen on St Dunstan’s Street, which said on 23 October that it is closed while kitchen repairs finish and will reopen next week. Chains are left out because the town has plenty of independents.
Run a place that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@canterburylive.co.uk. Taken a good photograph of any of these cafes? Email it to newsdesk@canterburylive.co.uk and we will add it with your name as the credit.
For more, see our guides to Canterbury restaurants and Canterbury pubs, things to do in Canterbury, what’s on in Canterbury this month and our Canterbury business directory.
Frequently asked questions
Can you book a table at Tiny Tim’s Tearoom in Canterbury?
Only on weekdays. Tiny Tim’s says it takes bookings Monday to Friday and runs a queue-only system on Saturday and Sunday. Afternoon tea is served all day at £24.95 a head. The Moat Tea Rooms on Burgate takes bookings by phone on 01227 784514.
Which Canterbury cafes allow dogs?
Tiny Tim’s Tearoom takes dogs in its courtyard, weather and space permitting. In Tankerton, The Bears Trading Company says dogs are very welcome in its back garden, and HatHats at Reculver lists itself as dog friendly.
Where can I get speciality coffee in Canterbury?
Micro Roastery on St Margaret’s Street roasts its own beans just outside the city and will make any drink with the single origin of the week. Garage Coffee, which roasts at Calcott near Sturry, has shops on Sun Street in Canterbury and on Oxford Street in Whitstable.
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