News

In tough times we have been buoyed up by the good news of our Taste of the West Gold Award in the category of cafe/tea room in Somerset. It's a category that  includes Bath and Bristol.

The Taste of the West organisation promotes good-quality regional produce, and we are proud to contribute to the cause.

Since BANK HOUSE CAFE opened, just before Easter, 2007, we have had some very encouraging responses to what we are offering – with especially warm words for the food, the ambiance (especially in the red room and secret garden) and the range of drinks on sale in the wine shop. And we have had some very welcome press reviews, some of which we reprint below.

THE CAFÉ YOU CAN BANK ON
By MARK TAYLOR

Bristol Evening Post

People often ask me if I get bored and jaded eating out for a living and, yes, there are moments when I could scream at the sight of yet another identikit menu offering lamb shanks and sticky toffee pudding. read more

When the sun was occasionally breaking through during our disappointing (to say the least) summer, THE TIMES selected us as one of 50 PLACES TO EAT IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS. We found ourselves in some pretty amazing company. In the South West there were high-glamour places such as the Hotel Tresanton in Cornwall and the seriously informal Wilkins Cider Shack down the road from us in Mudgely, on the Somerset Levels.

The writer Hattie Ellis wrote: "Rambling roses and a tumbling mill steam arepart of a secret garden with dining tables at the Bank House Café, aGeorgian house in a medieval town at the foot of the Mendips. Food is servedall day, with dinner served on Thursday, Friday and Saturday."

ROAD HOG

The Sunday Times

Bank House Cafe, Axbridge
Until a few weeks ago the Bank House was the home of Annabel Hackney, a former London television journalist, and Geoff Dunlop, her film-maker husband. read more

A SHREWD INVESTMENT

Western Daily Press

Mark Taylor meets a couple who have turned a former bank into a thriving and popular eaterie
It takes a considerable leap of faith to turn your handsome, six-bedroom Georgian house into a café and wine shop, but then Geoff Dunlop and his partner Annabel Hackney are no strangers to taking risks.Until recently, the Bank House, which is located on The Square in the medieval Somerset town of Axbridge, was the couple's family home. For the past nine years, it has been where they've brought up their 10-year-old daughter, Eleanor, and trusty old dog, Harry. read more