Standing majestically atop a medieval bridge at the heart of Lincoln’s main thoroughfare, High Bridge Café is one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks. Once home to a jeweller, a butcher and a confectioner, the striking timber-framed building has served as the flagship location of Stokes Tea & Coffee since 1937.
While this historic setting remains the cornerstone of Stokes, the century-old family business – founded in 1902 – has embraced bold new directions in recent years. A series of new ventures and innovations have placed Stokes at the forefront of Lincoln’s thriving modern café culture.
Stokes’ coffee, previously roasted in a small Victorian warehouse, now takes shape in a bustling roastery at the company’s much larger uphill site, the Lawn Café. The company has also opened a third café in nearby village Welton, with a fourth on the way in Newark-on-Trent, while also running a hot drinks takeaway outfit, a late-night dining and cocktails venue, a theatre space, and a stall at the newly refurbished Cornhill Market.
How exactly does a traditional tea and coffee making business evolve to become such a thriving hospitality hub? Nick Peel, the company’s fourth-generation managing director, took a moment from his busy day to share how a blend of legacy and innovation has helped Stokes become the heartbeat of hospitality in Lincoln.
Stokes High Bridge Café: catering in a Tudor treasure
High Bridge Café represents the historical roots of Stokes’ Tea & Coffee, and is still the company’s pride and joy. The structure is unique; the bridge is the oldest in the UK with buildings standing on it. But catering in a five-century-old building is not a straightforward operation.
“It’s a Tudor building, so it comes with all kinds of challenges,” Nick explains. “It’s set over three floors, so you’ve got to triple everything you do. Most businesses would have one central kitchen, one coffee machine – but we’ve got to have three of everything.”
The facade of the building gazes out onto Lincoln High Street, while a narrow waterside passage at the rear provides a glimpse beneath the foundations, through the famous ‘Glory Hole’. Inside, the café retains its 16th-century character, with winding staircases, intimate seating nooks, and low, atmospheric ceilings. It’s hard to imagine a more enchanting spot for afternoon tea.
The building originally comprised three separate houses. In 2022, Stokes acquired the third of these and transformed it into a takeaway outlet, Stokes To Go, complementing the traditional business next door.
“We’ve been able to offer the same Stokes hospitality, but for people on the go,” explains Nick. “So if they don’t want to sit and wait to be served, they can just grab a coffee and take it away.”
The Lawn site: the seedbed for innovation
“Stokes has changed dramatically over the last few years,” Nick says. “When I moved back to England in 2004, we had one café and 20 employees. Now we’ve got four cafés and over 100 people working for us.”
The evolution of Stokes from a humble local coffee house to a multi-faceted hospitality enterprise truly took wing in 2016, when the company acquired the Lawn complex at the site of an old lunatic asylum.
“I lived on Burton Road at the time, and I used to drive past it every day to go to work,” recalls Nick. “I used to think, ‘I wish someone would do something with that building!‘
“Then somebody approached me and said, ‘would you like to have a look around it?’ Out of curiosity, I came and had a look around. But as I was walking around the site, every room I went into, I thought, ‘okay, we could do this here’.”
The Lawn provides an alternative experience to the medieval surroundings of the original café. “It’s a little bit more urban than the traditional offer we have at the High Bridge,” explains Nick. “Although we are trying to get some synergy, so that when anybody goes to any Stokes venue, they know they’re getting the same offer.”
Moving to the Lawn marked a significant shift for the company. “It just offered us a lot more opportunities to grow,” says Nick.
And grow they did. Beyond the café and the central roastery, the Lawn also houses the Blue Room, an upstairs performance and entertainment venue, along with Late at the Lawn, a relaxed evening dining experience – an idea born from Nick’s own experience of Lincoln’s food scene.
“I am of a certain age, and I found at the time that if I went into town in the evening, I felt a bit old. There was nowhere you could get really good food without being in a stuffy environment,” Nick shares.
“So I wanted to have kind of a ‘bougie’, cool place to go for food and a drink, and just be a bit more relaxed. It’s the same Stokes service, but we changed the café around. We have ambient lighting, we have nice music, and it’s a completely different menu.”
Fuelling Lincolnshire’s growing café culture
Stokes is first and foremost a coffee roaster; that’s how the business began, and it remains the lifeblood of the company today. The coffee produced at the Lawn roastery not only serves Stokes’ own outlets, but also fuels numerous cafés and hospitality businesses across the country.
The sight of a Stokes Tea & Coffee sign has become a hallmark of quality, prominently displayed outside cafés in towns and villages throughout Lincolnshire.
“Half of the business, really, is our wholesale division,” says Nick. “And we don’t just sell coffee, we sell the whole service. We look after the customers, we offer the equipment, we offer training, we service the equipment.”
Stokes’ wholesale package has become a go-to for local startup enterprises as café culture has surged in Lincolnshire.
“Basically, a few came to me and said ‘I want to open a café’,” says Nick. “We could guide you through that whole process.”
How does the Stokes managing director take his coffee?
Everyone has different coffee-drinking habits and preferences. Nick’s perfect cup of coffee depends on the time of day.
“I’m a bit weird, really, because I’ll have milky coffee up until about midday. But then after midday, I’d normally just drink black coffee.
“It’s funny, because growing up, we always used to have a cup of coffee at about 10 o’clock at night before bed. And it never affected me, never kept me awake or anything. But now I do stop probably about 6 o’clock.
“My favourite coffee is a flat white. But I do love filtered coffee as well, because you really get to taste the flavours. We’re doing some really fantastic specialty coffees. You’re able to really notice the different notes of the coffees if you drink a filter.”
Inspiration from the arts
Although Nick was born into the Stokes family, a career in tea and coffee wasn’t always on his radar. “I didn’t ever think I would come into the family business,” he explains.
“Obviously, I grew up with it, and my whole childhood was spent accompanying my dad fixing something at the High Bridge, or for holidays I would always be working for some extra cash.”
But Nick moved away from the UK in the 1990s to pursue a career in the arts, where he found success. It wasn’t until his parents decided to retire from the business 20 years ago that he reconsidered his path.
“I’d pretty much done everything that I’d set out to do with a dance career,” recalls Nick. “And plus, I was getting a bit old for dancing. It seemed like a good opportunity to try something new.”
The transition from the arts to business wasn’t just a change of pace – it was a natural evolution. “I feel very lucky actually, because I did something that I really loved and was passionate about. I had that career. And this is great too, because it still gives me an opportunity to be creative. But have a proper job.”
Nick’s dancing career has been an important influence on his approach to leadership at Stokes. “My background in the arts is definitely formulated how I see things,” he says.
“Being a dancer, it’s very disciplined. It’s quite a tough career. You face a lot of rejection, a lot of criticism. And it’s certainly given me a thicker skin. You might fall over, but just get up and keep going.
“I’ve made mistakes, but as long as you learn from them, it’s a good thing.”
Where next for Stokes?
Stokes continues to break into new territory. One of its latest ventures is a stall at the new-look Cornhill Market, which opened in May 2024 after a major regeneration project led by the City of Lincoln Council.
“I think it’s very 2024, isn’t it, to have these big food courts,” says Nick. “I always felt it needed a bit of a refresh. When the council approached us about moving into that, I just thought it would be a great opportunity, because it would open Stokes up to a new demographic.”
Beyond Lincoln, Stokes is also expanding into Nottinghamshire, with a new café set to open in Newark later in 2024. But what does the long-term future hold? Nick is mindful of the big-picture challenges facing the coffee industry.
“The world’s in a quite precarious position,” he explains. “With global warming, a lot of the coffee regions are unable to produce the same amounts of coffee that they were previously. So I think there will be a shift.
“A lot of the coffee-growing regions are emerging economies as well. So a lot more people are drinking coffee there. So there’s talk that there may be coffee shortages.”
Still, Nick remains hopeful and positive about what lies ahead for Stokes. “I’m trying to put everything in place so that it will be stronger for the future.”
Ultimately, Stokes was built on producing great quality coffee, and that will always be its foundation. Whichever new direction the business takes, this original guiding principle is what has kept its timeless appeal.
Nick sums it up succinctly: “When people hear the word Stokes, I would like them to be reassured that they would always be getting good quality, value for money, and a great experience.”
You can find out more about Stokes on the company’s website.
Stokes High Bridge Café and the Lawn Café are featured in our guides to the best coffee houses in Lincoln and the best tea rooms in Lincoln. Give them a read for more local hot drinks inspiration.
You can discover more insights about hospitality and experiences in Lincoln in our story series.
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