Welcome to Ridings Café
At Ridings Café, we believe that a warm welcome and a friendly atmosphere are just as important as the quality of our food. We offer a variety of hot & cold drinks, breakfast, brunch, lunch, smoothies, and milkshakes for both dine-in and take-away. If you're short on time, you'll find our bloomer sandwiches and wraps in our grab & go fridge, or take a hot sausage roll or cheese and onion slice, all ready to go. Not forgetting our variety of sweet treats on offer. If, however, time is on your side, please come on in, find a seat indoors, or in our outside areas and one of our team will take your order.
Our Story
Ridings was founded in September 2020 by Anna, a local resident who saw the potential in 2 Riding Lane and worked hard to build the café we now know and love. I'll forever be in awe of Anna for having the courage to set up a brand new independent business during the second lockdown of that year. Hearing it was opening, I'm sure you'll agree, was the happy news we all needed. Once it was established, she entrusted Ridings to me, Jen, also a local resident, in October 2023 and I feel incredibly proud and lucky to now call Ridings my own.
My husband was customer number 1 when Ridings first opened its doors, and my family and I have been regular customers ever since. We love it, and it's important to me to keep Ridings as the community hub it already is. Hildenborough is rich in groups and clubs, whether at the church hall, the village halls, the local schools, the library, the scout hall or at the recreation ground. For a relatively small village we have so much to offer, and I'm relishing being in the middle of all of it.
Together with Annabel, our hardworking and lovely Manager, and our team of dedicated and friendly staff, we look forward to welcoming you to Ridings.
Now Open 7:30am - 8:30am weekdays for takeaway drinks only
Plans for 2024
Our immediate plans for 2024 are:
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To expand our gluten free offering. Please note our kitchen is very small and we will sadly never be able to have a preparation station purely for gluten free food. We wish we could! We know, however, that there are some steps to take to offer more choices for our gluten free & low gluten customers.
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To expand our vegan menu.
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To improve accessibility as much as we can. We are restricted with space inside, but we promise to work hard to use every inch of it to make it as comfortable and as accessible as we can.
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To provide takeaway options for children/toddlers.
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To offer some more space for bike storage in our garden. Ridings is in a great location for a pit stop on a country bike ride, so we will look at how we can improve our cyclists' experience later Spring/Summer 2024.
Jen & The Team
I love to meet our wonderful customers and will always welcome new ideas and feedback. Please do come and say hi if you see me in the café. Thank you for all of your support as I take Ridings into its next phase. You really are a lovely bunch!
Jen
