Salcombe Coffee Company is a family-run room at 73 Fore Street, mid-trail between the Yacht Club and the steamer quay. Leander Fowler has been running a coffee bar by day and a licensed bistro by evening on the same single-pass kitchen for over twenty years. Bacon sandwiches in the morning, fish and seafood off Salcombe day-boats in the evening, Salcombe Gin behind the bar.
Open today · coffee from 09:30 The same room, the same kitchen, the same team. The day and the night each get a section so you can find what is open before you walk up Fore Street.
A licensed coffee bar by day at 73 Fore Street. Speciality coffee pulled at the counter, cakes on the stand, brunch through to mid-afternoon. The bacon and egg sandwich the Manchester customer wrote about, smashed avocado and feta on sourdough, scrambled egg and smoked salmon, a daily specials board that follows what walks off the day-boats.
From early evening the same room turns over to bistro service. Fresh fish and seafood off Salcombe day-boats, a full bar, a small wine list. Seafood specials change with the catch. Beef rendang regularly on the board. The kitchen runs a single-pass changeover, so the grill that fires bacon at 11am sears a fillet of bream at 8pm.
The specials board changes through the week. Hand-dived scallops from the estuary, hake or bream off the day-boats, Salcombe crab in season from the Salcombe Crab Company a few yards down Fore Street. A regular beef rendang for the diners who want the room without the fish. Walk in, read the board, order what reads best.
Full licensed bar, both shifts. A South Hams shelf of local spirits: Salcombe Gin from the distillery further down Fore Street, Salcombe Brewery beers, a short wine list chosen for the food. Soft drinks for the daytime, properly mixed cocktails for the evening sitting. The bar runs the till for both halves of the day.
A Manchester customer wrote it on the homepage and it has been on the breakfast menu ever since. Cured streaky bacon on a bloomer, a fried egg off the breakfast griddle, a thick smear of brown butter. Beside it the smashed avocado and feta on sourdough, the scrambled egg and smoked salmon, and a daily specials board for the people who walked past the menu on the way in and saw something better.
Sit at the counter, watch Fore Street climb past the window. Pavement tables in season. Dogs welcome at the door.
Daytime menu kitchen 09:30 to 16:00 · counter coffee to 16:30 · full menu on the board
Day fades to evening · 16:30
From early Tuesday evening the room moves to bistro service. The board changes daily with what walks up Fore Street from the day-boats. Hand- dived scallops in season, hake or bream off the morning catch, Salcombe crab from the Salcombe Crab Company a few yards down the hill. A regular beef rendang for the diners who want the room without the fish.
The bar runs both shifts. Salcombe Gin from the distillery down Fore Street, Salcombe Brewery beers, a short wine list chosen for the food. Last kitchen orders 21:00. The bar runs to 23:00 on Friday and Saturday.
Closed Sunday & Monday evenings · book in season on 01548 842319 · dogs by request
Leander Fowler registered the company on 7 March 2003 from 1 Bonaventure Close, a Salcombe address ten minutes up the hill from where the coffee bar now sits. For the first decade it was Leandre Catering, a private catering operation across the South Hams. The name Leandre is the director's own first name with the company suffix.
In June 2013 the room at 73 Fore Street opened and the company was renamed The Salcombe Coffee Company Limited, mid-trail between the Yacht Club at the top and the steamer quay at the foot of the hill. Joyce Hamson, who has been the company secretary since three weeks after incorporation, is still on the registry today.
"Bacon sandwiches the size of your face." Clownmeister, Manchester · on the homepage
Two shifts a day, one kitchen, one family. Twenty-three years from the day Leandre Catering incorporated, the door at number 73 still opens at 09:30 and the kitchen still serves dinner to a table booked by phone.
A bistro on a Fore Street works because the door it backs onto is the fishing town. Most of what changes on the specials board has walked the length of Fore Street, not arrived in a refrigerated van.
Evening bistro tables are bookable Tuesday to Saturday from 18:30. The phone is fastest for a table this week. The form below is for groups, private dining, allergens, supplier enquiries and anything that wants a paper trail. We reply in a working day.
Daytime walk-ins all day until 16:30 · phone the counter on 01548 842319 for an evening table this week.
From Whitestrand car park at the foot of Fore Street, the climb to number 73 is two minutes. Number 73 is on the right-hand side, between the Yacht Club end and the steamer quay end of the trail.
Park at Whitestrand at the foot of Fore Street and walk up. Salcombe Coffee Company sits mid-trail on the right, between the Yacht Club at the top of the hill and the steamer quay at the foot. The Salcombe Crab Company is a few yards further down the hill toward Whitestrand. Salcombe Gin's distillery is in the same direction.
Whitestrand meters stop charging at 18:00, so an evening bistro sitting usually gets free parking. Shadycombe car park is a two-minute walk up the hill and is the easier daytime option in regatta week.
For anything not here, the counter on 01548 842319 is the fastest. Between 09:30 and 16:30 seven days.
The bistro opens for evening service Tuesday to Saturday from 18:30, with the kitchen taking last orders at 21:00 and the bar running through to 23:00. We are daytime-only on Sunday and Monday. For a table during peak season the counter on 01548 842319 is the fastest way to book.
In quieter months the room will usually find a table on a walk-in. From late May through to the end of regatta week in August booking is the safer call, especially Friday and Saturday. Phone the counter on 01548 842319 between 09:30 and 16:30 and we will hold a table.
There is no parking on Fore Street itself. The two closest car parks are Whitestrand, at the foot of Fore Street by the steamer quay, and Shadycombe, a two-minute walk up the hill. Whitestrand is the easier option for an evening sitting, as the meters stop charging at 18:00.
No, we are daytime-only on Sunday and Monday. The coffee bar runs 09:30 to 16:30 on those days, and the kitchen does not open in the evening. Tuesday is the first evening sitting of the week.
Dogs are welcome at the pavement tables out front and inside the coffee bar at the daytime sitting. A water bowl lives by the door. The evening bistro sitting is by booking and is dog-friendly subject to a quiet table, so mention the dog when you ring to book.
Yes, both menus carry a gluten-free option and a vegan option, with the daily specials board often the most flexible of the lot. The kitchen will adjust for most allergens with a heads-up at booking, and we ask coeliacs to phone ahead so the line is set up cleanly.