The Story Behind Dartmouth’s Local Businesses: Dudley’s Café
Dartmouth is not only a picturesque town but also home to numerous vibrant businesses, many of which are independently owned. As a result, you’ll often meet the owners themselves, who are dedicated to providing visitors with a genuine Dartmouth welcome. One such business is Dudley’s Cafe, here the owners discuss why Dartmouth and how happy they are to call the town their home.
Dudley’s Café, near the Lower Ferry is a family concern, owned and run by Ian, Julie, Jake and Amber. We moved to Dartmouth in July 2023 and got thrown into the summer holiday season immediately, it was certainly a quick way to learn.
We are from Dudley in the Midlands and were really excited to find our ideal business opportunity in Dartmouth, somewhere we had visited in the past. It was quite the dream to move to the coast and we love to watch all the happenings on the harbour.
We decided to call the café Dudley’s because we were intrigued by the connection between Dartmouth and Dudley with the
Newcomen engine. It was a gem of a coincidence for us that Thomas Newcomen had his workshop just a few doors down from the café, and then installed his first working ‘steam engine’ in a mine just a mile from where we lived in Dudley. The use of this engine helped to fuel the start of the industrial revolution, and the Dudley area became known as the Black Country. The story of the Newcomen Engine is fascinating and the engine truly is the ‘Engine that changed the World’. And it’s this link between this engine and our own past and present that led to having a chain in our logo.
Now we feel settled here we can appreciate what a truly special place Dartmouth is. It offers a combination that is very difficult to find anywhere else in the country. We have the most spectacular scenery, the Naval College sitting magnificently overlooking the river, and a fascinating history with the Newcomen Engine and the visit of the Mayflower along with so much more.
Dartmouth is also the best foodie place you can find. We have the most fabulous ice-cream, crab sandwiches, cream teas, fish and chips and of course a multitude of excellent award winning fine dining venues around town. Dartmouth has a varied range of people from all over the country, indeed world, who have decided to call it their home. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming – and why wouldn’t we be when we feel so fortunate to live here.
At Dudley’s we like to offer a good value for money menu comprising of many homemade dishes. We serve breakfast, lunch, snacks, main meals, cake, coffee all day and are licensed as well. We offer a friendly, welcoming service to all our customers including dogs.
We certainly love living here and serving our customers every day, people are so interesting and it’s a joy to meet everyone. We look forward to meeting you soon!