Lean Bean in Dumfries & Galloway

The best coffee we’ve found in ages and a warm welcome for us and our dogs. Heavenly banana choc fudge cake too. Thank you!

Stopped off early passing through Thornhill on our way to Troon. ATM it opens at 7:30am. Great coffee lovely & smooth & a great breakfast of toast with mayo, egg, spring onion & smoke-o-nut. All very well priced. Lovely staff.

This is a great little cafe in the Main Street in Thornhill. We were cycling and stopped there as it had tables outside. The staff were lovely and the coffee great. Can also recommend the brownies and the chocolate cookies! It was so good the first day we popped in on day 2 also.!

Found this delightful coffee shop by accident, great coffee and friendly staff. Didn't have enough time to check out the zero waste shop or sample the lovely menu with a lot of vegan options so another visit is planned!

We found this lovey little coffee shop on our way to Troon, we had delicious coffee and the owners were friendly and welcoming. Although we never ate there, all that was on display looked very tempting! Well worth a visit.

Review of: Lean Bean Café, 43 West Melton Street, Thornhill, Scotland We had the pleasure of a two-night stay in a house partway down West Melton Street in the small town of Thornhill mid-summer. The Lean Bean Café was just a few metres away … and where better to take our early morning coffee. In fact, we were invited to treat the place like home – people were that friendly; on our second morning we carried our toast and marmalade on a tray across the road to match the coffees purchased from the café. We had a seat in the sun on the warm pavement outside the café – it provided life, opened up the neighbourhood and we even got to say ‘g’day’ to a couple of local people seated at a table close by. But not too close - we remained as wary of Covid-19 as ever. Can’t travel away from home and take the risk of becoming infected. What a hassle that would be. But first the neighbourhood. From the pavement outside the café, you can easily capture the entire length of West Melton Street - it’s wide and lined on either side with turn of the century heritage two-story terraced houses that open directly on to the pavement. The café occupies one of those houses. Occasional scattered trees front the houses, but most of the pavement space was given over to parked cars. It’s a quiet and pleasant neighbourhood. The place felt empty and this notwithstanding there’s >1,800 people living in the town. At one end of West Melton Street there was the roundabout at the intersection with Drumlanrig Street – the main A76 through road linking the town with Dumfries 25 km south. There’s a flying horse* on a column at the centre of the roundabout and a traditional and imposing town hotel/pub – the Buccleuch Arms on one corner. At the other end of West Melton Street and largely hidden by those trees there was an interesting, but defunct, church building constructed of red brick. You don’t immediately realise that the place is no longer a religious building. We explored it when walking the street one evening - it turns out that the building is currently a commercial store – selling Chinese antiques. Now there’s a novel development. What would those earlier 19/20th century congregations have made of it? A reflection, perhaps, on the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus and his well-known quotation: ‘Change is the only constant in life’. And it’s easy to see this feature in the raison d'être of the Lean Bean Café – promoting environmental issues with focus upon healthy foods, zero wastes and minimum carbon footprint with the challenges of establishing a profitable enterprise during times of Covid-19. This is not immediately apparent to the casual visitor and it only becomes more obvious – but not in-your-face as such – when wandering around the café, into the sales room/refill shop within the cafe, and reading the information provided. You may be here for a coffee/brioche/croissant, but you could equally stock up on a range of refillable personal healthcare products, herbs/spices, nutritional foods and similar. How do costs compare with the local supermarket? How practical is the ‘refill process’? How easy is it to capture the casual buyer? And so on. Therein are some messages of our time, and the success of the Lean Bean Café will ultimately rest with the motivation of local people – young and old – who may follow trends of this kind, encourage novelty and care for the environment. This thing about the messages comes across well when exploring the background to the Lean Bean Café further. The enterprise is one of a number highlighted by the ‘South of Scotland Enterprise’ – a public sector agency providing services, grants, advice, tech/development assistance and more to local SMEs. Whatever the limited background to the café based upon some first impressions and a couple of coffees, etc. ours was a good experience - friendly services once inside, prices that were competitive, comfortable seating arrangements and that sense of ‘she’ll be right, mate’ that we’d previously taken largely for granted back when we lived in mid-Canterbury. Sure, we’d seen reference to the Scots/Kiwi background of the current owners of the cafe and you’ll perhaps know just how strong that sense of Scots heritage is in some communities in Aotearoa (as it is for those of Dutch, English, Irish and Samoan origin, for example, and for others). It was pleasing to glimpse the networks behind this imaginative venture in a small town in the Scottish Lowlands. The café has so far captured 100% five-star reviews (from just 16 listed) during a period of two years trading - clearly early days and recognition of potential. And it’ll be the same with this review – there were no obvious downsides: the coffees – flat white & cappuccino - were hot, tasty and well-presented. The café felt good. It was a comfortable place to take breakfast. We’ll be back later to check on progress. Peter Steele 19 April 2023 *Representing the emblem of the Queensbury Family and/or reference to Robert Burns’ poem ‘Pegasus’ from 1789: ‘With Pegasus upon a day …’

Absolutely superb service and food, brilliant from start to finish. Kirsty and her family were extremely welcoming and engaging. You can’t fake that! Respect Bec and Nigel x

We were staying at a near by hotel and popped in for coffee and cake before driving home. The cake was fantastic and great selection including vegan options. After that we had a look in the attached packaging free shop and bought some nutritional yeast. Wish we had more time & a shopping list with us. Will definitely visit again when I’m the area. Great value for money.

Die sehr freundliche Bedienung hat uns mit köstlichem Kafee und hausgemachtem Konfekt verwöhnt. Unbedingt ein Halt wert!

No room to park on the main street so I had to park further away than normal and that was how I came across Lean Bean. Lovely coffee served by attentive helpful staff ....... will be back.

Great place for a coffee nd snack and such friendly staff. Highly recommended and a welcome addition to Thornhill.

great coffee and service - options for store cupboard refills minus the plastic waste we all must avoid - lovely friendly staff / owners

Excellent coffee and sandwiches. The refill shop is great and really easy to use. Saves the planet while serving good coffee, what more could you want.

Vibrant little coffee shop in the centre of Thornhill. Billed as a health food cafe and zero waste refill shop this place ticks all the boxes, the coffee is delicious and Kirsty a very welcoming host. Thornhill has more independent village stores than is usual for this part of the country, all of which are worth a visit. Be sure to visit Liz Cole’s Moniaive Chocolatier, Jinty B’s Tearoom, Thomas Tosh and Blossom and Bloom. Top it off with a visit to the Queensberry Marbles in Durisdeer Church, Morton Castle and a walk around the Drumlanrig Castle estate and you have a perfect day out!

We popped into this lovely shop in Thornhill for some eco-friendly products and tried a takeaway coffee whilst we were there. The best Flat White I’ve had since visiting New Zealand some years ago -I can stop my search now!

Loved visiting this wee place. I would say the coffee is the best I've had in the region. There are also lovely Healthy snacks , breakfasts and lunch options. the refill shop has a very thoughtful range of products chosen with the environment in mind. Super friendly service too !

Love this new addition to our small village, superb customer service and a loyalty scheme. They have a wonderful selection of healthy breakfasts, snacks and lunches to take away, my favourite is the Middle Eastern Salad Bowl with Falafel, all sourced locally and the snacks are made in Thornhill. They have a refill shop and stock a variety of nuts, seeds, grains, pulses, flours, pasta, cereals, herbs and spices, as well as household and personal cleaning items. Just bring your own bottles or jars to fill up. Very competitively prices and eco friendly.

Serves the most excellent coffee and food. The banoffi granola breakfast is absolutely scrumptious. The range of whole foods available to purchase is also very good - a lot of good stuff packed into a very small space.

So pleased to have this new addition to the village. The take away cafe is full of excellent coffee and healthy, delicious and fresh breakfast, lunch and snacks. Finally somewhere with Vegan and Vegetarian options! Scottish Oat Milk too. The refill shop has so much choice, everything from whole foods to cleaning products and personal hygiene. A real eco-friendly boost to the area. Loads of local produce too. Staff are welcoming, friendly, helpful and have great product knowledge. Well worth a visit!

Friendly Staff. A good offer, clean and well run. Coffee was great. They have a loyalty scheme too. Food I have yet to try but cakes look amazing.

We enjoyed a fab lunch from the new health food cafe, everything from berry smoothie to steak sandwich and top class coffee was delicious, and staff were most helpful. With a refill shop on site also we will be back …

Lean Bean is fantastic!! Friendly staff and a warm welcome! The coffee is delicious and the food (only had breakfast items so far) is yummy too. Brilliant idea to bring a refill shop to Thornhill too. Absolutely love this place, make sure you pop in!!