The Lion Cafe in Cotswold

We love this place and always visit every year during our pre Xmas visit to Bourton on the Water. It is great looking round the museum part as you can actually go into the old court room and the cells. There is also a lot of very interesting info about how it used to be when it was a real working prison. The cafe is also very good with great coffee and a fantastic selection of cakes and pastries.

Good food which was tasty and healthy enjoyed my visit

In the 1000 service, the friendliness of the attendant was incredible, simply captivating.

Very nice cafe and an interesting prison building.

Really lovely food no complaints

Picked this as somewhere between us and friends to meet for a wonder and drink, ended up with lunch (Cooked Breakfast was beautifully cooked) and then afternoon cake (also great) and tea, very allergy aware, not cheap but still good value

A beautiful café with different types of jewelry and seating overlooking the back garden, which contains a collection of old tools that were used in agriculture and some information about them.

Had a nice breakfast and a stroll round the prison afterwards no entry fee ( donation) was interesting to see.

Excellent; parking, welcome, tables, menu, food, delivery time, staff. Top Spot in an ideal location.

The prison is a wonderful piece of history. There was a magnificent agricultural display in the prison grounds

Friendly staff. Cakes too expensive £4-4.50. A bit echoey to have a conversation. Handy stop though.

Tip top visit today, I had the soup of the day, roasted pepper and tomato with a slice of toasted sourdough. Absolutely delicious, I'd love the recipe! I did enjoy watching the work in kitchen especially nice was watching the pizzas being rolled and handmade from scratch. I'd highly recommend a visit. The loos might need a little attention though.

Nice place, nice service, food was ok, beans and sausage on the breakfast was lukewarm, as was the jacket spud with cheese.

Stopped in for a coffee and cake after seeing the sign. The drinks and food were delicious. Ate too quickly for a photo. The staff are so friendly and the place has a very interesting history too. Sitting in the prison cells was a lot of fun for our toddler. Excellent for young families but everyone would enjoy it.

Look if you can't make a simple cappuccino and a toasted sandwich there is something wrong, even the baked potato was uncooked. Maybe they are indeed cooking for prisoners. Below average

My son wanted to take me for a full English breakfast at this particular establishment. Passed it and was curious. Nice enough eatery. Large glass panels made the seats near to the windows; about 1/3 of the eatery, chilly if you sat close to the full height windows. When our food arrived. Both plates were cold. My food was cold and warm. I asked for the plate to be warmed. The chef(?) wore a black and grey hoody. Acceptable standard in some establishments l'm supposing. Asking to have the warmed didn't agree with him. He put the plate back in the microwave with a pot of beans, bacon, tomato and mushrooms. The plate returned scalding hot to touch. Trying my food. I scolded the inside of my mouth and tongue on just from a small amount of beans. Mushrooms were just as scoldingly hot. The food was left for 10 minutes to cool sufficiently to try. My son finished his breakfast well before me. He was too hungry to send the food back. I was penalised for asking for a warm plate. To the Asian chef. He no doubt had a laugh at my expense. Shame that a novel venture will be handicapped from a key, vindictive member of staff. Reputation is often lost by poor choice of staff.

A great place to stop on the Fosseway. Bright glass conservatory with lots of outdoor space. Fantastic local food menu which was well cooked and presented. This will become a regular stop when travelling this way.

Stop here if travelling on A40, breakfasts delicious 😋 and even catered for my mum who has trouble swallowing by doing scrambled egg. Definitely recommend 👌 fab team

A lovely place to stop for a bite to eat, clean and tidy with friendly staff, bikers are very welcome and ever time I've been there other like minded bikers were there. Seating inside and out on the lawn surrounded by old wagons and farm machinery. You can have a walk through the building to the old cells and courtroom. Well worth stopping in for food and a cuppa.

Good coffee and parking. Novel environment. Convenient if on the Fosseway.

Didn't get food but enjoyed looking around the old cells and farm implements.

Really nice coffee and cake, cosy atmosphere

Lovely cake, excellent coffee, very pleasant atmosphere

Lovely place, first time visit for myself & toddler meeting a few other mums. Very family friendly. Spacious, room for pushchairs and highchairs provided, parking on site, baby changing facilities and children's menu. Very friendly welcoming and efficient staff. Coffee was delicious and the breakfast was very enjoyable. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend and return when we're next in the area. Thank you!

Great food and great service restored to this favourite of ours.

We went to the cabaret night tonight and it was amazing. The organisers were amazing and went above and beyond. Such a lovely place to visit

Great place. Very cool idea. Discovered this purely by accident when looking for food and what a cool place! A big old prison with a good cafe inside and free to roam around!

Great for a coffee and the bonus of looking at the prison. It's free, so was great to have a look, but everywhere u look, it says staff only, No Entry, but there's soo much more u wanted to explore there, but couldn't. Toilets were lovely and clean too.

Great place! We stopped here because we got intrigued and we are so happy we did! We had sourdough with poached eggs and teacake and both were delicious. The former probably the best sourdough with eggs we've had in a long time! The Old Prison space is free to visit and is actually packed with a lot of information. There is also a collection of old agriculture equipment which was great for my farm obsessed husband. Overall, we really recommend stopping by if you are in the area. It is clear that the place is well run and that there is a lot of effort being put into making it even better. What a lovely surprise this place is!

Clean toilets, great for when you’re driving around the Cotswolds. Would not stop here to eat. Our group of four was all disappointed with our food.

Cosy for lunch, can bring dogs and has a nice garden

Use this place as a stop off on way to south coast from midlands. Interesting cafe. Used to be the local courthouse and prison. Basic food menu plenty of seating in or outdoors.

Really nice coffee and cake, in a nice location..

Absolutely brilliant food, staff, and environment. Very interesting information about the history placed around, could recommend enough

Really liked popping in here past it several times, Nice to see it's being kept as what it was ,and keep it's history alive , interesting little place, Nice cafe 😀

Found by chance driving home from holiday, Able to visit a couple of the old cells and courtroom room plus it has a great collection of farmyard vehicles with the added bonus of a restaurant for a cuppa and toilets!

Nice cafe and restaurant plus you can have a look around the old prison cells for free. Nice surprise visit. We will be back. Thank you to all staff x

Disappointing menu, food and overall use of a nice space.

Just visited and I had to check out other customers reviews to see if I was being picky or this place is as poor as I experienced. On entry we were completely ignored and it wasn’t clear how to order or where to get a menu from. When we eventually sat down and got a menu from the counter the menu looked good for breakfast with numerous options. I placed our order at the counter for a farmers breakfast and poached egg and avocado and a side order of bacon. We had 2 latte’s which arrived which were cold. At this point I didn’t want to complain as they were free lattes for signing up to the web site. We had one of the vibrating devices to alert us to when our food was ready to collect. Ironically the lady behind the counter half heartedly announced our breakfast was sitting waiting to collected from the pass. What the purpose of the vibrating thing was I don’t know as it didn’t vibrate to tell us the breakfast was ready. I collected the food from the counter and my wife noticed she hadn’t got Avocado as she ordered. She went to enquire and was told that despite ordering avocado it wasn’t part of the order ? Very confusing. Both breakfasts must have sat for a while as both were cold. It’s a real shame as the food quality was good but the service and attention to detail was really poor. Very disappointed and reading others peoples reviews we weren’t alone in our dissatisfaction. A proper overhaul of the team is needed to get this place up to a decent standard.

I met a friend here for brunch. Nice food and a lot of seating space outdoors, if you prefer. The indoor part of the Museum is small, though free to look around. We'll definitely be back.

Lovely location with free parking a wide range of food and beverages at reasonable prices served by friendly and attentive staff, seating available both indoors and outside.

Food is way overpriced for what you have, one sausage in a sausage batch is disgusting. And it cost us £7.00

Luke warm sausage, luke warm beans, cold bacon , sour bread came out with no butter until we asked for some, poached egg about ping pong ball size and cold, in fact the warm part was the hash brown. Coffee was disgusting and cist was £15.50..........very very disappointed!

A little pricey but a nice place to stop for a coffee and Pannini

Very relaxed athmosphere, big garden and interesting little museum to top it off.

Nice setting but the restaurant looks a bit like a cafeteria. The food was way overpriced for what we got and quite bland to be honest. 9£ for a ham and cheese panini with 1 anemic thin slice of ham that couldn't even cover the bread. 3 of the bites off of my panini had no ham or cheese. I legitimately had to stop at the nearest convenience store to get another sandwich as I was still starving

A spontaneous pitt stop, and well worth it. We had sandwiches and cakes which were excellent quality. We took a free stroll around the prison and garden, which was really quite interesting. Do take the time to read all of the information signs.

Lovely food. Service is pretty much just self service and there seemed to be an issue with wasps but they didn't bother us. Reasonably priced too.

What a beautiful stop. If you are on the A40 this is a must, kind staff, great facilities, an interesting place for a quick walk around and the food was great. The poached eggs on sourdough were excellent value and the salmon my wife had was excellent. Highly recommended.

Absolutely beautiful, and so tranquil… great coffee

Meet up with some work colleagues for a tasty bacon bap, lovely, informal & relaxing meeting was held. Certainly can recommend this place.

Stopped here on our way to a break. It's a small cafe with the usual options. There is seating outside in the ope courtyard. The added bonus is the prison cells museum and farming equipment display. It made for an interesting lunch stop.

Only stopped for drinks. Friendly staff, good relaxing atmosphere. Drinks good

Lovely place. Nice and relaxing atmosphere

A cafe in an old prison. The prison can be visited for free...it's nothing spectacular, but interesting... In the garden you can have a small snack and look at the ancient history of the prison.

Went for coffee and cake whenee discovered our intended place was closed. Ended up with light lunch snd caje. And it was very nice

I’ve wanted to visit for quite a while. I decided to drop in with my grandchildren. It’s a great place to have a cafe. The history of the prison is fascinating. The food was nice but it’s seemed overpriced. When ordering the food I felt like I was an inconvenience. The staff didn’t offer any conversation and no eye contact. I think this is all part of the service so it was disappointing. It’s nice to feel welcome but I’m afraid this wasn’t the case. Maybe they’d had a long day

Friendly staff, lovely space, interesting exhibits thx very much for yummy breakfast

Only stopped with my wife while out on the motorbike for a coffee. Saw the menu and decided to have lunch. Lovely 😋

A really busy and popular cafe with added extras. You can see the old court room and cells with the history of the prison displayed. Outside an extensive range of farming machinery which is well arranged. Worth the visit.

Interesting cafe with a nice ambiance. Good food but sadly let down by the coffee. A flat white is supposed to be a smallish intense experience. It came in a large cup and was very milky , more like a latte. Disappointing.

Right I only marked down as we was on a tour bus and they seemed frazzled, but the staff was lovely. Nice service., got to see the cells lovely to have a drink in the fresh air, shame I didn't get to see the flower shop xx

Nice museum/café. Lots of space and can imagine it would be great with young children. Food was good, but service was downright poor; staff were easily distracted from dealing with the customer they were supposed to be dealing with and everything seemed chaotic with the serving process which was disappointing. I'd expect someone could solve the issues with a couple of days observation and review of the service process. Would be fantastic if they could solve that.

Not entirely sure what I expected and I found our experience ‘alright’, but nothing more. We came here on our host’s recommendation. I went with two friends for breakfast. The quality of the bacon and sausage were lovely and everything else was alright. Nothing to get hugely excited about but ok enough. I had the Eggs Benedict which had nicely poached eggs however the hollandaise sauce was missed off. When we asked for it to be added onto the dish, it was done swiftly however the response of the member of staff was a bit dismissive and almost seemed surprised that I’d asked for it. Personally, I felt there was little atmosphere here, maybe this was due to the service being ordering at the till and collecting from the kitchen hot plate coupled with the response to my request on my dish. Tables were also left uncleared or clean around us for the duration of our visit. Not the best, but also not terrible.

Very poor experience at our last visit, food was very delayed and cold - even though we ordered 5 breakfasts at the same time, they turned up at very different times with several items missing... Food itself was ok, but hard to enjoy cold. A real shame, will give it one more try in case this was a one off...

It's the only place that they give you a beeper to wait for your coffee even when it's in the week and really quiet. The breakfast portion is like a prison portion and way over priced

Interesting place to have lunch! In prison! Lots to look at including courtroom and cells. Food is of a very high standard, not a cafe or tearoom, more of a restaurant. Loads of different cakes, scones. Outside area with seating so great for kids. Plenty of parking too. Easy to get to, just off A40.

Lovely café with decent atmosphere, friendly staff and good food. The museum in the back was a pleasant surprise.

Nice surroundings. Much more interesting than the average landing spot.

Didn't eat at cafe but the prison is quite interesting to visit

Average, over priced food. I ordered the avocado on sourdough. This came on a single slice of standard toasted brown bread. The poached eggs cost extra, and these came overcooked. This cost about £12 so was extortionate. Poor customer service which made it worse. It's a real shame as the seating areas are lovely and it's dog friendly.

Menu says avocado on sourdough for £9 and £2.50 for egg. As you can see from the photo you get 1 slice of just regular bread. Value for money is very bad. I walked in to address this with manager and she put her eyes up and said it's brown bread. Very bad food and service. Coffee was fine amd location is nice. Way over priced and very very bad service.

Great place, we had a wander round the gardens at the back looking at the great collection of old farm equipment and a look inside the Old Prison Museum, it is very interesting to see the history of the building, free to look around, its not a big place but worth the half hour . The Old Prison cafe is great, random mismatch furniture give it a comfy laid back atmosphere. Staff friendly and welcoming. Tho not a huge menu but homemade and beautifully presented meals came out of the kitchen . All the staff are friendly and welcoming. Order at till and given a buzzer that goes off when ready to collect from kitchen hatch. Cakes are huge slices and coffee good and strong . All very reasonably priced. Definitely going back for second term inside. !!!

A very interesting place to visit at Northleach, the old prison offers a warm welcome. The cafe is brilliant offering dietary options and good value freshly prepared food. You can sit inside or outside in comfort and there are accessible toilets. Well worth the visit.

We use this as a regular stopping point when travelling down the foss way. Food is good atmosphere relaxed and did friendly. Highly recommend stopping off for a break from driving.

Lovely place to eat lunch. A good feel to it all.

It would have been nice to have been greeted and informed about the process of the attraction. I didn’t know if we needed to pay or drink first… lovely affordable tea and interesting visit.

Very average food and sticky tables, even after asking staff to clean they were filthy and we had to move. Very over priced for what it is. The prison part and outdoor machinery is not very well maintained.

Lovely building bur staff constantly on phones, had to get my own menu as no one bothered to come off their phones to great us.

Had breakfast here before heading out for the day

Hey everyone! We just had the most amazing meal at The Old Prison Kitchen and Cafe. The food was fresh, portions were generous, and those eggs? Incredible! Whether you're a local or passing through, don't miss out on this spot. Trust us, it's worth it! ASP Removals and Storage Team !

** Avoid like the plague ** Unbelievable, on entering the venue this morning 15 Apr, the female waitress greeted us like a prison guard from Alcatraz saying nothing but giving us the ugly goes bad look. It was 905am and they weren't ready for service so she was obviously very angry customers arrived early. No welcome, no ambience and like a freezer with the doors open and no heating. I was really looking forward to a nice breakfast on my only day off this week with my wife. Recommendation Avoid, if you want probably the worse customer service in the Cotswolds.

Bad, we thought it was a prison but it's a Caffe

I just love it here. Early morning stop off for breakfast on the way home.

On a sunny day lovely outside in the garden

Honestly what a joke. Ordered a sausage roll and waited 20 minutes to be told there weren’t any! Then swapped it for a breakfast roll which was then swapped without our consent for cold soup! The meal must have taken 30 minutes to arrive and they managed to get it wrong 3 times. Save your hard earned money and go somewhere that values customer service

Beautiful location. Staff were friendly and the food was good. I Would recommend the café.

Interesting place to visit.Apart from the prison there is a large agricultural exhibition. Food excellent,good portions

It was a little stuffy and warm, service was average not overly welcoming.

We stopped in on our way back to London, we saw the signs and were intrigued. We had brunch, there were plenty of tables free on Saturday midday, with quick turnover of customers. We had jam and cream scones which were delicious and fresh, with shakshouka & eggs benedict, both were well presented and delicious. Would recommend both. The coffee could be improved, but I am aware I have extremely high standards. It’s also made too hot.

No way of getting through to them on the phone. I called 8 times. No point in having the number on the website

A lovely cafe and an old prison to boot, which you are able wander around as well as the old farming equipment at the rear, along with out door seating. There are many cakes to sample with your beverage. The next visit will be for breakfast one morning.

I stopped by on my way back from Bibury to Moreton-in-Marsh by bus. Ordered English breakfast and tea. Freshly made English breakfast is warm and delicious! The taste of black tea is different from that in Japan when it is made in the style of a cushion-shaped tea that is typical of England and is brewed with local water. It is an area of ​​the Cotswolds that has not become a tourist destination, and there are many attractions such as the church and this old prison!

Went to this place today service was poor food was not cooked. Poor hygiene table was dirty, found grease all over my wives new coat. Shame they could not look after the regulars as the tables were reserved for others, so we did not matter,and food was rushed dirty hands servicing the food no gloves.

The staff were friendly and the food was lovely, we had a breakfast and they were decent sausages, the bacon was thick and tasty. My only comment would be that it was probably on the expensive side but i'd rather pay that for the quality of the ingredients which made a lovely breakfast. We went around the old cells after which was a nice dose of history after a full English!

Nice relaxing atmosphere with friendly service 👌

Free to visit old prison cells and cafe. Ideal place to stop for a quick bite to eat / cuppa.

food was fab staff where really helpful and made you feel welcome. we will definitely be going there again. sorry for the half eaten food we where half way through it lol .

Food average....a bit expensive. Unfortunately the staff were not helpful or particularly friendly.

Would recommend a stretch in The Old Prison to all. Have enjoyed the coffee, pizza and cake on different occasions. Of slightly austere appearance from the outside, like most prisons; a bright, well lit and colourful interior awaits - unlike most prisons, I would assume. Lively and friendly staff but... the music is a bit loud and, like many an establishment, it is orientated towards the age group of the staff, rather than that of the clientele, at the time that I enjoyed HM's hospitality 😊