Trading Post Coffee Roasters in Lewes

This place has dropped it's standards since we last visited. It was grubby and clearly had not been cleaned properly in a while. The tables, floors, cutlery, glasses, toilets. Everything was visibly unclean. The staff didn't seem happy. It is half full of people working on laptops, so the atmosphere has taken a dive too. Such a shame.

New review: Needs a thorough clean, used to be half decent, but i dont think I'll go back again. Old review: Nice vegan selection of cakes and bits. But ignored by 5 members of staff for at least 5 minutes. Not even a "hi, I'll be with you in a min"

Had a sausage roll, expensive but really tasty. Coffee was delicious.

Great espresso and very friendly and speedy service

10 minute wait to order only to be told I couldn’t have a proper cup. Waited another 10 minutes to get a tea but gave up when it never arrived. 5 minute wait to get a refund as I gave up waiting. Management very unsympathetic and never apologised. Absolutely terrible service

Really disappointing experience, waited 25min to be served a flat white and hot chocolate. Other tables had similar issues. After being tired of waiting I decided check on the delay to find it sitting on a tray getting cold, after being told ‘we’ll bring it over’ I stated I would take it now to which a women replied ‘whatever’ with an attitude. Won’t be returning despite being an East Sussex local.

Have always rated TP as the industrial roasters and processes bring the whole place to life and it is noteworthy coffee that clearly brings in the crowds. This branch notoriously has a fair wait and is a little too slow. Hope the office and management can support further and bring in some more staff so they can ultimately get even more coffee out to customers.

Poor service. Waiter doesn’t pick up order number cups so spending time wandering around looking for correct 1. When it did eventually come split coffee in cup, did apologise, however swimming in saucer and no offer of fresh. Coffee Luke warm. Gluten free cake very dry and sweet and overpriced. First and last time!!!!

The plant based red velvet cake was absolutely vile, It was dry and cheap tasting... Honestly offensive for how overpriced it is.

Full English breakfast was phenomenal, Mocha coffee was asked for extra hot...amazingly without the usual Barista bullshit -' it will burn the milk' ...came hot and is one of the best I've had. Thanks..Good morning visit and they let doggies in...10/10 guys.

Really disappointing - ordered eggs florentine and it was served on a bread roll / burger bun. Def not a muffin. So loads of doughy bread with hardly any topping. I won’t be coming bavk

More than 20 million utes to make a coffee

Service has never been bad although they tend to be busy and a little wait (not any of the staffs fault) During this trip I ordered a toasty, upon a few bites of it I saw a green lump and after checking its quite clear it was a large lump of mould in the middle of the toasty. The staff took it seriously and refunded but I won’t be eating there again as it is rather off putting.

Not a good experience. Only take card payments, doh, have they considered not everyone has a card or wants a card. Asked if I could use the toilet, even though I wasn't able to have a coffee there, due to no card. No lighting anywhere in the toilet area, pitch black. Waitress said 'yes, we know none of the lights are working'. Never going back.

Turkish eggs were 90% greek yoghurt, no flavour at all (bland pitta, bland eggs, plain yoghurt, bland spinach). Also served in a bowl, which meant the pitta was impossible to cut without the bowl swinging all over the place.

I ordered hash a brunch dish with an add on of halloumi, very little! There were no chickpeas in it, as advertised, there was a poached egg which was not ordered...it was mainly new potatoes fried with a smidgen of spinach, very dry, tasteless and unsatisfying. The service was slow, the loos were unsavoury and flooring wet, as if cleaned, but not dried off afterwards, making it unpleasant and potentially dangerous.

Shame, as service here was superb including ordering me a mini cab under pseudonym Daniel which was funny. Here for a retirement do and we did all enjoy venue but linited food had sausage roll which I left some as felt it had been sitting many hours and not as tasty as would be if fresh, wine menu very little choice so stuck to cortados which were ok but I am still not a fan if Freshways milk.

Popped in for a take away coffee at 11.30am to be told its at least a 10min wait. I didn't quite believe it so questioned it and yes..... 10 mins for a take away coffee. There were lots of staff on so don't know what the problem was.

Great place to have coffee. Caught up with a friend over coffee and cake. Great selection of beans to choose from when selecting the coffee. I have the red velvet cake (plant based) and was so luxurious. A lot of tables and lounge areas as well as an outside space.

Quite nice atmosphere and food. Coffee good and egg dishes nice. Glasses were quite greasy and not washed up well and had to be changed, also fork needed to be changed.

I've been coming here for a few days to work, and the atmosphere is fantastic. However, the service could use an huge improvement. The runner leaves cups and plates on tables. When I arrived I had to ask someone to clear the table so that I can sit and eat and drink coffee.

I enjoyed a few drinks in here including a non alcoholic beer. I sat on the tall stalls where I could charge my phone, there were lots of charging points. I bought some coffee, you choose the beans then they grind it freshly for you. A lovely place

Probably nice coffee- unfortunately I had to have mine cold as it took so long to settle my 2 month old who had the life scared out of her in the courtyard seating area. Apparently the bins are also there behind a screen, and a huge crate of glass recycling was emptied into the bin with no warning right next to her ear. Thanks for that!

Unfortunately this place has become a bit of a pram car park, for of jolly mothers with loud voices. Nicer when it's quiet.

No breakfast available at 11am. Also do not take cash which is a disappointment. Table numbers given out in disgusting soiled cups.

Very slow service. We were the first one in line but it took the staffs 5mins+ to come back and to take our order(there’re 5 of them). No communication in between. Undrinkable cortado, burnt and bitter. It was super foamy too, is it supposed to be 1 part foam 2 part liquid? Lemon Meringue Pie was melting and tasteless, no sourness no sweetness nothing. We wonder how long it was sat there. Plenty of choices around. Avoid this.

A good atmosphere and a large variety of food. There's obviously a lot of care that goes into the food (as can be seen through the windows into the kitchen), and the coffee is incredible.

Coffee was nice but cake to accompany it was a complete let down! One tiny flat chocolate brownie that looks like a chocolate penguin bar! Sticky toffee cake was dry and again tiny for what you pay! Left very disappointed and won’t return

Served us a pancake with mouldy raspberries on it. When we asked for a new one, they took so long to bring a replacement that we had to cancel it and go hungry. At no point did the staff or manager apologise! They treated us rudely throughout. Avoid!

Incredibly slow service with staff half asleep

Sorry to say this coffee shop is so disappointing. A great spot, decent coffee, but excruciatingly slow, zero customer service and sticky grubby tables. Yuck!

I think the staff are very friendly, polite and courteous and the setting is very relaxing, being a particularly easy going place outside peak periods. My sole complaint is that the cost is shocking. Simple dishes of dishes on toast (rarebit) or beans on toast is very pricey for what it is. The food is acceptable but not high quality so doesn’t justify the cost, so I’ll assume the same line would be used that it’s because of the fixed and operating costs. I don’t buy this stuff because excuse and believe that like so many places, Trading Post is unreasonably over priced.

Great coffee and a very cute and massive place inside to sit

Way too expensive for what it is - restaurant prices without any care or attention to detail. Young serving staff doing their best but no manager in charge. Tables left uncleared, huge waits even just for coffee, overpriced food. Avoid.

First time trying this one in Lewes after going to the others in Brighton. Coffee was great as always but I love the ambience. They were playing the best playlist! It's a great spot to do some work too with wifi and plenty of plugs.

We had our wedding reception at the Lewes venue. Daisy, our co-ordinator from Trading Post was so helpful and sorted everything for us to make sure our day was as special as it was. We can’t thank Daisy and the lovely Team enough for all their hard and friendly work both leading up to and during the event. Faultless . ❤️

Really really disappointed in the cafe. We were staying in Lewes for 3 days. Day one went in to have breakfast chose the granola but they had run out of greek yoghurt. Day 2 tried again they had run out of granola..why have it in the menu? Also wanted to pay in cash they don’t take cash? Why ? Disappointed went somewhere else It looks good but lacks everything that goes with that. Staff really not that bothered at all.

What a wonderful town Lewes is! It has long been one of my three favourite in the whole of Sussex along with Rye and Chichester. It is full of great bakeries, book shops, pubs and coffee shops, Trading Post among them. I'm told it is fairly new and I have to say I've not noticed it before even though I've been to Lewes dozens of times, especially this part of the town. I had eggs royale which was made special by the inclusion of spinach and was therefore a cross between royale and florentine. I have to say this was one of the best I've had. My wife had banana cake with a coffee and peanut butter sauce. All this was washed down with a delicious cup of coffee. The atmosphere was good and the service excellent and efficient. We sat at the rear of the café and through the window we could see what looked like a very pleasant garden area albeit a little small. The prices were about average. I will certainly attend next time I'm in Lewes! I'm told there is a Trading Post in Brighton so will try that one next time I'm in town.

Lively and nice place to work or relax. Lewes Community Cafe.

First off, the coffee was excellent. Clearly the primary purpose and expertise of this place. Had two types of beans, the moco loco was especially great as a hot coffee, and in an iced coffee too. The atmosphere is pretty nice too. Good place to hang out for coffee. So, 10/10 for that. But we went for lunch, and the food was not at all at the same level. Menu items looked good, and it tasted ok, but the ratios of ingredients were off, and the style of ingredients did not match the goals of the dish - for example, potato hash was more like a roast vegetable tray bake, and there were lots of burnt bits, and uneven cooking. Chickpeas in another dish were small hard pebbles. Maybe we chose badly. If you want food, choose wisely I guess.

Nearly £12 for 2 coffees and a flapjack, usual prices but you'd expect a decent cup of coffee, not a lukewarm cup of sour brown bathwater, not the servers' fault but obviously under staffed and under trained. Lol why is it always like this in most of the coffee shops I go to!

Nice little restaurant/cafe with very good food and very friendly staff. Nicely decorated

Ordered a takeaway babychino for my 3 year old, and they gave her a coffee. I didn't release until she had drunk most of it. When I told them their mistake, they simply laughed it off and barely apologised. Gormless staff, either inexperienced or poorly trained both of which are not ideal. A total lack of desire to rectify the situation. Also ordered 3 drinks and 2 came within 5 minutes the 3rd I had to wait about 20 minutes for, not the first time that has happened.

Ordered a takeaway babychino for my 3 year old, and they gave her a coffee. I didn't release until she had drunk most of it. When I told them their mistake, they simply laughed it off and barely apologised. Gormless staff, either inexperienced or poorly trained both of which are not ideal. A total lack of desire to rectify the situation. Also ordered 3 drinks and 2 came within 5 minutes the 3rd I had to wait about 20 minutes for, not the first time that has happened.

The perfect breakfast! If the English Tourist Board is still in existence, it should come here, take a photo of the full English breakfast and send it to all their B&B members and ask them to make sure their breakfast full English looks and tastes like this. Because it’s perfect! I won’t go into the detail - just rock up and have one. Thank me later. Oh and the coffee is excellent also.

Stopped in for breakfast whilst visiting Lewes. It is a place where there is both a bakery and a traditional English breakfast offering. It is a refined place, with high quality and a consequently medium-high cost.

Lovely food and coffee, prompt, friendly service when I've been in, nice atmosphere and really good portions. Still full four hours later. 🤟🏽

Long term fan but recently has gone off the boil. Serving team left including the best baristas so quality of coffee hit and miss. Food generally good, along with service at quiet times, though very static menu. Main nightmare which is overly loud plastic unmusic from really in the day which rings the peace and quiet. Loudness and quality of the music had always been hit and miss but recently far worse.

Best coffee and ambience in Lewes, provide real quality coffee and cakes plus great service👍 My go-to ‘recharge’ point every time🙂

First and foremost, great coffee. That's why I came here, and I was not disappointed. As I drink black coffee, the difference between good and poor quality really comes through. Secondly, the food offering looked good. I opted for a foccaci salmon sandwich, which was nice enough, but I wish I had gone for the cheese and ham on sourdough instead for a stronger flavour. I would order with confidence though, I suspect the food menu would be good also. Relaxed atmosphere and comfortable seats made this a lovely place to sit in Lewes, which has a lot of great food and coffee options.

Trading Post was one of the few places available for an early breakfast on a Sunday in Lewes which is why we popped in. And we're very glad we did. Staff were friendly and helpful and there was a good selection of dishes (plus pastries) from which to choose. My wife's eggs Benedict with avocado was very nice although could have done wit( more avocado to satisfy her tastes. My sautéed potatoes with chorizo and a poached egg was excellent. Potato for breakfast! Both dishes were large servings and neither of us were able to finish. Very tasty, though. I had a chai tea which was different to any chai I've had before because it was chai-flavoured black tea and not the standard mild-based chai. It still had hints of cardamon and the like. Recommended as a place for a lovely breakfast.

We have visited 3 times now in the hope the previous experiences were just off days or a glitch, sadly not the case, 40 min wait for a very basic plate of food, previously had to ask for our hot drinks after 30 + mins and after breakfast was eaten, I have yet to have a hot drink with my breakfast order, breakfast today turned up 35 minutes after the coffee and was cold, we asked for it to be reheated, they took it away and when they brought it back however there was absolutely no difference in the food’s temperature and the food tasted horrible cold, there are plenty of staff, so that’s not the problem, we raised our issue regarding why it was taking over 30 mins just to get a coffee and the manager was defensive and rude, saying if we didn’t like it we didn’t have to stay?! Shocking customer service, appalling attitude shocked it keeps any customers.. really need training in customer service amongst other things

Really lovely brunch menu and a wide selection of drinks to accompany. My friend and I had a lovely time here and will definitely visit again when in the area!

I have been here twice for brunch. The first time it was excellent. Yesterday it was really bad. Ingredients listed on the menu were not used. We had to sent two plates back because the food was burnt (the burnt side turned over in the hope we wouldn't notice). In the end the hash that two of us ordered amounted to a bowl of boiled potatoes and an overcooked egg. Hopefully just a one-off bad day.

Not saying this to be mean but they really have the worst-trained, slow, uninformed staff. This is from several visits over many months. I’ve kept going because I love the coffee and food. (Albeit a dish I’ve been ordering gluten-free and today got told isn’t…) Lots of staff who are not that busy, just not focused on the job and not being efficient. Went to Bill’s instead (brunch costs the same) and the difference in staff attitude and working style is miles ahead. Several times I’ve been sitting at a table looking at my coffee on the counter getting cold and not being served to me! (Sometimes I just go and pick it up). Last time my food order took nearly an hour (it was quiet) - they had evidently forgotten about it but no apology. Even when I asked someone to check on it, they said ‘I’ll go and find out’, and didn’t but kept chatting to other staff and I had to ask someone else again. The list goes on. As per many other reviews here, tables are often not clean, whether it’s busy or not, bit of a grimey feel in general. Staff need to wake up and put their mind on the job.

We came here for lunch on the weekend. The poached eggs were delicious and large portion. The coffee was good. There's ample seating both indoors and outdoors. You can buy loose bags of coffee 250g for £20.

Wow- what a lovely local for us. We can’t speak more highly. We live opposite and use this place so much. Sausage sandwich (for your carnivores) is a must!! Coffee is great too!!

Love this place and the signature roast in a cappuccino utterly sublime, always busy here but great staff , food and drinks,

Well! we have been used to going regularly and having really good service and food but sadly our past few visits have not been great. We thought it may be a 'one-off' but this coffee shop has seriously gone downhill. We shall be looking for a new regular haunt. The service is what particularly lets it down. Tables always used to be cleared quickly and drinks and food arrived well. Very sorry to have to leave a downhearted review but hopefully it will help to shift things up a bit

Midday and hardly any savoury snacks left. Slow service, staff looking at phone of one staff member. Had a cocolate muffin that was so dry it must have been there for days. I took it back and was given something else, no apology. Manager disinterested. Latte took ages to come and luke warm. Could see why there were lots of tables empty in an Easter weekend. Gone seriously downhill in the last year/18 months. Presume new owner who doesn't know catering and service very well. Before that it was buzzing and brilliant and hard to get a seat. Last visit for me until someone else takes it over..

I love going to Trading Post, usually spend my afternoons there working! Lovely atmosphere, friendly staff and great coffee. I order the same cappuccino with oat milk every time but depending on the server I get charged either £3.10, £3.60 or £4.00 despite asking for the same coffee every time I go which is a bit strange. Not sure how the price of the same order can vary. Anyway lovely place though and would always recommend as a place to go.

Rubbish. Visited following a recommendation from friends, but there's nothing to recommend about this place. None of the dishes on the menu that we wanted were available, so we ordered two Croque Monsieurs (rock hard & virtually inedible), a banana bread (microwaved to the point it was ridiculously hot and completely tasteless) and a sticky toffee slice (very dry and again tasteless). Staff seemed completely uninterested. Two stars because the hot chocolate was ok. Avoid. There are much better places in Lewes.

As someone who has been going to Trading Post in Lewes every day for the past year (and earlier ) - always open from 7.30 am to 7 pm. It is an enormous pleasure to be in what I would call a true, and large Coffee Lounge - a place to make friends, meet friends, have work meetings, write your novels on your laptops. No one bothers you. The staff are very friendly, the range and quality of the different blends are excellent. Spacious inside but also a good space outside - at last the revolting plastic grass was replaced with good quality decking. There are the usual pastries etc but also a wide menu of both cold and cooked food from the kitchen (open from 7.30 am to 3.30 am). We now have a new manager who is making further improvements including a system coming online to reduce waits at peak times. Long live Trading Post!

Summer hot-spot, winter warm friendly staff, pedestrian area perfect meeting point central Brighton.. 😊 😎 🙏

Had really great service from venue manager Benji. The girl on the till was bubbly and friendly. Coffee great as always and indulged in the new marmite sausage roll. Would highly recommend.

What a little Gem, Went on a Monday lunch time and it was busy, you could see that the staff where running around to get tables cleared as quickly as possible though people kept coming through the door. We finally found a table and before we could get to it the staff had wizzed round and cleared it. We went to the bar and ordered drinks, it took about 6 mins for our 4 drinks to arrive and worth the wait. 5 mins later the food arrived. It was all amazing, the full breakfast was full of flavour an a good size too. My daughter had pancakes and again good size. During our 45mins to an hour here staffed ran around but still smiling, chatting to customers while trying to clear and wipe table as soon as people left to get the next seated. I would say during busy times like lunch expect a small wait but all I can say is it is worth it.

Great coffee and lovely place to chill and meet friends

My sister and I visited here on a Monday, it was reasonably busy but plenty of seats. We ordered a coffee and tea firstly and intended having lunch later. What strikes you as you walk in is all the dirty tables everywhere! There was not actually one that was clean so we sat on a "not so dirty" one! We ordered our drinks and asked a waitress if she would mind cleaning our table. We waited and waited for the waitress and the drinks. We noticed people were coming in and sitting down at dirty cluttered tables and then having their food and drink bought to them and put on the table amongst the dirty plates etc. Unbelievable! We also noticed some customers getting a napkin and wiping down their own tables!! Also the menus were disgusting and covered in food. The one waitress who seemed to be wandering about half heartedly picking up the odd cup seemed to be on a go slow and never came back at all. Eventually after a good 15 mins and no table wiping a coffee and tea were brought to us. WE asked again if the table could be cleaned and this girl apologised and wiped it for us. Then I had a sip of my coffee which was luke warm and my sister her tea which was just luke warm! It had probably been made ages and not brought to the table. We both decided enough was enough and went up to the counter to complain. The man there serving (do not know who he was but he seemed to know a lot about the coffee there when we ordered) said "really" when we said they were both cold. There was no apology at all, no offer of fresh drinks. We said we would like our money back and he just put the refund through the card machine and never said a word! He made it obvious he didnt like us complaining but didnt seem that bothered to be honest! This place does not deserve to be in the heart of Lewes and I remember when it used to be a good place to go. Not anymore!

Today I went with my sister into trading post coffee -we were thinking of lunching here-we found an empty table which was covered in food- We decided to order hot drinks first -I asked a waitress if she could clean our table on my way to the desk- we had tried moving to other tables but they were also covered in food -so stayed at our first table - I paid for our drinks -which took a very long time to come -the table was still not cleaned by this time -our drinks arrived -I asked the waitress to clean the table before she put our drinks down which she did- one coffee was lukewarm and my tea was stone cold- so I went to the desk and asked the man who served me originally for my money back -I told him what we had experienced-he said “ oh really “ I got a refund -but I had no apology at all- I will not be coming here again ! I have been in the past and the experience was much better then.

Lovely interior, wonderful food but fairly pricey. Service amazing, would recommend.

Been coming here on and off for a couple of years, sadly appears to have rapidly gone downhill in the past six months or so. In general, the food was good, the service was decent, so we stopped going to Bills across the road for breakfast and came here instead. First issue arose around six months ago, ordered Eggs Benedict which came with so much soggy spinach that the entire meal tasted like water, was really disappointing. Put it down as a one off and still continued to visit. Next time, my partner orders the full English as she normally would, and it came with some kind of pesto spread across the plate which wasn't mentioned anywhere on the menu and wasn't there before (she doesn't like pesto), and it made the bread soggy. Again gave the benefit of the doubt. Two visits ago, I ordered pancakes and bacon as I have done before. Pancakes come out - three pancakes and bacon. I was sure that normally it is five - but I thought I must have been getting confused with Bills, because surely they wouldn't give me almost half of the meal they'd normally serve. I left still hungry. Then our most recent visit was a disaster from start to finish. Found a table that had presumably just been vacated as there are still dirty plates (you don't wait to be seated, you sit wherever). We move the dirty plates and cups ourselves out of the way, still on the table. Eventually someone comes over and clears the plates, leaving the spills and crumbs on the table - we had to go and find someone to come and wipe the table down. I go up to the counter and order, and someone (presumably the manager?) is arguing with one of the other staff members at the till which is a bit awkward, but whatever. I then get called over to order by the presumable manager - I start placing my order for food, and was met with a pause, a look, and a "it's a 45 minute wait for food". Now you might consider this good service to set expectations, but it was not delivered in this way and has been said to me on the past three visits, with the food taking 20 minutes or less each time. It gave me the feeling I was inconveniencing them by ordering food. Anyway, order the food, about to order the drinks, and without saying anything, the person serving me turns round and starts talking to another staff member - for a good 30 seconds to a minute, while I'm just standing there. He then turns back round and looks at me so I assume I should continue. Order an English breakfast tea and a coffee, pay, and go sit down. Drinks take an age to arrive, and for some reason peppermint tea arrives instead (probably because he was distracted talking to his colleague). Have to go and find someone to get the correct tea. While I am sitting here waiting, another table receives their food - five pancakes!! I wasn't going mad, I was just short changed on my last visit for no reason!! Our food arrives moments later, the bread in my partner's sausage sandwich was so thin it was falling apart and had to be eaten with a knife and fork. Knives and forks which we had to go and hunt down as the ones on our table had not been replenished. Meanwhile, while eating, staff repeatedly walked in and out to the outside seating area, leaving the door wide open each time (this is winter). Ourselves, and other guests, had to stand and close the door, probably four or five times, and the staff continued to open the door and leave it wide open. I finished my food, my partner was still eating her sandwich, someone comes over and asks if we are finished while my partner is mid mouthful. I genuinely think everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong - resulting in probably the worst dine in experience I've ever had. Each visit has got progressively worse which is sad to see as we did really enjoy visiting, but we'll look elsewhere now.

An amazing Full English, thank you.

Everything is mostly good Coffee could be a bit hotter but the background music is not exactly in the background a bit to loud so to have a conversation you have to speak louder So you please turn it down a little.

Food average, service terrible, staff, including manager , indifferent! Won’t be going back there are many better places to eat in Lewes.

Yet again incredibly slow service .. Couple next to me vowed never again ..

Good coffee, does get very overcrowded / busy which seems to stretch staff to the limit and often means 15-30 min waits for drinks / food, tables being left uncleared etc. Experience doesn’t really reflect the high prices.

brilliant brunch, cheese toasties and avo smash AMAZING!!! 5 stars to the chef! the girl with brown hair was extremely attentive and helped us when needed. i recommend this place to anyone in lewes!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This place seemed to have decent vegan options so we popped in for an interesting sounding “plant–based rarebit”. After clearing up tables ourselves to seat the three of us, we anticipated our meal. What we got was not a rarebit at all – described as a hot cheese sauce on toasted bread, what came was burnt plasticky plant based grated cheese on two pieces of very overdone bread for just under £10 each. It didn’t even look like food and I am shocked the cook would have been pleased to serve this. You can get very good plant based cheese now which melts well, and rarebit isn’t cheese on toast, but a cheese sauce, which could have been easily made in the kitchen. I went to order drinks, but because the table numbers are reused and you take these numbered cups to your table which are then taken away after clearing (very strange idea), when I went to order another round of drinks – I gave my previous table number and my drinks I paid for in advance were accepted at another table. The staff kindly amended this mistake, but the re–made drinks were sloppily put together in a haste to keep up with the service. The tables were piled with other customers food, having to clear it yourself with nothing to wipe the table over, hunting for cutlery and menus, it was all a bit shambolic anyway which is strange for a weekday, but the food was unforgivably bad. We were also dining with a person who wasn’t vegan who told us her food wasn’t great either, bread overly toasted to the point of being quite difficult to eat and menu items not being included in what was served. Having said this, the coffee was good and the plant based cake options were tasty and in abundance. The staff were pleasant too, even though they appeared to be overworked, but we won’t be back.

This place seemed to have decent vegan options so we popped in for an interesting sounding “plant–based rarebit”. After clearing up tables ourselves to seat the three of us, we anticipated our meal. What we got was not a rarebit at all – described as a hot cheese sauce on toasted bread, what came was burnt plasticky plant based grated cheese on two pieces of very overdone bread for just under £10 each. It didn’t even look like food and I am shocked the cook would have been pleased to serve this. You can get very good plant based cheese now which melts well, and rarebit isn’t cheese on toast, but a cheese sauce, which could have been easily made in the kitchen. I went to order drinks, but because the table numbers are reused and you take these numbered cups to your table which are then taken away after clearing (very strange idea), when I went to order another round of drinks – I gave my previous table number and my drinks I paid for in advance were accepted at another table. The staff kindly amended this mistake, but the re–made drinks were sloppily put together in a haste to keep up with the service. The tables were piled with other customers food, having to clear it yourself with nothing to wipe the table over, hunting for cutlery and menus, it was all a bit shambolic anyway which is strange for a weekday, but the food was unforgivably bad. We were also dining with a person who wasn’t vegan who told us her food wasn’t great either, bread overly toasted to the point of being quite difficult to eat and menu items not being included in what was served. Having said this, the coffee was good and the plant based cake options were tasty and in abundance. The staff were pleasant too, even though they appeared to be overworked, but we won’t be back.

We popped into the Trading post for 1 x flat white and 1 x cappuccino £6.80. It took just over 20mins from ordering to have it delivered to our table, the drinks were lukewarm. It seems a popular place with 6 staff on duty. By the coffee machine it was quite crowded with staff all treading on each other’s toes. It seems that things could be organised a a lot better. Even the table numbers we were given staff could not see them and were wander round for some time to deliver food and drinks to people. Maybe calling out the table number may help identify which table it belongs to?

Waited 30 mins for 2 room temperature coffees that cost £6.80. No one clears tables or wipes them down. At least we had cleaning done in the pandemic!

Not been in here for many years but it always seems popular. Needed a coffee so tried it for half an hour and the coffee was very good. They have a choice of five but I took the staff recommendation and it was really tasty. Nice atmosphere and plenty of seating. Seems popular with WFH types - lots of laptops!

Trading Post have gone cashless they should reinstate cash if they wish to have our custom.

Don’t get in a hurry! The coffee here is excellent that I’m not sure it was worth the wait. The staff are less than cordial and I waited 17 minutes for a cappuccino. Certainly not worth that…

Wandered inside to get a take away coffee. The queue was long and I waited patiently for about 20 minutes with my kids and friend waiting outside. The lady infront of me had a dog and was told by 3 members of staff at different times that the dog wasn't allowed in. She explained to each of them she was getting a take away. She eventually got to the front of the queue and ordered a coffee and was told (by one of the same members of staff who'd spoken to her a few minutes before) that the wait time for coffees was 25 minutes. She left irrate, and the server then welcomed me. I asked it is 25 minutes for a coffee? He said yes. I said (politely) it would have been nice to be told that as we've just waited 20 minutes in the queue with staff passing by. A man working at the coffee machine span around and had what I can only describe as a hissy fit. Almost shouting above the noise that it is new staff and that everyone is really stressed, repeating this over and over. I said that my comment was a suggestion but he kept talking loudly over me waving his arms around. I had no idea who this man even was! So I again stated that it was a suggestion. But he kept having a fit. Again I said, that we had been waiting a long time it would have been nice to know, bear in mind several staff members had passed us whilst waiting. He was aggressive and at his limit with everything it seemed. Not sure what on earth was going on there today but I can 100% say that I will never go back to any of the stores!!! Awful experience. Staff need some serious customer service & communication training. You are stressed, I get it, its busy, I get it, there's a delay, I get that too, but having a fit at a customer is unacceptable. Surely there's a better way to handle things?

I've been here several times recently. It's welcoming and the coffee is excellent. The food is very good too. Some really nice touches, like a drinking water tap with fresh glasses for customers to self serve. Usually the music is unobtrusive but on one occasion it was a bit loud and "tinny" for my taste, hence the 4 stars for atmosphere. Well worth a visit.

Went here for breakfast last weekend while visiting Lewes and really enjoyed it. Great coffee and probably the best pain au chocolat I've ever had. Regretted not grabbing a second for the road. The cooked breakfasts were really nice, and the atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable too.

Great coffee choices. Lovely food. Good service.

Almost didn't go to this restaurant due to the terrible TripAdvisor reviews, but Google reviews seemed vastly different so we decided to take a chance on breakfast last weekend. I'm so glad we did - the food was excellent and we didn't have any negative experiences whatsoever. Excellent coffee and probably the best pain au chocolat I've ever had. Regretted not grabbing a second for the road. The cooked breakfasts were really nice, and the atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable too. Great vegan options available & staff at the counter were helpful and friendly. We arrived just after 9 with only two people in the queue ahead of us; it definitely got quite busy by 9:30. Staff were regularly clearing and wiping down tables.

What a disappointment, not dog friendly.

Very tasty cooked breakfast -crisp high quality bacon, sweet roasted tomatoes, decent beans, an intriguing Cumberland sausage, a garlicky and savoury Portobello mushroom and an excellent slice of sourdough toast, with a well poached egg on top. Coffee was a delight; fresh, smooth roast, well crafted. A little on the pricey side but nothing to complain about otherwise!

Really delicious coffee and way better than the usual tax avoiding big coffee chains

Don't bother with this place. Waited over half an hour at a dirty uncleared table for a cup of coffee. Had to ask the server where it was, then the wrong coffee was brought. Over-priced and does not accept cash.

Perfect if you want to wait ages for your (dare I say lovely) coffee, and like clearing your own table from previous customers. Even better if you like being treated like an irritation for mentioning the service was off, and for querying why the app clearly suggests you have a free coffee (I’m not sure how else the “Rewards Screen” showing “Free Coffee or Hot Drink” should mean) - when you apparently don’t. This, unfortunately, is not the first time that we’ve had poor service from Trading Post - it’s pretty commonplace now. Disappointing.

Amazing Coffee, Wonderful Staff, Cracking atmosphere. Whether you want to go do some work or meet up with loved ones. This is the place to be. Highly Highly Recommend to anybody.

Popped in on a Saturday afternoon. Whilst busy I wouldn’t have said it was overly busy, managed to find a seat straight away. Ordered a pork and marmite sausage roll and a caramel latte and a flat white. The sausage roll came to our table within a few minutes and was lush. But after 20 minutes we still hadn’t have our drinks. I went up to ask and were told our drinks were being made and were next. There was another bloke also asking where his drinks were. Quite rightly he said if there was a delay why didn’t the server say when ordering?! Whilst the coffee and sausage roll were nice I’d be wary of going back due to the delay.

One of the best coffees going. Food is good too.

Great place for food and or coffee. Staff seem happy and courteous- Breakfasts here are lush.

Visiting family in the area, what a great cafe. Wonderful food, reasonably priced. Great selection of veg, vegan and meat options Lovely salmon and avocado on toast Fantastic coffee

Great coffee and lovely interior. I had a flat white and a chocolate brownie which were both excellent.