Don’t Miss: Cliffs Welcomes New Owners
cliftonville’s cafe institution gets a refresh and new owners
Lorenzo and Loren from La Trattoria are the new owners of Cliffs
A decade in, Cliftonville's favourite community café, Cliffs, is entering its next chapter with new owners, a new menu and some big plans for the future.
From Friday 8 May, Cliffs passes into the hands of Lauren and Lorenzo, the couple behind La Trattoria, who have spent the past 18 months already embedded in the Cliffs community through their evening residency there and at Bar Nicoletta. The Bus Café gang, who built Cliffs into the beating heart of the Cliftonville high street, handed over the keys on 4 May.
The timing feels significant. Cliffs has always been more than a café.
When it opened ten years ago, it was one of the early anchors of what would become the Cliftonville creative scene, a place to work, meet, eat and feel part of something. Lauren and Lorenzo are taking that seriously.
Cliffs enters a new chapter and a new decade
The new chapter brings a refreshed menu (scroll down for our highlights), a switch to Skinny Dip coffee, and an expanded co-working offer including memberships and a dedicated food menu for regulars working from the upstairs space. Plus longer opening hours so you can work til 4pm and get a coffee past 3pm (which is rare in Margate).
the evening line up
More evening pop-ups are already in the diary, La Trattoria will remain serving Thu - Sat in the evenings but Tini’s Tacos will now be in residence every Tue evening with (amazing tacos, 3 different Margaritas, tequila shots and why not, Mariachi band for a little entertainment)and vegan Japanese fusion, Komorebi Kitchen, will take over every Wed.
Plus there are new plans for the basement that haven't been revealed just yet.
The resident Cliffs community is staying put. Ghost Papa, Sally and Stirling Hair remain exactly where they are.
Cliffs’ new menu
Gone are the loaded hash browns and slider crumpets.
Say hello to reimagined brunch classics such as Eggs Royale with salmon pastrami and Brioche French toast, plus, Cliffs will have a much larger, possibly healthier lunch menu with delicious salads, paninis and dishes like saucisson tartare on the menu.
And as you’d expect from these two, there’s a new menu of wines available, plus a range of spritzes and brunch cocktails like Mimoas plus you’ll be able to get a draught pint in Cliffs for the first time ever - and for only £4.50.
Lauren and Lorenzo have described their ambition clearly: they want to make Cliffs a cornerstone of Margate again.
Given what they have built with La Trattoria, and the genuine affection this town has for Cliffs, that feels like a realistic promise rather than a stretch goal.
Cliffs is open every day from 8.30am to 5.30pm.
