We're highlighting the shortlisted coffee shops in our competition in the News & Star. Each of the establishments will be featured over ten issues.

Cafe Bar Royale has been nominated by News & Star readers as one of the ten finalists in its 'Best Coffee Shop 2024' award.

The coffee shop is located inside Carlisle's Celebrations gift shop on Bank Street and has been family-run since 2004. 

After being informed that Cafe Bar Royale had been nominated by News & Star readers to feature in the final ten of the 'Best Coffee Shop 2024' award, Celebrations director Sonya Haandrikman Sibbald was on hand to express his delight. 

She said: "I was delighted to hear that the News & Star readers have nominated us to be a finalist in the Best Coffee Shop 2024.

"We are a very unique setup, with part of the business being a cafe bar and the other part being a card and gift shop.

"We like to think of ourselves as a destination store, a place where people can come and enjoy our homemade food and cakes as well as spend some time perusing the cards, gifts, fashion accessories, and homewares available in our store.

"We strive every day to make Celebrations the best. We only use the finest coffee beans which are freshly ground and roasted, all our cakes and tray bakes are homemade and all our delicious food is homemade using local ingredients and suppliers.

"Our fabulous team is also second to none, they are dedicated, attentive, and most importantly lovely people.

"Our girls are so friendly and our customers love that. Our team is like a family at Celebrations and our wonderful customers form part of that family."

For Sonya, Cafe Bar Royale and Celebrations is much more than a coffee and gift shop, it is a thriving and friendly community that is open to everyone.

She said: "It is heart-warming for me to know that our customers see Celebrations as a community hub, a place where they can meet friends and family and spend an enjoyable experience together.

"We also have a lot of people that visit us on their own, some of these people have formed special friendship groups and the group of ladies who come in every morning are just fabulous, they are like a group of naughty school girls when they get together.

"We get some lovely gents in too, one comes in every morning and reads his News & Star and some come in specially to have a chat with our friendly team.

"This is a place where friendships are formed and special bonds are made."