Ethan Doyle White, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Eat and drink · Malmesbury
The Abbey Café, Malmesbury
A café inside Malmesbury Abbey, open Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 3.30pm, with Fairtrade coffee, soup, toasties and cakes, and tables in the Cloister Gardens in warm weather.
Coffee and a bacon roll inside a Norman abbey church, served by the abbey's own café. It is simple, daytime and closed on Sundays, and it shuts now and then for a wedding or a funeral.
- Good: Inside Malmesbury Abbey, Monday to Saturday
- Good: Fairtrade coffee, soup, toasties and cakes
- Good: Garden tables in the Cloister Gardens in summer
- Worth knowing: Closed on Sundays
- Worth knowing: Closes now and then for weddings and funerals
- Worth knowing: Garden entrance has steps; use the main door
About
The Abbey Café is inside Malmesbury Abbey, the church that survives from the Benedictine monastery founded here in the seventh century. It opens from Monday to Saturday, 9.30am to 3.30pm.
It serves freshly ground Fairtrade barista coffee from Kingdom Coffee, teas and soft drinks, sandwiches, toasties, soup, cakes and cookies, and bacon rolls. You sit inside the church, entering by the main door, or in warmer weather go out through the old door into the Cloister Gardens behind the abbey and take a garden table. The garden door has steps; the main entrance avoids them.
Now and then the café closes while a wedding or funeral takes place, though in fine weather the outside tables stay open with a shorter menu. You can email an order ahead and collect it, and groups can arrange a takeaway light lunch or an afternoon tea.
The abbey itself opens Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 4pm and on Sundays from 12.30pm to 3.30pm, free with donations welcome. The Athelstan Museum is in the town hall, and our walk by the River Avon circles the town below the abbey in about an hour.
Opening hours and season
| Monday | 09:30 to 15:30 |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 09:30 to 15:30 |
| Wednesday | 09:30 to 15:30 |
| Thursday | 09:30 to 15:30 |
| Friday | 09:30 to 15:30 |
| Saturday | 09:30 to 15:30 |
| Sunday | Closed |
Closed on Sundays. Occasionally closed during a wedding or funeral, when in fine weather the outside seating stays open.
The details
- Food
- Café food
- Serving
- Breakfast · Lunch
- Booking a table
- Walk-ins only
- Features
- Café · Garden or terrace
Location
Accessibility
- Step-free access
The abbey says the garden entrance from the Cloister Gardens has steps and that the main entrance is the better choice if you need to avoid them; staff will help.
Places to stay nearby
-
The Old Bell
Hotel · Malmesbury
A Grade I listed hotel beside Malmesbury Abbey, which says it has welcomed guests since 1220, with the Abbey Row restaurant, afternoon tea and dogs welcome.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
-
The Kings Arms, Malmesbury
Inn · Malmesbury
A refurbished coaching inn with 15 rooms and a tapas restaurant on Malmesbury's High Street, two minutes' walk from the abbey.
Verified Nov 2026
-
The Stables at The Rookery
Self-catering · Malmesbury
Two self-catering cottages for couples on the edge of Malmesbury: the Stables, in a listed stone stable, and the Coach House, where dogs stay free.
Dog-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Old Bell 0.1 km away
- Athelstan Museum 0.1 km away
- The Kings Arms, Malmesbury 0.2 km away
- The Three Cups Inn 0.2 km away
Sights nearby
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Malmesbury Abbey
Sight · Church · Malmesbury
The surviving nave of Malmesbury's great Norman abbey church, built mostly about 1160 to 1180 and the parish church since 1541, with a south porch of carved Romanesque Apostles and King Athelstan's empty tomb. Grade I; free, open daily.
-
St Paul's Bell Tower, Malmesbury
Sight · Historic building · Malmesbury
The tower and spire of St Paul's, Malmesbury's medieval parish church, left standing alone on the edge of the abbey churchyard after the church fell. It has clocks below its spire and still holds a ring of eight bells, long rung for the abbey. Grade I.
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Market Cross, Malmesbury
Sight · Historic building · Malmesbury
Malmesbury's octagonal stone market cross of the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, a vaulted shelter with pinnacles, flying buttresses and a lantern of saints, built, John Leland wrote, to keep poor market folk dry. Grade I; free.
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River Avon at Malmesbury
Sight · River · Malmesbury
The two branches of the Bristol Avon that almost ring Malmesbury's hilltop and meet below it, with riverside meads, old mill sites, Daniel's Well and a level path round the town. Free, on public paths and town council parks.