New Sheffield city centre cafe launched by siblings to offer "tasty and affordable food"

Slightly tucked away from the city centre chaos but still within the city centre, Albie’s is the perfect place for a catch up with friends over lunch.

Having only opened last year, it is a relatively new but thriving cafe.

Run by Robyn and Fraser Hodges, Albie’s offers speciality coffees, breakfast and lunch items, from early morning to late afternoon.

The siblings both went to university in Sheffield and had worked in some of the city’s bars and restaurants.

They realised that there wasn’t much for workers in the Snig Hill area that offered affordable and tasty food.

Taking inspiration from this, Robyn and Fraser, aged 23 and 24, opened up their own cafe.

Starting out with only three seats, Albie’s quickly gained popularity, leading to expansion of the cafe into the downstairs area - which is also available to hire.

Robyn said: “We use nice quality food that is fresh everyday.

“We wanted to do normal food that is affordable and tasty rather than basic.

“It’s £2.40 for a coffee here but in other places it might be £2.60 - we want to keep it affordable so people keep coming throughout the day.”

Immediately upon stepping inside, friendly staff greeted and welcomed us to grab a seat while someone brought us a menu.

Albie’s has a trendy vibe, with its range of different seating and minimalistic decor.

The menu offers a selection of breakfast items, bagels, salads and baked potatoes, either to eat in or take out.

There are also pastries and cakes on display at the counter - though as expected by lunchtime, some had already sold out.

We placed our order at the counter, where just under £20 bought us bagels, coffee and sweet pastries for two people.

Paying before you eat means there’s no having to wait to get someone’s attention when you’ve finished eating, which can only be a good thing for the many busy office workers that seem to frequent the cafe.

The menu states that ‘there may be a wait during busy periods’ and although the staff were a little more rushed off their feet due to absence, our food still arrived in good time.

The Albie’s signature bagel, at £3.80 - consisting of crispy bacon, cream cheese, cherry tomatoes and cracked black pepper - had just the right amount of each ingredient and definitely satisfied any hunger pangs.

The grill melt bagel, at £4 - consisting of ham, grilled cheese and a fried egg - was equally satisfying. Credit to the chef for cooking up a perfectly fried egg, which is so often overdone!

With our cronut pastries - a cross between a croissant and a doughnut - still left to eat and running short on time, we took these to go. Staff were very quick and helpful in providing us with paper bags and napkins.

The cronuts were very much a delightful afternoon treat - at £3.30 each, there is a choice of chocolate covered cronuts, meringue topped ones, or even cronuts with a brownie in the middle.

Sharing the brownie cronut and the chocolate covered cronut, we both agreed that the pastries were deliciously sweet and flaky, though one was more moist than the other.

We will definitely be back to try the other variations, just like another passing customer who said he would be ‘back tomorrow’.

Albie’s may be a newer addition to Sheffield’s coffee shop scene, but its popularity is evidently growing.

They have a constantly evolving menu, the staff are friendly and it is in an ideal location, whether it be for a social meeting or you want to get a bit of work done.

Albie’s is open Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 4pm.

See: https://www.albiescoffee.co.uk/