A HOSPITALITY team located within a historic building in Taunton have reacted after beating out some "serious established cafes" to be named cafe of the year.
The County Classics Motor Museum cafe, County Café, has been voted the best cafe in Somerset by our readers. After hundreds and hundreds of votes were counted, the team at the County Café in Taunton were presented with the gold Somerset County Gazette Café of the Year Award for 2025.
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Named the best in Somerset, the cafe beat out some stiff competition across the county, with honourable mentions including: the White Post Café, Langford Budville, Ruxtons in Wellington, The Shed in Taunton's Goodland Gardens, and more.
County Cafe was kept on following the introduction of the County Classics Motor Museum, in place of the beloved County Stores, which closed in January 2019.
Inside, customers can enjoy a range of savoury and sweet goods at the cafe, including sandwiches and hot food. The cafe is a part of the County Classics Motor Museum, a non-profit organisation which relies on donations, sponsorship, and volunteers to keep it running.
Tim York from the County Classics Motor Museum spoke to the County Gazette on how proud the staff are after winning the Café of the Year 2025 award.
"We were delighted to be shortlisted for the award, let alone win it," said Tim. "Having read the criteria the County Gazette put out, we understood it would be local readers voting for it, so I said to the team, 'come on, let's really go for it' whilst the voting period is on and try our best to get nominated.
"After we got nominated, we started getting quite a few of our customers who are Gazette readers saying 'oh, we saw you in the paper' or things like 'we're going to vote for you and send our votes off', and you think, that's great to hear and see."
When the Somerset County Gazette closed voting for this award, the team at the County Cafe eagerly anticipated the result, with Tim saying his team regularly asked him for updates on the process.
He added: "After the voting period closed, the guys said to me, 'How've we got on?' and 'Is there any news yet?' and then we were given the certificate, we all just thought wow, that's amazing.
"We've since taken some copies of the award and laminated them around the museum because the team are rightly proud of achieving it.
"You've only got to look at some of the other cafes we were up against on that shortlist, and you think, blimey, there's some seriously good established cafes there.
"It was a lovely surprise."
A big reason the County Cafe is around and about today is thanks to the late former owner, Pat Hawkins
Tim has spoken with Pat's widow, Janet, and revealed how this win isn't just for the team at the County Cafe, it's for Pat too.
"Absolutely, this award is for Pat.
"Pat would be the first to give credit to the cafe. He absolutely would. He would be so proud that we won that award. I spoke to his widow, Janet, and she is over the moon about it. The first thing she said to me was, 'Pat would be so proud'.
"We still do everything for him here, and we still often go, 'oh, what would Pat do?' so we make sure that we keep all of the good things he brought in, whilst keeping with the times present and future as well.
"Pat would be absolutely delighted and really proud of the cafe team, as are we."
You can find the County Classics Motor Museum cafe, County Café, at 52 North Street, Taunton, TA1 1ND.
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