Blog | Wakefield Civic Society Restaurant of the Year 2015 announced

Wakefield Civic Society Restaurant of the Year 2015 announced

Posted on 19 April 2016 by

Started in 2010, Wakefield Civic Society’s monthly Dining Club members continue to sample restaurants in and around the city centre, recording their findings at each venue visited by awarding scores for their overall experience. At the end of the year, the scores are totted up and the establishment gathering the highest scores is presented with the Society’s Restaurant of the Year Award.

In 2015, Dining Club members visited another twelve establishments and there was a clear winner.

Create Café, based in Wakefield One, was declared the winner of the Society’s 2015 Restaurant of the Year at the Society’s AGM and Awards Evening held on Thursday evening 14^th April.

“The café serves a mix of hot and cold food during the day but isn’t usually open on an evening when the Society’s Dining Club meets” explained Society president Kevin Trickett, “but they will consider special openings for group bookings.

“We are always looking for new venues and have made use of the café’s facilities on occasion as a refreshment stop for some of our guided walks during the daytime but café manager Shaun Mounsey agreed to open as a one-off for our group. Unfortunately, I had a prior commitment on the night in November last year when the Dining Club paid their visit to Create Café, so I wasn’t able to go. However, I heard so many good reports from those who were there on the night that it was going to be a strong contender for our Restaurant of the Year Award. I wasn’t all that surprised therefore when our Dining Club organiser, Jean Broadbent, told me that the Café had indeed carried off the award achieving the highest score over the year”.

Dining Club members rate their overall experience of each venue based on comfort and ambience, quality of the food, quality of the service, and value for money. Kevin added “Our Dining Club now has around 50 members and we regularly get anywhere between 20 and 40 people turning up for our monthly dining nights now. This can be challenging for any establishment but Café Create rose to that challenge and provided a really enjoyable experience for our members. It’s not just about the food; it’s also about the service and how welcome our members are made to feel on the night – and by all accounts, they really felt at home at Create Café!”

Our photo, by committee member John Bickerdike, shows café manager Shaun Mounsey (left) collecting the award from Mayor or Wakefield Councillor June Cliffe MBE and Society Treasurer Jean Broadbent, accompanied by one of the café chefs, Mark Williamson.