A YORK coffee shop which has built up a loyal following in its community - including four-legged friends - has been shortlisted for an award.

Café at No.12 in Tadcaster Road is shortlisted for the York Press Best Coffee Shop as voted by readers, in a competition recognising the best businesses in the city.

Readers can vote for the Best Coffee Shop 2024 by picking up a copy of The Press newspaper until Saturday December 7 and sending in a voting slip.

Katherine Lowes opened Café at No.12 in 2021Katherine Lowes opened Café at No.12 in 2021 (Image: Kevin Glenton)

The winner is set to be announced in the week commencing December 16.

Katherine Lowes, owner of the coffee shop in Dringhouses, opened her business in 2021 and said they quickly learned a lot about what the customers wanted and have found their feet, especially after making a connection with the local community.

Katherine said: “We have got so many regulars, we’ve seen expectant mums with bumps come in who return with their new babies, we’ve hosted first dates right through to the couple’s engagement.”

A special gallery on one wall of Café at No.12 is reserved for canine friends of the coffee shop who come along with her customers.

Katherine said: “We realised early on the we really love dogs.

“They plant themselves at the front outside, they have to come in for a dog biscuit and get a picture on our dog wall.

“We take the snaps and get them printed off – we know all the dog’s names and I have a picture of my own dog, Pongo, on the wall too.”

The wall of snaps of the café's many four-legged friendsThe wall of snaps of the café's many four-legged friends (Image: Kevin Glenton) The former head chef at The Botanist in Manchester, who was brought up in Heworth and Huntington bakes everything herself apart from some of the bread, using a range of locally sourced ingredients in a menu which includes homemade flatbreads and toasties.

Katherine said: “At the moment, customers are loving the smashed avocado and chilli toast, and our ‘build your own breakfast’ is also popular.

“I actually just love it, every part of the café life, and the hours are a lot nicer to me than in my previous jobs.”

The smashed avocado and chilli on toast with added crisped chilli The smashed avocado and chilli on toast with added crisped chilli (Image: Kevin Glenton) She said it felt amazing for an ‘out of town’ café to be nominated in a York Press competition and was very grateful that people had thought of her coffee shop.

Karolina Kurinskaite was working with Katherine when The Press visited Cafe at no.12Karolina Kurinskaite was working with Katherine when The Press visited Cafe at no.12 (Image: Kevin Glenton) Katherine said: “The people are the nicest thing about running a coffee shop and I would like to thank them all for their support, along with all the team here.

“I have amazing members of staff without whom I could not do what I do.

“Customers always come in with updates to their life stories, we know and remember what they are up to and they really enjoy the community of the coffee shop.

“Our Friday mornings with mums is a great example of this – they come in after dropping off their children at Dringhouses Primary School and they don’t even have to place an order because we know exactly what they want”

“That’s what I set out to create and that’s what’s happening here.”

Katherine said the most popular hot drink at Café at No. 12 is the latte or the flat white.