Yasmina Cafe

The cafe sits in Stanley, a former pit village where a decent cup of tea and a slice of cake still means something. Yasmina Cafe is straightforward - good coffee, simple food, the sort of place locals actually go to rather than somewhere that exists purely for Instagram. It's not fancy, and that's rather the point.

You'll find yourself sat among other regulars who know exactly what they want, which usually involves a full breakfast or one of their baked goods. The staff know people by name. There's a proper community feel to it, the kind you don't get in chain coffee shops. If you're based at nearby Beamish Holiday Park and want somewhere genuine to grab breakfast before heading out, this beats the chain options hands down.

It works best for walkers passing through Stanley on their way to somewhere else, or anyone exploring the North East who fancies an authentic local experience rather than a tourist-oriented cafe. Families won't find anything fancy but kids are welcome and there's proper food alongside the cakes.

The area itself - Stanley and the wider Tyne and Wear region - has real industrial heritage if you're into that sort of thing. Yasmina Cafe is the sort of place you'll stumble back into once you've spent time exploring, because it feels like proper local life rather than something staged for visitors.