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Coffee house · Celebration cakes · The upstairs room

The Sele Pantry Fourteen years on Priestpopple.

Bacon on at seven, door open at eight. Dog bowls by the door, everything but the bread baked here each morning — and an upstairs room that's ready for whatever Saturday, or the worst week of the year, asks of it.

A wake by Friday? Start here. Confirmed within a day, whatever the notice Order a celebration cake

Wake catering arranged at short notice. Ring, and it's confirmed within a day.

A bacon roll wrapped in paper being passed across the café counter at seven in the morning, steam rising behind

How the house runs

One day on Priestpopple

Not a mission statement — just what happens here between seven and mid-afternoon, most days, and has since 2011. Brunch on Priestpopple until half eleven, the counter full by nine, and the upstairs room laid for whoever needs it.

  1. 7.00

    Bacon going onto the hot griddle at seven in the morning

    Bacon on, coffee for us before it's for you. The griddle's warm before the town is. Door open at eight.

  2. 9.00

    A tray of scones coming out of the oven with traybakes cooling alongside

    Everything but the bread is out of the oven — scones, traybakes, the day's cakes cooling by the hatch.

  3. 10.00

    A white tablecloth shaken out over a trestle table upstairs, chairs half-set around it

    Upstairs, white cloths and forty chairs. Some weeks it's a christening. Some weeks it isn't.

  4. 11.30

    Brunch plates waiting on the serving hatch pass with order slips clipped above

    Last brunch orders. Full plates until half eleven, then the lunches and the specials board take over.

  5. Afternoon

    A white cake box being taped shut on the counter, ready for collection

    A christening cake boxed, taped and collected — ready when you said you'd come.

Whatever the day asks — ring, and it's confirmed within a day.

Leave your number We ring back the same day

Function room hire in Hexham — seats forty

The upstairs room, laid twice

The same room, the same morning light, ten o'clock. Once with a cake and bunting for a Saturday christening tea. Once with plain white cloths for a Monday wake. The house doesn't change; it just listens to what the day needs.

The upstairs room set for a christening tea, a celebration cake centred on a white-clothed table with bunting
The same upstairs room laid plainly with white cloths, folded napkins and chairs set for a wake
Saturday — a christening tea The same room. The same care. Monday — a wake

Seats forty With its own serving hatch, so the food arrives without the fuss. Dogs and pushchairs welcome upstairs too.

The house handles the lot Tea and proper coffee, sandwiches, scones, traybakes and cakes — everything but the bread baked here that morning.

Or we come to you Buffet catering delivered locally around Hexham, for rooms that aren't ours.

One phone call, and the room, the food and the timing are ours to sort — not yours.

If the week is a hard one, start here
A hand smoothing a white tablecloth on the upstairs table in soft daylight

A wake by Friday

Tell us today, and Friday is sorted. Wake catering in Hexham, confirmed within a day — whatever the notice.

We've laid the upstairs room for hundreds of families since 2011. Short notice is normal here, not a favour.

You'll deal with people who do this every week, and who'll be kind about it.

  • Numbers: up to forty seated upstairs, with its own serving hatch — or a funeral tea delivered as a buffet, locally around Hexham.
  • What's included: sandwiches, scones, traybakes and cake, tea and proper coffee — everything but the bread baked here that morning.
  • Allergens: written down for every item, without you having to ask.
  • Paperwork: £5m public liability cover, for venues that need it in writing.

Confirmed within a day.

Ring today, or send this instead if you can't face a call yet — we answer wake enquiries the same day, and we'll ring you back gently.

Rather write it down? Send this — we'll ring you back today.

Wake and function enquiries answered the same day. Funeral tea catering for Hexham and round about, at whatever notice the week has given you.

How we handle what you send us

Celebration cakes in Hexham, made to order

Cakes worth the drive

Fortieths, christenings, retirements, anniversaries, small weddings — baked on site, iced how you ask, and boxed on the counter ready when you said you'd come.

The cake board

Written like the blackboard downstairs — plainly.

Proper spongebirthdays & christenings

Jam and buttercream, iced how you ask — with your words on top, spelt right the first time.

Rich fruitanniversaries & small weddings

Dark, dense and old-school — the cake that keeps, for occasions built to last.

Lemonretirements, mostly

Sharp enough to argue with. Retirements seem to ask for it — we've stopped wondering why.

Chocolatethe fortieths

Layers, not restraint. The one the birthday crowd photographs before anyone's allowed a slice.

Sized for a family tea or the full room of forty. Every cake quoted within 24 hours, with the price in writing — and allergens written down for every bake, without being asked.

Order yours — quoted within 24 hours

Boxed and ready when you said you'd come.

A finished celebration cake being lowered into a white box on the counter by flour-dusted hands
Boxed on the counter — collection day.

What the town says

Three hundred and forty-one opinions

The busy front room mid-morning, coats on chair backs, a dog bowl by the door and steam on the window

“The bacon rolls are worth setting an alarm for, and I'll argue it's the best coffee in Hexham with anyone who's got a minute.”

A weekday regular

“They did Mam's wake at three days' notice. Nobody rushed us, nothing was too much bother, and the room felt like someone's front parlour.”

A family the Pantry catered for

“Ordered a fortieth cake with a written price the next morning. Collected it boxed, exactly when they said, exactly as I'd asked.”

A birthday order, collected on the day

“The dog gets his bowl before I get a menu. That's the right order of things, and it's why we're in every Sunday.”

A Sunday regular, dog included

4.7 from 341 Google reviews, and counting. We don't frame them; we just keep the kettle on.

The painted bottle-green shopfront seen from across the street, windows glowing against Hexham sandstone
The Sele Pantry — Priestpopple, Hexham, Northumberland

Where the door is, and when it opens

Priestpopple, Hexham

Monday to Friday
8.00 – 4.00
Saturday
8.30 – 4.30
Sunday
9.00 – 2.00

7.00 — bacon on. 8.00 — door open. You can usually smell which one you've arrived at.

A dog friendly cafe in Hexham from the day we opened — the bowls are by the door, and upstairs counts too.

Whatever the day asks — ring, and it's confirmed within a day. No number to hand? Leave yours above — we ring back the same day.