Ye Olde Naked Man Café

Introduction

I've lost count of the number of years I have been coming to Settle, it is a favourite place of mine for many reasons and one of those reasons is Ye Olde Naked Man Café. You can't miss it from Settle Market place.

I wasn't sure what Vocal Community to drop this into, because it is both food-focused (Feast) and travel-focused (Wander) but think that maybe Feast is the best place for it.

The Name

I found these snippets on the internet which may explain where the name came from, their website does not give anything away, but that figure on the wall is a good enough reason for me.

This eyebrow-raising name is on account of a black figure painted and carved into its wall whose only appeal to modesty is a date stone (in the shape of a pair of underpants, appropriately) bearing the year 1663, and the initials IC.

The figure (of an old man?) in what appears to be a gibbet cage bears the detail of “1663 IC”. Gibbet cages were used to support the corpses of individuals who had been executed (often for petty crimes) whilst they were “displayed” in public as a warning to others. The body was sometimes stripped naked and tarred to preserve it. The cage apparently also held the corpse together whilst it decomposed since the intention was to have it on display for as long as possible. The grisly practice of gibbeting, which was common in many countries, only died out in England in 1832

In Ye Olde Naked Man Café

The Café does sit in and take away. I met a homeless woman a couple of years back and got her a hot chocolate and and sandwich to keep her going. She wasn't here last year or this year so I hope she has found a home.

When I did the Ingleton Waterfall Walk earlier this week I set myself up with a Jamaican Pastie and a salted caramel latté.

Check out the link to see their amazing number of cakes and sandwich options.

We usually do breakfast and the service is always welcoming and pleasant. At the moment the Café is filled with the amazing artwork of Linda Mellin, that you can see on her website here:

I have had some amazing unusual Hot Chocolates including Ruby Red last year, and Chocolate Orange and White Gingerbread this year.

We always have breakfast here before getting the train back to Newcastle and I usually go for the vegetarian breakfast, and this morning went for poached eggs and ham. These are what I have had over the last two days and there are two more breakfasts at Ye Olde Naked Man Café before our holiday is complete.

You can see lots of their options on their Facebook pages here:

And on Instagram here:

I know a lot of readers of this will not even be in Europe let alone the UK (which I know is not part of Europe for the moment) but this is just get get you interested and salivating.

Like any good eating place, you always have your favourites and then you see something else that you want to try but are too full to eat anything else.

Conclusion

I really cannot give this place enough praise, if anything it seems to get better each year we come. One year, we had a meal with my dad, and he can be incredibly awkward about food at times but he loved it, so that is high praise indeed.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you feel tempted. I am looking forward to breakfast there tomorrow.