Woosters of Bexhill are worthy winners of The Observer Cafe of the Year 2018 competition

Woosters, 4 Western Road, beat off stiff competition to win the coveted title.

The cafe is a long-established, family-run business owned by Linda Brown and her daughter Sophie. It has been open for 20 years and has a strong community following. It is warm and welcoming, with a cosy cottage interior that makes it an ideal place for shoppers to stop off and take a break.

With two floors of seating, there is plenty of room to enjoy the wide range of lunches on offer. Favourites include crispy oven-baked jacket potatoes, toasties, and ploughman's style salad plates, all offering a varied selection of fillings. Speciality lunchtime choices include welsh rarebit, croque monsieur and tuna melt on ciabatta bread. There is also a delicious range of speciality hot pastries.

Where possible, the food is locally sourced for the best quality. Suppliers include the local greengrocers for all the fruit and vegetables and the local butcher for the Sussex sausages and ham.

Scones and cakes are freshly made on the premises daily. Popular homemade cakes are coffee and walnut, and Victoria sponge. Cream teas are also on the menu and they also offer a fantastic high tea-inspired afternoon picnic which can be for two or four people, served on mini picnic benches at £8 a head. Booking for a cream tea or picnic afternoon tea is recommended as the scones are made fresh every day to order. To book one of these call 01424 730998.

For drinks, Woosters serve barista style coffees, speciality teas, hot chocolate and a range of frothy milkshakes. So pop in and try Woosters, if you haven't already. The cafe is open 8.30am-4pm every day except Sunday.

On their win, Sophie said: "We are so happy to have won this award, thank you to all our hardworking team and to our wonderful customers for voting for us. We pride ourselves on being a great meeting place for the community and you all make our hard work so rewarding, so thank you!"

Congratulations to the team at Woosters, and also to our runners up: The Sunshine European Cafe, 56 Queens Road, Hastings; and Cafe Royale, 5 Castle Street, Hastings.