The Folly, Settle: How a 17th-century Yorkshire Dales coffee house has helped to increase visitors by 900%

The Folly Coffee House in Settle was named Museum Cafe of the Year at the Museum and Heritage Awards – beating off competition from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield.

Since it opened in the house’s original kitchens in 2017, the cafe has contributed to a 900 per cent increase in visitors to the museum building – from 3,500 to 35,000 in 2022. Its manager, Victoria Murray, was originally a volunteer before taking on the project, and there are now 12 staff.

Built in 1679, The Folly is a Grade I-listed townhouse and the long-term home of the Museum of North Craven Life. Yet over the centuries it has been home to several family businesses serving food.

The Coffee House still has holes in its stonework from where there was a roasting spit in front of the fire, and what is now the ‘snug’ at the back of the cafe had a bread oven in a former staircase. Between 1841 and 1859, a widow called Jane Ingham ran a bakery there, selling traditional ‘havercakes’.

By 1895 the offering was more refined, when the area was taken over by Taylor’s Refreshment Rooms. In 1904, there was a fish and chip bar and a potato wholesalers.

Victoria Murray said: “We've had an incredible time at the Museum and Heritage Awards and are ecstatic to have won. It's been exhausting but I am over the moon. What an amazing experience."

The chair of the building’s owners, the North Craven Building Preservation Trust, Heather Lane added: "I'm so proud of everything that our fantastic Coffee House team has achieved since we opened in 2017. This award is recognition of their hard work, their excellent customer service and their commitment to supporting the local economy by sourcing as much as possible from local suppliers.”

The volunteer-led charitable trust also runs the neighbouring Zion Chapel. The Folly is the only Grade I-listed historic house in the Yorkshire Dales that is open to the public.

After the original owner, solicitor Richard Preston’s daughter sold The Folly, it was, incredibly, owned by the same family, the Dawsons, from 1702 until 1980. They leased it out to tenants, and during its colourful history it was a farm, warehouse, furniture shop and bank. In the 19th century, there were often over 20 people living in the house.

The last Dawson, Philip, sold The Folly, and the charity bought it in 1996, eventually reuniting both halves of the building, which had ended up in separate ownership, in 2010.