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Botham's of Whitby

A family bakery on Skinner Street since 1865, still making lemon buns, plum bread and Yorkshire brack, with an upstairs tea room that has fed five generations of Whitby holidaymakers.

Where
Whitby
Time needed
1 hr visit
Tickets
Cream tea about £10 · pot of tea from £3.50
Bakery window and upstairs tea rooms at Botham's of Whitby on Skinner Street Bakery window and upstairs tea rooms at Botham's of Whitby on Skinner Street

What to expect at Botham's of Whitby

Elizabeth Botham founded this bakery in Whitby in 1865 after her husband fell ill, baking to keep the family afloat, and the firm has stayed in the same family ever since — now well past its fifth generation. The Skinner Street premises is the original address in spirit and the flagship in practice: a bakery shop at street level with the tea rooms above, on the west-cliff side of the harbour among the town's Victorian shopping streets. What they bake is genuinely local rather than borrowed: lemon buns, Yorkshire brack, plum bread, resurrection rolls, ginger and treacle spice, and a range of biscuits and cakes tinned for posting, which is how half of Britain first hears of them. The firm also blends its own teas. It is an unglamorous, entirely honest institution in a town that has plenty of seasonal tat.

The tea room upstairs is small, carpeted and old-fashioned in the best sense: linen, china, a view over Skinner Street, and staff who have worked there for years. Order the Yorkshire tea plate and you get a pot, a scone or bun with butter, and a plate of the bakery's cakes; the cream tea is the standard order and the plum bread with Wensleydale cheese is the local one. Downstairs, the shop counter does everything to take away, which is what most visitors actually want on a windy day by the harbour. There is a second Botham's shop and tea room in the town, and further branches along the coast, but Skinner Street is where the queue forms and where the baking feels most rooted.

Plan it as a break rather than a destination — an hour, mid-morning or mid-afternoon, between the Abbey steps and the harbour. It does not take bookings for the tea room in the ordinary way, so arrive outside 12:00-14:30 in summer if you want a table without waiting. Buy tinned biscuits or plum bread to take home; they travel and they are one of the few Whitby souvenirs that is not made overseas. If you are staying locally, note that the shop closes at teatime and the tea room earlier, so it is a daytime plan only. Whitby's parking and traffic can be brutal in August, which is another argument for the train or the bus.

Getting there: Whitby rail station and the bus station share a site at the head of the harbour, a 6-minute walk from Skinner Street via Langborne Road and Flowergate. The Esk Valley line from Middlesbrough takes around 90 minutes and is one of the loveliest branch lines in England, with returns typically £10-£15. Buses X93 and X94 link Scarborough and Middlesbrough along the coast, with day tickets usually £8-£12, and the Coastliner 840 runs from Leeds and York via Malton and Pickering. Drivers arrive on the A171 or the A169 over the moors; park at the Whitby Park & Ride on the A171 in summer, around £4-£5 return per car load, or at the pay and display on Langborne Road, roughly £2-£3 an hour and full by 10:30 in August.

Costs are modest. A pot of tea is around £3.50, coffee about £3.20, a lemon bun or scone in the shop £2-£3, and a cream tea in the tea rooms about £10. A full Yorkshire tea plate runs roughly £12-£15, sandwiches and light lunches around £8-£12, and a tin of assorted biscuits £8-£14, which is the standard present. There is no admission charge, no minimum spend and no concessions. Two people can have tea and cake upstairs for around £22, or spend under £8 buying the same things from the counter and eating them on the harbour wall — which, on a decent day, is the better plan anyway.

The tea room is quietest before 11:00 and after 15:00. July and August bring genuine waits at the counter and a full room upstairs, especially in wet weather when the whole town looks for somewhere indoors. Late April to June and September are the sweet spot in Whitby generally: the light is good, the town is functioning and you can sit down. The two Whitby Goth Weekends, in spring and around Halloween, fill the town completely and are worth either seeking out or avoiding, depending on temperament. Sundays are unreliable out of season — the tea rooms often do not open — and Christmas week runs reduced hours. There is no evening service at all.

It suits older visitors, families wanting a proper sit-down without a restaurant bill, and anyone who has just climbed the 199 steps and needs feeding. The tea room is up a staircase with no lift, so it is not accessible for wheelchair users, though the ground-floor shop is level from the pavement and staff will bring things out. Teenagers are indifferent until the cake arrives. It is an excellent rainy-day plan and a poor plan if you have twenty minutes before the last bus, since service is unhurried. Anyone who wants a flat white and a laptop table should look elsewhere in town; this is a tea room, not a coffee shop.

Fold it into the standard Whitby half-day: the harbour and swing bridge are 6 minutes downhill, the 199 steps and the parish church start 12 minutes away on the east cliff, the Captain Cook Memorial Museum sits on Grape Lane by the harbour, and the beach at West Cliff is 8 minutes north. Fish and chips on Pier Road is the other Whitby institution and the queue there is longer than this one. Honest caveats: the tea room is small and can feel cramped when full; the town centre branch is not a period showpiece and visitors expecting a grand tea salon on the Harrogate model will find something much plainer; and the famous lemon buns sell out on busy afternoons, so buy in the morning if they are the reason you came.

Plan your visit TicketsCream tea about £10 · pot of tea from £3.50 Time needed1 hr visit WhereWhitby Opening hours Shop Mon-Sat 9:00-17:00 Tea rooms Mon-Sat 9:30-16:30 Sunday hours vary seasonally; often closed out of season Hotels near Botham's of Whitby

Questions about Botham's of Whitby

What does Botham's cost?

There is no entry charge — you pay for what you order. A pot of tea is around £3.50 and coffee about £3.20; a lemon bun or scone from the shop counter runs £2-£3; a cream tea in the upstairs tea rooms is roughly £10 and a full Yorkshire tea plate £12-£15. Sandwiches and light lunches sit between £8 and £12, and a tin of assorted biscuits to take home costs £8-£14. Tea and cake for two upstairs comes to about £22.

Are there free or discounted times?

No. This is a working bakery and tea room with no free entry window, no concession rates and no discount days. The cheapest way to eat their baking is from the ground-floor counter rather than the table service upstairs — the same lemon bun costs a couple of pounds to take away and you can eat it on the harbour wall six minutes downhill. There is no loyalty scheme and prices are consistent across the firm's branches.

How long should I allow?

An hour is right for a sit-down tea upstairs, including the wait for a table in summer. Ten minutes is enough if you are buying from the shop counter and taking it away. Service in the tea rooms is deliberately unhurried, so do not attempt it in the twenty minutes before a bus or the Esk Valley train. If you are combining it with the 199 steps and the Abbey, allow half a day for the whole east-and-west cliff circuit.

Which days is it closed?

The Skinner Street shop generally trades Monday to Saturday, roughly 9:00 to 17:00, with the tea rooms upstairs open about 9:30 to 16:30. Sunday opening varies with the season and the tea rooms are frequently closed on Sundays outside the summer months, so check before making a special trip. There is no evening service at any time of year. Christmas and New Year run reduced hours, with full closure on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Can I book a table?

The tea rooms operate mainly on a walk-in basis, so the practical strategy is timing rather than booking: arrive before 11:00 or after 15:00 and you will usually be seated straight away, while 12:00 to 14:30 in July and August means a wait. Larger groups should ring ahead. The two Whitby Goth Weekends and the school summer holidays are the periods when the room is fullest, along with any wet afternoon in high season.

Where is the nearest station and parking?

Whitby's combined rail and bus station is a 6-minute walk via Langborne Road and Flowergate. The Esk Valley line from Middlesbrough takes about 90 minutes with returns around £10-£15; X93 and X94 coastal buses from Scarborough and Middlesbrough and the Coastliner 840 from York and Leeds all stop there. Drivers should use the Park & Ride on the A171 in summer, roughly £4-£5 per car return, since the Langborne Road pay and display fills by about 10:30 in August.

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