Royce Rolls Cafe

I bumped into this little café while I was strolling through St Nicholas’ market and I’m so happy I did! I eat gluten free, nut free, and vegetarian and this place has the most delicious snacks! I had a fab potato and spinach bhaji, and the vegan caramel bar and I am in love. I wish I lived in Bristol so I could come back twice a week!

Excellent spot for some lunch nosh. It’s not just for veggies; there’s plenty of good eats to be had for us carnivores. It’s also very inexpensive; two people can easily eat lunch for less than £10.

Royce Rolls is a vegetarian and vegan café located within the quirky St Nicholas Market in Bristol — it’s not a building on its own and instead it’s a small area of the undercover section of the market. I came here with my sister one day for tea and a piece of cake and I’m personally not sure what to make of it myself — but I can see why it’s great for vegans. The cake I had was dairy free and I wasn’t keen on the taste — but I think the idea is great and it’s well fitting within the hippy and quirky atmosphere of the surroundings.
The café itself is very cheap which is a bonus, you can get a cup of tea for 85p — it’s also very very informal and casual, they have a mixture of old mugs and you just get any old one from the drying rack — very hippy in style, and hippy in terms of customers. There isn’t a great amount of seating and just a few old wooden tables, we had nowhere to sit so asked this man if we could join him as he was the only one sitting here — and he said we could and then got up and ate the remainder of his food at the counter… very strange.
Basically it’s not really my thing but it’s great as it provides for vegans and veggies, so If you fit into these categories then give it a go!

Never walk past this place when you are hungry and trying to cut out the sweet treats. They always have an immense array of home-​cooked things on display, with gigantic chocolate-​covered flapjacks, millionaires shortbread and various tiffins and when the sun is streaming down through the market’s skylights it’s a lovely little spot to pause. The savoury offerings are also pretty great with huge bread rolls (although these do go quickly so get there early) and baked tatties bursting with fillings. For those with special dietary requirements, there’s also a gluten-​free or vegan selection. They also do a great cuppa if that’s all you are after

This has been one of my favourites for some years now. It is a basic, fuss-​free café, inside the St Nicholas Market. It has delicious simple food, at really affordable prices.
I love going for their fresh bagged foods and cakes in the little baskets on the counter. They are very healthy, and cater for vegans and also have choices of gluten free things too.
They have bread rolls with a choice of fillings that run out very quickly (from 2 pounds), jackets (2.75), soups (2), and also do coffees and a a big selection of teas. Other things that you will find here are filled bagels, clive’s pies, healthy pasties, mixed bean slices and plenty more great lunchtime foods. Also, their array of flapjacks is quite impressive and only cost 80p!
I usually grab a tea and my usual– which is a yummy roast onion, lentil and cranberry slice, which I haven’t yet found anywhere else in Bristol! There are seating areas right next to the café counter — a good shelter from the outside if the weather turns, and it is nice and quiet, to just watch the on goings of St Nicks market.

The Royce Rolls Café in St Nicholas Market has been serving up vegetarian and vegan food since 1979, so it must be doing something right — and the reasonable prices and good choice of veggie fare probably have a lot to do with this.
The first thing you spot as you approach this place is the row of baskets containing a an almost endless variety of chunky sweet treats, from familiar snacks such as tiffin and Millionaire’s Shortbread to more unusual creations such as white chocolate lemon or banoffee flapjacks, or gluten-​free chocolate brownies with raspberry.
But the café also serves up plenty of savoury bites, too, including well-​filled rolls baked locally with loads of different fillings, plus soup (for a couple of pounds) and jacket potatoes.
For drinks, the emphasis is on tea, offering lots of different varieties, although you can also get alternatives.
The café and seating area doesn’t look much, but don’t let this put you off — the food is excellent and it’s all reasonably priced.

After discovering Royce Rolls on a womble around St Nicholas’ market I made it a personal mission to convert all my friends, both veggie and meat-​eater, to it’s delicious fare. When I first walked past their ‘sausage’ rolls, and scotch eggs my eyes glazed over, knowing that these meaty treats were strictly off limits. I’ve been a vegetarian for almost ten years but still can’t resist the look of roast dinner or shepherd’s pie. So imagine my delight when I realised they were 100% veggie friendly!
I know in the past I’ve bored friends to death in the pursuit of convincing them that soya and meat-​like products were just as scrumptious as the real thing, but Royce Rolls is an all-​round winner. Even I can admit that some vegetarian alternatives can taste a bit anaemic and cardboard-​y, but everything from their samosas to their ciabattas are packed with enough flavour to keep everyone happy.
And if you’re in the mood for something sweet — they’ve got something for vegans, vegetarians and carnivores a-​like. Royce Rolls is a hit with market traders, shoppers and tourists: just make sure it’s on your hit list the next time you visit St Nick’s market.

A café called Royce Rolls may sound like a spoonerism but there’s nothing confusing about its culinary provenance. This is a food basket of sterling sustenance that’s been tamping veggie foodstuffs into freshly baked rolls since 1979, which I’m told makes it Bristol’s oldest café.
By keeping the prices down they’ve cultivated a loyal clientele of local office workers and stallholders alike and it’s an ideal place to stop off for a roll ‘n’ bowl of something or a Fair Trade tea at a fair-​trade price when out browsing the stalls in St Nick’s Market.
Lucy, who took the business over a couple of years ago, hails from a foodie background and knows that with pit-​stop catering you have to keep it fresh, filling and unfangled — but don’t think keeping it simple means lesser quality, as there’s nothing naff about this caff — their ciabbata roll filled with chunky-​sliced tomato and Italian herbs drizzled in olive oil is a prime example of stylish simplicity and is now a favourite sandwich combo when I’m having a midnight snack attack.