Imagine a High Bridge Cafe

High Bridge Café, Lincoln, UK

We have posted about the High Bridge in Lincoln, UK on this blog before, but I had no idea that the building on the bridge is, in fact, now occupied by a café.  The Stokes High Bridge in Lincoln was built about 1160 AD and is believed to be the oldest building on a bridge in the UK still standing. Now, we have just received the information below which makes one imagine what could be at or near our historic High Bridge over the Harlem River.  Please pardon the British language below, but a local frequenter of the Stokes café says,

"An excellent Tudor style coffee house situated in the centre of Lincoln by the canal. Waitress service no paper cups and to cap it all they do a very good egg and sausage sandwich. The coffee is excellent, the café a little bit on the cold side first thing, but there are soon queues for tables.

The quainter dinning areas are upstairs but there is no lift so difficult if you have mobility issues. The shop on the ground floor sells some interesting local produce as well."

Stokes on High Bridge, in an Elizabethan building, on a Norman Bridge over the River Witham flowing through the centre of Lincoln, is one of the top coffee shops in the country.
https://keithpp.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/cappuccino-in-stokes-on-high-bridge

last modified 1/14/1016

Namesake High Bridge in Lincoln, England, UK

© Copyright David Dixon and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License

Unfortunately, the High Bridge crossing the Harlem River in New York is not the only High Bridge.

In Lincoln, England, UK there is a much older bridge with the same name.  The Twelfth century road bridge carries shops and houses. It was restored and partly reconstructed in 1902 by William Watkins of Lincoln. 

The bridge is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and grade I listed structure (English Heritage Building ID: 486019 Link British Listed Buildings). Reputedly, it is the oldest bridge in the United Kingdom which still has buildings on it. It was built about 1160 AD and a chapel built in 1235 dedicated to Thomas Becket was removed in 1762 with the current row of shops dating from 1550. 

If only our New York High Bridge had such a distinguished history.