Food and drink

Find out everything you need to know about food and drink at the Horniman, from where to have your picnic to what time the Café kiosk closes.

The Horniman Café

The Café is open from 9am daily.

Sunday-Fridays

  • 3.30pm: Kitchen closes
  • 5.30pm: Cafe closes

Saturdays, school holidays and Bank Holidays

  • 4.30pm: Kitchen closes
  • 5.30pm: Cafe closes

We serve a delicious range of hot and cold meals, sandwiches, biscuits, fair-trade teas and coffees, and cold drinks.

We have menus for adults and children, vegan and vegetarian options, as well as gluten-free foods. Ask the Café staff for more information about what’s on offer.

We only use the best quality produce from suppliers we are proud to work with including Volcano Coffee Works, Birchall Tea, Blackbird Bakery, Billings Fishmonger and Butcher, and Marshfield Farm Ice Cream.

If you visit the Horniman Café regularly, don’t forget to pick up a loyalTEA card – any hot drink you buy will earn you a stamp. Buy nine hot drinks and get the tenth on the house. We accept reusable cups and you can also purchase Horniman branded reusable cups from the Café.

The Café gets very busy between 11.30am and 2.30pm, and especially so during weekends and school holidays.

Bandstand Café Kiosk

The Café Kiosk in the Gardens by the Bandstand is open serving hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, snacks and ice-cream (no hot food).

Open daily from 9am – 4pm.

Two women at a table in a garden talking
Meeting friends at the Horniman, Sophia Spring
Glass building with seating and tables outside. Clear sunny day.
Dine in style at the Horniman Conservatory.
Chicken slices and salad in a bowl on a table with green are in the background.
Tasty hot food and salads from the Horniman Café.
A busy cafe with table and chairs full of adults and children eating. The space is light and airy with glass walls.
The Cafe is popular with our visitors, Sophia Spring
large sandwhich on a plate and table near glass building.
Try one of our tasty sandwiches.
Two adults and a child are sat at a table on a terrace in the sun. eating food. There are hedges, trees and a green roofed building behind them.
The Cafe terrace is a lovely spot to enjoy in sunny weather, Sophia Spring

Visiting Safely

  • There are toilets available to Cafe visitors to the right of the counter, and the lockers are accessible via the Cafe too.
  • We encourage the use of contactless payment methods at the Cafe and kiosks.

Being Green

You can refill your water in the Cafe, or at one of the two water fountains in the Gardens (on the Avenue near the entrance and opposite the Bandstand). You can also bring your reusable cups to the cafe for when you order a coffee, and cut down on waste.

The meat we serve is locally sourced, as well as our beer, breads and homemade cakes, and the fish is from sustainable sources.

The Café has replaced single-use takeaway plastics with Vegware products made from plants, including disposable coffee cups and straws. The Café has introduced CanO water for those who want to take away, as aluminium cans are infinitely recyclable.

Waste produced by the Café is composted using an on-site Ridan composter for use in the Gardens, and Café staff sort waste left on tables for recycling.

Picnics

If you want to bring your own food and drink to the Horniman for a picnic, you can find great spots all over the Gardens. The Dutch Barn is open daily for picnicking in rainy weather – it is located opposite the Bandstand in the Gardens.

Please refrain from eating and drinking in the Museum, as this can attract pests which damage the collections.

If you are unsure of the best picnic spots, please ask one of our Visitor Hosts.

Three cakes on a table in an outdoor setting. One cake has strawberries on it and one is chocolate. The other looks like walnuts are on top.
The Horniman Cafe cakes are delicious, Sophia Spring
Two adults and a child are sat at a table on a terrace in the sun. eating food. There are hedges, trees and a green roofed building behind them.
The Cafe terrace is a lovely spot to enjoy in sunny weather, Sophia Spring
A family with parents children and grandparents are eating a picnic in a Garden
Enjoy a picnic in the Gardens, Megan Taylor
A plate with two biscuits next to two coffees in white china cups. One biscuit is shaped like an owl and the otehr had a picture of a walrus and the word walrus on it.
You can buy food to eat in the cafe or take away to enjoy in the Gardens, Sophia Spring
A busy cafe with table and chairs full of adults and children eating. The space is light and airy with glass walls.
The Cafe is popular with our visitors, Sophia Spring

Unfortunately, even very careful eaters can leave crumbs which attract pests. These pests can damage our collections. 

In sunny weather, the Gardens have lots of great picnic spots.

During cold or wet weather you are welcome to use our Dutch Barn picnicking space. This is open daily.

The Dutch Barn is opposite the Bandstand on a raised terrace, next to the Pavilion. Find a map of the Gardens or watch this film showing the route from the entrance to the Bandstand terrace:

You can find more information on the schools plan your visit pages which will tell you about where to go and how to book your spaces.