Ma Bakers Café, Prees Heath

The one people drive past

There are three cafés at Prees Heath, a couple of doors apart where the A41 meets the A49. Most riders pull into the Raven, because it’s the one you see first and the one everyone’s heard of. Plenty of them think they’ve been to Ma Bakers when they haven’t. People mix the two up all the time.

We’ve eaten at all three. Ma Bakers wins every time, and it isn’t close.

Why it gets the sticker

It’s built for bikers, by people who ride. The owner rides himself, and he and his wife are usually there, chatting to whoever’s at the counter. You get the same friendly welcome on a busy Sunday morning as on a quiet Tuesday.

The biker side isn’t a theme painted on the walls. There’s a rail of second-hand kit, with the money going to the Blood Bikes, the volunteers who carry blood and medical supplies between hospitals for free. There are charity ride outs, and Thursday bike nights from 5pm right through the riding season.

It’s also busy for a reason. Prees Heath is the perfect stop before you head into Wales or down to Shrewsbury, so on a dry morning you’ll see riders gathering here before heading off. We use it the same way: our Bwlch y Groes ride out started here with cherry pie.

Winter

This is the bit that won us over. In winter there’s a wood burner going and a rack by it to dry your gloves. Sit there with a coffee, chat to the owners and let the feeling come back into your fingers. You can’t put a price on that in January.

To be fair, one reviewer in February 2025 found it cold inside and the radiators off. That’s not what we found, but it’s worth knowing it isn’t always toasty.

The food

Normal café food, done properly. Bacon baps, sausage baps, a full English, omelettes, poached eggs, homemade cakes. Mel had cherry pie with custard and whipped cream for breakfast, like a responsible adult. The coffee is proper coffee, so lattes and flat whites, not a jar of granules.

Prices sit in the middle: not the cheapest round here, not the most expensive, and the same every time.

Three cafés, a few yards apart

The Raven is the big one at the junction and the one you’ll see first. The old roadhouse there, the Raven Hotel, was once called the Wild Raven Inn; we couldn’t find out where the name came from. “Lynn’s Raven Cafe” stopped trading at the end of 2019 and reopened under new owners as The New Raven Cafe around 2020. It’s built for lorries, not bikes: parking for about 30 trucks, showers and a deal on meals for drivers. It’s a perfectly good café. The problem is that everyone confuses it with Ma Bakers, pulls in, and rides off thinking they’ve been. That’s a crying shame.

The Midway Truck Stop is a traditional transport café behind the big car park across the road. A Desperate Dan breakfast, oatcakes and a lot of happy lorry drivers. Plenty of people prefer it. It isn’t aimed at bikes, but on the big summer bike nights it often fires up a barbecue, which is a nice touch.

Ma Bakers is the small one with the red “Café” sign. Consistently friendly, consistently bike-focused, and the one we’d send a mate to.

What might be coming: drive-thrus

There’s a planning application (26/01570/FUL) for three takeaway units on the Raven’s car park, two doors down. The developer has named a Starbucks and a KFC with drive-thrus, plus a Greggs. The Raven would stay.

It hasn’t been decided. When we checked on 2 November 2026, 21 of the 23 public comments objected, and so did Whitchurch Rural Parish Council, which says the extra traffic could be a hazard for motorbikes. See where it stands now.

Our view is in the video. The short version: there are three independent cafés here already and nobody asked for a cut-and-paste coffee shop. If you want places like Ma Bakers to still be here in ten years, buy your breakfast from them.

The bad bits

• Potholes. The road in is rough. Ride it like a lane, not an A-road.
• The car park is small. Use the big one across the road at the truck stop, and don’t follow the crowd into the Raven’s gravel car park.
• Police. The junction gets regular police and multi-agency road checks, and on busy summer Thursday bike nights they often turn up in numbers. That’s no problem if you’re riding legally, but it can feel intimidating. The A41 has had a long argument over speed cameras too. Ride accordingly.
• The junction itself. There have been fatal motorcycle crashes near the A41 and A49 roundabout, in 2017 and again in 2023. Take it seriously.
• Neighbours. There are houses right next door. Keep the revs down when you leave.
• Getting the wrong café. Look for the red “Café” sign and the Ma Bakers board, not the Raven.

While you’re at Prees Heath

The common behind the cafés has more history than you’d guess. It was an army training camp in the First World War, an internment camp in 1940, and then RAF Tilstock, a bomber training airfield whose runway crossed the A41 (the road was closed for the war). Part of it is now a Butterfly Conservation reserve, the last Midlands home of the silver-studded blue.

Would we go back?

We already do. We’ve been coming here since we started riding, and it’s often our first stop of the day, for breakfast. Nobody asked us to write this and nobody paid for it. It’s where this sticker belongs.