We visit the tiny greasy spoon cafe inside a shipping container on a Bristol trading estate

‘Morning mate, the usual?’ - that was the cheery welcome from Stephen ‘Tommo’ Thomas as another customer arrived at Tommo’s Cafe for a pre-work bacon sandwich.

A converted shipping container sprayed with a colourful mural depicting a Full English breakfast, Tommo’s Cafe just might be the smallest greasy spoon in Bristol. There are just three tables for customers, each covered in retro plastic red and white gingham tablecloths.

Located in the shadow of a vast wholesale warehouse surrounded by laminators, fabricators, scaffolders and car workshops, it’s tucked away on the Brislington Trading Estate close to Bath Road.

With McDonald’s, Subway and Greggs all within a short walking distance, there is plenty of competition when it comes to breakfast trade in the area but Tommo’s Cafe has a loyal following from nearby businesses rather than students at St Brendan's sixth form college around the corner.

And Tommo’s Cafe manages to compete with the big corporate brands by keeping prices as low as possible.

That means a jacket potato with cheese and beans is £4.50, burgers are £5 and ham, egg and chips just £6. Drinks include a mug of tea for £1 and coffee at £1.50.

I went for the ‘small’ breakfast (good value at £7) and it was larger than many versions I’ve had. There was a plump and juicy sausage, a huge rasher of good quality bacon, a perfectly fried egg, hash browns, beans and a pile of doorstep-deep sliced toast slathered with butter.

It was an excellent and generous breakfast for the price, which includes tea or coffee.

Had I gone for the ‘large’ breakfast (£8.50), I would have struggled to finish off two sausages, two bacon, two eggs, hash brown, black pudding, mushrooms, beans, toast or bread and butter, tea or coffee.

Owner ‘Tommo’ has been running the place for 18 months and he tells me trade has built up over that time. He has now started to open Saturdays and only closes on Sunday.

Tommo has been a chef in the Bristol area for over 15 years. Over that time, he rattled the pots and pans at Browns, Friska, Bridge Kitchen, The Hen & Chicken, the Imperial Brasserie and ran his own Sunday dinner business out of The Coronation pub.

But Tommo was made redundant during the pandemic, needed to get a job fast and started working at Bristol Waste. During that time, he got talking to the owner of the burger van there, who said he had another site that he could rent.

Tommo says: “After going to see the café, which at the time had been closed for a while and was very dreary looking, I thought what a great opportunity to make something of this and get back into hospitality which is my passion.

“We got it spray-painted by local artist Janey M, cleaned it and transformed it into a vibrant, welcoming cafe.”

Tommo says his regular customers are the nearby scaffolders, the lads from the steel works opposite and workers from the the local garages.  

“I feed a lot of the people on the industrial estate, local dog walkers and lorry drivers but I also have customers that live far away but always drop in if they are in the area.

“The café is doing well and the trade has built up over the last 18 months and hopefully will continue to do so in the future. And I’m loving every minute of it.”

Tommo's Cafe, Dixon Road, Brislington, Bristol, BS4 5QY.