We tried the city park cafe-on-wheels that’s one of Bristol’s summer hotspots

The bright orange Citroen coffee van can be spotted through the trees from several points in Victoria Park.

Parked next to the old red-brick Victorian park keeper’s lodge, near the neatly trimmed bowling green and kids’ playground, it’s a beacon for dog walkers, joggers and shattered parents.

There has been a mobile cafe-on-wheels on this spot for as long as I can remember. For several years, it was the popular Mrs Brown’s, but since April 2019, it has been Stuffed, run by local sisters Jodie and Kylie Lawrence.

Four years on and Stuffed is still going strong, having survived the pandemic (it became an essential community hub when residents of Windmill Hill and Victoria Park could finally get out into the fresh air safely and meet friends) and the harsh winters.

This week, the owners revealed that they are expanding their business by opening a permanent cafe called Kin on Sandy Park Road in Brislington.

The plan is to keep the Victoria Park coffee van going for the foreseeable future, although it will close for a couple of months as they set up their new cafe.

On the crisp, sunny morning I wandered through Victoria Park to visit Stuffed, there was already a queue forming just after the 10am opening time. When the sun shines, this is a genuine hotspot.

It was all very civilised as families with toddlers and dogs waited in the dappled sunlight beneath the huge trees for their drinks, cakes and toasties.

A few mums were discussing Easter holiday play dates for their kids as the Lycra dads conferred about future bike rides and pints.

As I enjoyed my moist and zesty lime and hibiscus cake (£3.30) and cardboard cup of Americano coffee (£2.40), it dawned on me how you don’t hear many Bristol accents around Victoria Park these days.

I lived in the area for much of the 1980s and it was rare then to hear anything but a strong Bristol burr.

But they’ve all gone as the area has become more gentrified and, dare I say, posher. After all, there are houses in the area selling for more than £800,000 nowadays.

One chap in the Stuffed queue was explaining to a fellow parent what his job of renewable energy consultant actually involved. It went way over my head.

In the old days, the dads playing football with their kids in the park were more likely to be working in far less green occupations and toiling in sweaty blue-collar jobs.

They certainly wouldn’t have been sipping ice lattes and nibbling on vegan toasties filled with pesto, mushrooms, spinach and pine nuts.

But then if the area and its residents hadn’t changed so much, there wouldn’t be lovely, friendly spots like Stuffed either. I think we can say that’s a pretty decent trade off.

Stuffed, Victoria Park (near the Somerset Terrace entrance).