The Lunchbox Cafe, Throckley Industrial Estate

If you can't have a lifetime or even a day of adventure and discovery, then just make the most of your lunchtime, I say.  So when 1pm came round off I set to track down The Lunchbox Cafe which I'd seen signposted and which only opens during the week.  I'd set myself the additional challenge of getting the best value from the £5 my cousin sent me for my birthday.(We always send each other a fiver, and as his birthday is just after mine the temptation to just stick the note back in his card was strong - hence the need for a challenge).

The Lunchbox operates out of an industrial unit at the back of the estate.  Once inside it looks nothing like an industrial unit at all, the ceiling has been lowered, floor tiled and no-nonsense white plastic tables and chairs installed.  They open from 7am to 2pm, so I just scraped in but despite this the welcome was friendly and with a sausage sandwich and tea at £2.50  I still have plenty of my fiver to spend next time.  I sat comfortably with Metro radio for company - newspapers and free wi-fi also advertised.

I guess the Lunchboxers know their clientele well, so there was a tasty range of savoury meals and sandwiches on the menu, but cakes limited to cake bars and chocolate bars (you can still get your sugar fix in other words). Would I go back?  No hesitation!  But it might have to be mince and dumplings next time...

Thus fortified, I set out for the uncharted wilds of Chapel House, or was it Chapel Park?  Anyway, there I found Houseproud, a little gloryhole of a DIY cum general dealership that sold me exactly the size of tacks that I wanted and which the giant B&Q at Newburn doesn't stock at all!  Ha!  Long live the local cafe and the local trader!

Oh, and by the way I should have said from the start that the blackboard menu was perfect!  Not a rogue apostrophe anywhere, no deserts where we would expect desserts!  All other establishments take note!!