When this place was the Fitzroy Hotel, it was dingy but you could always get a good, cheap meal and fast, friendly service. Since it has had a change of ownership, it has been completely refurbished and is very upmarket inside. I especially like the modern fireplace. Unfortunately, the price of the meals appear to have been increased to cover the cost of the renovations! The food is quite good, but the portions are stingy and waiting for a meal is interminable. I have been there 3 times during my work lunch break, and each time the wait has been over 30 minutes whether they were busy or not. I have had to go up to the bar on each occasion and enquire where our meals were, so we would have time to eat it and subsequently it has been brought out within 5-10 minutes. Not good enough for me to ever go back there again, no matter how nice the place is!

The first time I went there for lunch with a friend, we ordered off the blackboard menu and waited 45 minutes to receive our meal, which meant that we had to scoff down our meal in 10 minutes so we could get back to work on time. Thinking this may just have been a one-off experience, we ventured back there a second time and ordered roast of the day off the blackboard menu. This time we wasted our entire 1 hour lunch break, only to be told by the waitress that our meal was "given to someone else by mistake" and there was no more roast left!!! The place was virtually empty, so I fail to see how they could have mistakenly given our meals to anyone else. Needless to say, we shall never, ever go back there again! My friend went back to work hungry, and I popped into the Wing Wah chinese restaurant where I was served with a hot takeaway meal within 5 minutes of ordering.

The Old Bell Tower Cafe is a converted church where you will find an informal, friendly atmosphere and fabulous food. It also has a wonderful array of gifts and old wares to browse through while you're there. You can dine inside or in the lovely cottage garden at the rear. Park in the street or there's off street parking available at the rear. A very pleasant dining experience! Note: It's popular and can get very busy, so best not to go there if you're limited for time.

I love having lunch at the Wing Wah. The waitresses are very friendly and helpful and the meals are great value for money. The service is super fast, so it's great if you are on a work lunch break. The food is always cooked beautifully. The Wing Wah has recently been refurbished and looks and feels very elegant now. I highly recommend the Wing Wah if you like chinese food.

I often have lunch at the Southgate Inn with a friend. We love to go for the Thursday lunchtime special which is steak. The chef serves up the best steak in Tamworth! So succulent and tasty, and always cooked to perfection. My friend is gluten intolerant, but the staff are always willing to adjust her meal accordingly. For instance, we like mushroom gravy on our steaks, but the gravy has gluten, so they put a huge mound of mushrooms on her steak instead. If you love steak, you must visit Southgate Inn for Thursday lunch. It's the best value in town!! PS Their other meals are great too, but steak is definitely our favourite.

Approximate cost: $10.00