Lucas Bakery & Cafe

Lucas Bakery & Cafe is a working bakery-cafe on the Pacific Highway at Gateshead, in Lake Macquarie's eastern suburbs, and it welcomes leashed dogs in its outdoor seating. This is a quick coffee-and-pastry stop rather than a sit-down destination, which suits a traveller passing through with a dog in the car.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome in the outdoor seating area on a lead, and staff will bring out a water bowl if asked. Indoor seating and the bakery counter are for people. The one real caution is the setting: this is a main-road stop, and the highway traffic does not slow down for the outdoor seats, so keep the lead short from car to table.

The bakery

The draw is classic bakery fare done properly: sausage rolls, pies, pastries and strong coffee, plus heartier options like pork banh mi, chicken schnitzel rolls and egg and bacon rolls for a proper breakfast stop. Counter service keeps things moving, and hours run from 6am on weekdays to 4pm, with Saturday 7am to 3pm and Sundays closed.

Getting there and parking

The cafe is at 1/18 Pacific Highway, Gateshead, with free street parking out front and nearby. Because everything fronts a busy road, arrive and leave with your dog on a tight lead and well clear of the kerb.

Close by with the dogs

For the off-lead part of the morning, the Gateshead Dog Exercise Area is the local option, and the Croudace Bay Dog Park at Eleebana adds a fenced run down by the lake. Oliver Brown at Mount Hutton is another cafe stop on the same side of the lake.

More options are on the NSW dog friendly cafes guide and the Gateshead destination page.

Max: this is a main-road bakery, not a park. Leash stays short at the table and I keep well clear of that kerb.