To be overly impressed with nice simple old fashioned cafes/restaurants

I really mourn all the Stockpot and similar restaurants that we used to have in London. Simple and cheap and filling.

Oh god yeah. A cheese and pickle roll in cling film from one of those old fashioned glass cabinet things they used to have on cafe counters. The stuff of dreams!

Oh I agree OP. All you want sometimes is a bowl of soup or a good old fashioned cheese sandwich. Not Iberico ham served with samphire, grilled peppers and mustard mayo on rock hard sourdough. It would also be nice to have a slice of homemade Victoria sponge instead of rich double chocolate and peanut butter cake with tripple salted caramel candy floss (or whatever)! The old Greek Cypriot or Italian cafes used to be the best for simple but good fare but they've mostly vanished now.

I love an old fashioned simple cafe, but I would only drink tea there, not coffee, as i do like a really good coffee, and as a pp said, modern places do better coffee.

I mourn a cafe in Islington called ‘Alpino’s’ , in
Chapel Market, that was run for years by an Italian couple . Never less than heaving from the moment it opened , autographed photos of every famous person that visited , and the breakfasts were numbered - and fabulous. I often used to go there for lunch too as it was such great food and value for money . And proper Italian coffee . Then I think the landlord put the rent up
and they had to move and rename . A pity .

I went somewhere can’t remember that did a cafetière! DH let me plunge it, it’s the little things.
We have a couple of nice cafes in my city centre. And in the nearest little town. But I’m in the north east.

This is my kind of thread.

We live in over 55 housing. It's a massive complex of apartments. The ones under the Extra care have a restaurant in, they do everything, everyone pines for on this thread. We are also lucky to live in a area with a proper tea room, modern eateries and a good Weatherspoons. One of the most successful food stalls in Liverpool, is Spud man. Pound Café and cafés in the likes of Home Bargains are still comfortably old fashioned.

Ooo can you remember what this was called? Would love to try it!

We had a lovely tea rooms near me, sadly the lady retired and it's a fancy deli place now 😢 they did toasties, jacket potatoes, homemade soup, fabulous homemade cakes and always a hot dinner like lamb chops with mash and veg and gravy, or a hearty stew and dumplings 😋 I really miss it!

There are so many cafes in my area now, I don't know how they all keep going.

Oh me too. Teapots, cups & saucers, Victoria sponge cake. Heaven.

There are loads of traditional tea rooms and cafés where I live (just outside the Lake District) and modern independent ones too. I like both - it's nice to have a variety! I would never go to a chain like Starbucks /Costa etc unless they were the only option.

Neither have I had a good coffee in an old-school cafe.

My local independent traditional café is in a beautiful old listed building, in several slightly rickety-looking floors. They sell their own wide range of loose-leaf teas and freshly ground coffees in the shop part, and serve them all in the café. There's another similar one round the corner from where I work (different town).

Have to agree with this. People go on about greasy spoons, but I've never had a good breakfast in one, I associate it with tinned tomatoes and rubbery eggs. Neither have I had a good coffee in an old-school cafe.

It's so hard to find an independent cafe around here that is midway between "Wanky-Hipster Deconstructed Sourdough Locally Sourced Bollocks" and "Two Soups? a la the Julie Walters sketch".

Big shout out for the Victorian Pantry Tearoom in Okehampton. Went in today for a full English breakfast which included toast and tea or coffee for £11.50. We had the option of hot or cold milk for the coffees so a big jug of hot milk accompanied the coffees and we could have strong or milky according to our own taste. Big plus for me. The toast was a wonky doorstep of homemade bread with about half a pound of butter on each plate. No annoying little packets. Would have loved to know what the ‘pensioners lunch’ was, maybe next time.

Theres a cafe we visit on holiday twice a year in the UK.
Fried breakfasts.
Egg/Beans on toast
Toasted teacake
Cheese/ham/egg mayo sandwiches plus tea,normal coffee and hot puddings.

We used to have a lovely Austrian cafe in our area. They would do crepes and little continental things and pastries and baroque music playing softly in the background. It was immaculatly clean and sort of a bit rustic and the owner was lovely. You felt as though you were on holiday as the village was quite pretty as well.

They closed down over covid 😭

The people who took over opened it as a sausage sandwich type place. Crumbs on the table, wiped off with a damp, greasy cloth, grating pop music, cheap food and cheap coffee. Disinterested staff. Never went back.

I frequently go to a cafe of the 'things on toast' and jacket potato variety. They do proper soup made themselves in the winter.
We also have a deli where you can get your sandwich made exactly as you like (4 types of bread I think, or a jacket potato, or a salad box), a greasy spoon and a few other cafes, only one of which is a chain (and even then a small chain) and none of which are trendy in the least

I had. hospital appointment yesterday in a different town. My sister came with me and afterwards we called at a cafe for a ' snacket '
We both had a delicious cheese and mushroom omelette with salad and coleslaw and home made chips.
On a rainy cold day it was so welcome

I miss the old delis that would be behind the main roads in town. You could get amazing sandwiches just how you like.

Yes this. I found myself in a cafe last weekend and as a rare treat we decided on an impromptu coffee and ended up having breakfast. It was simply wonderful. We were charged £18 for 2 coffees and 2 fried breakfasts which were totally delicious. Staff were friendly. It was so nice.