Cafes are no longer pleasant experiences

I love cafes . The chain ones can be a bit grubby but it depends which branch.
They are expensive.

I don't ever really eat out , it's so expensive and so mediocre ( unless you go somewhere super expensive which is of course nice)
They can be busy but that can be a bonus for people watching.
I still love cafes despite all of the above. An overpriced latte and cake can still really feel like a treat to me. I just pick a place I know i like to go and always enjoy it.

I’ve mostly stopped eating and drinking out, the quality/ingredients/quantity/service has all decreased while prices have increased. It’s just a disappointing experience.

I really dislike the advertising screens which are appearing everywhere. Badly animated stuff that's constantly moving for no reason. Often overly bright. Way to ruin a space.

I don’t think it’s about the cafe. It’s society now, if I go to a cafe I’ll take a book and I’ll try to not look at my phone. However for my age group and below it’s rare.

Life has changed and I’ll be honest sometimes I’ll take my laptop and I’ll be tapping away. Enjoying the vibe in a different way instead.

Same here. We have some lovely independent cafes, as evidenced by the local Costa closing down. Almost every other cafe is nicer, so it got hardly any custom.

My mum's still crying and shaking after going in the Liverpool one a few months ago. All drinks served in paper cups. Scandalous.

I hate the new Marks and Spencer's setup in their cafés.

I really miss that old style.

Feels a bit McDonaldish with ordering at the kiosk, the way it's set out, and the lack of a good menu. It's all factory prepared sandwiches now.

oh you are so right about the industrial styling thing its terrible! Muffle the ceilings guys!!

my favorite cafe has been open for around 20 years. Its in a local family owned garden nursery and its lovely. The do allow dogs but there is plenty of space around the tables and I have never seen a badly behaved animal or child there. Actually we are lucky, there are quite a few nice ones round me.

I really try and avoid chain cafes.
They’re so expensive now and not really pleasant to be in. There’s a Costa near where one of my DC does activities, I do sometimes buy a coffee there because there’s nowhere else open and not much else to do. The staff are always talking through headsets prioritising drive through customers, it takes ages to order in store and they often get your order wrong as they aren’t really listening.
Every time they send me a questionnaire I mention it but nothing has changed.

The trend for industrial styling hasn’t helped with the noise levels - makes the acoustics appalling.

And the coffee is generally either bad or all hipstered-up.

If you can ever find one, I tend to find tea shops more enjoyable as an experience than coffee shops / cafes (and generally do better coffee, if you prefer that to tea)

M and S cafes are shocking these days!

Agree @GeorgeA12. And M&S cakes are nasty now. No longer quality ingredients. Same old shit as Mr. Crapling cakes.

I know what misophonia is as my husband has it. OP sounds very sensitive to what is mostly normal noise levels.

I avoid many places because of the fucking noisy fucking coffee machines. Whoosh, bang bang bang clatter bang bang bang whoosh constantly.
You do sound miserable though.

Wtf that got to do with anything?
Some people are arseholes end of and just because others think they are arseholes does not make them autistic or miserable. Misophonia isn't much fun either.
Arsehole = entitled, selfish, loud, greedy . it probably covers a good portion of the population in one form or another.

Ah….a ‘dogs in cafes thread’ in disguise! Cunning🤣.
(Because the 28 threads over the last few days just weren’t enough?)

We go to a local independant, dogs not allowed as it's tiny -result- it's a great place, reasonable prices and friendly staff. Everybody knows everyone it's really friendly.

Are you autistic, have misophonia or just a miserable person?

Why should toddlers not be in cafes?

You forgot to add excessive music (although pubs are often worse) that makes it hard to have a conversation, and terrible acoustics from hard surfaces amplifying all the annoying background noises.

Oh and whooshy coffee machines.

I miss greasy spoons and table clothes.

I agree, actually, and it’s not always the Costas and Starbucks where this goes on. Also, people on work calls or having work meetings is more of a thing. I was in a cathedral cafe yesterday that I’ve always really enjoyed and had to put on noise-cancelling headphones because two work meetings were going on and in each, one person talked at everyone else and didn’t understand the concept of an ‘indoor voice’. All the best tables in my gym’s cafe are colonised for hours in the same way. Sometimes you can hear details that really should be confidential being broadcast to all and sundry.

There are some lovely little cafes in my small town that are a pleasure to visit but they are all independents. I think this makes a difference.

I agree about the expense, but aside from that I don't think there were ever halcyon days where cafes were quiet, particularly clean or relaxing, nor did they ever serve high quality food. But I'm old enough to remember the local cafe of my childhood which was permanently thick with pipe smoke.

Also don't agree that independents are typically better. They're as much a mixed bag as the chains.