Cafes are no longer pleasant experiences

I will pay a reasonable price but my main bugbear is the volume of music in the Cafe. It seems to suit the staff primarily. I was in a Cafe this evening and I put my EarPods on noise cancellation - no help at all it was just so loud! Cant sit in peace, can’t read.

We nipped in a local garden center today. Special offer was if a hot drink was ordered a hot sausage roll came free.
So 2 coffees (which are nice) and two hot sausage rolls cost £7....even cheaper than Greggs I bet.

I feel unless you go higher end thr food is just crap at the moment. Not worth the money at all. Which didn't used to be the case

There are some really lovely ones near me. But too expensive. I miss being able to get a filter coffee for £1.

You forget to add Entitled people who come in with their darling children when they have finished work. early And picked them up from school

And treat the cafe as though it was their personal living room and play board and other games.

But dog owners and Keyboard Warriors are the worst. They should be banned.

Rarely bother now. It's usually expensive for what it is and I can almost guarantee I'll have to ask someone to turn down a device. My personal rule is that if the experience is less pleasant than being at home, I'm not tipping or going back.

Don't get me wrong, I love eating and drinking in nice places and will happily pay more to cover costs, but for a worse experience and meal than id have at home? Nope.

I totally agree with the mad prices, it just takes all the shine off the visit
And as you say, ingredients are the cheapest UPF they can source most of the time
Rather make it at home

We went to a local independent seaside chip shop cafe today. There was a family who kept winding up and annoying their toddler who would then screech. Then when the other kid started talking they also had no volume control.

There was us, the noisy kids, another family with similar age kids and a few couples in there. Everyone was staring and commenting at the family with the screeching kid - it was really awful but you can’t say anything as you just get back chat.

The whole world is getting more crowded, and many people seem to have also forgotten how to behave in crowded places.

There are a lot of cafes where I live which are still pleasant and fairly quiet, not that I go to them very often.

I do agree though that in popular places, city centres, it's very different to how it used to be. Back in the day before smartphones and laptops they were definitely quieter and to be honest, kids were actually quieter!

The noise level in the world has increased in general, everything has got louder! Xx

You are going to the wrong ones. My local one is lovely. It’s independent and the staff are fab. I like dogs though, and am more than happy if one sits beside me. The chains I agree, tend to be woeful these days.

I have 7 cafes up the road...all getting more expensive now, one just put up the coffee by 80p, and constant hard sell on the cakes etc..its getting annoying and we rarely visit now.

We go to a Polish cafe in a nearby town. All the food is great; and the massive selection of cakes are to die for! My favourite is their raspberry tea - the best tea, I’ve ever had out! Fresh raspberries, honey, star anise and other spices!

One thing that I’ve noticed in a few cafes
and it really fucks me off is avo toast and the avocado is blatantly from a frozen pack. That shit is ok in smoothies but not on toast!
Especially when it’s a tenner.

No one, including the poster you quoted has said they wish for a child to injure themselves 🙄

Does an entire glass of coke spilled in my lap count when a child running past me in a cafe tripped and fell?

Yes, I would agree with that. OP, I think you are going to the wrong cafes!

You are bloody unreasonable to say
“elderly on mobile phones (presumably you mean on speaker) . . . “ . Every age group does this and it is indeed annoying. Why the fuck are you aiming this at the elderly? I’m 67, my husband is 73 and neither of us use speaker phone in public. Sounds (pun intended) like need to reflect on your prejudices.

Yeah, biggest mark up on egg and bread especially. Even a couple of nice eggs on a slice of sourdough would cost about £1 to make. (Yes I know I know all the labour and costs on top etc…but still)

Same with veg soup! We used to make it at the pub I worked at but it was all scraps and leftover veg from the week, put it with a cheap brown roll and voila, £7.95 please.

eggs, bread, potatoes are very very cheap ingredients

This is the problem - most places have been ruined by inconsiderate people on their devices combined with automation removing staff.

Stay at home?

Fried egg on toast is £8.50 in a place near us. Good grief!! The whole menu has jumped in price by about 3 or 4 quid each item.

As they did with the lockdowns which mumsnetters screamed for: cafes and any hospitality were very badly hit. I always said lockdowns would cause much more harm than good.

There were shows called Grumpy old women and also Grumpy old men. I might see if I can join the panel.

Jesus, where are you hanging out?!