CAFÉ SOCIETY STAN CULLIMORE
Cake in the time of corona It takes more than a pesky pandemic to keep Stan from getting his café fix
T
here are many lovely things out there in the big, bad world right now. Autumn leaves, sunny spells, lockdown puppy dogs with waggy tails. There are also lots of lovely people, too. All of them doing their very best to keep the world turning the way it should do. In a nice and orderly fashion. It would be easy to spend the next few hundred words giving e amples of these selfless souls, listing the ways in which they
“These wonderful café folk have managed to stay open, hacking their way through the storm of rules and regulations falling from the sky like corona confetti”
are kindly increasing the sum of human happiness. But, as this is a column devoted to the joys of coffee and cake, I am only going to talk about those wonderful and wise café folk who have managed to stay open, whatever else may be going on. To hack their way through the storm of rules and regulations falling from the sky like corona confetti. Three cheers for these brave souls, that’s what I say. Hurrah. Along with all those folk who order takeaways from their establishments. Hurrah. More power to each and every one of their elbows, that’s my thinking. ut enough of fine words. hey won’t butter parsnips, crumpets or teacakes. Time to focus. Hurrah. here are many fine coffee spots I could mention, but again, thanks to space restrictions, I’m just going to focus on one shining example: Twelve. A cute and cosy café hidden away in a quiet backwater of lifton, off oyce s Avenue, somewhere behind the Arcade. Twelve has long been a favourite of mine. They do a particularly fla oursome blend of coffee and normally ha e a marvellous menu. Since these are not normal times, the menu has been reduced; the good news is that it still features lots of lovely homemade cakes. Mmm. These days the opening times
are Wednesday to Sunday, . am to pm. o one fine morning, Mrs C and I scooted over for a spot of elevenses. After picking up a pair of pretty fine coffees and a monster slice of Victoria sponge, our big plan was to take our coffee and cake round the corner to … Victoria Square. (See what we did there?) Where we intended to sit on a quiet bench in a leafy corner, sipping and munching the morning away. That was the plan. However, directly opposite the cafe there are some pretty painted benches, nothing to do with the establishment, that were just crying out to be sat upon. Allowing greed and laziness to overtake our plans, we stopped to stuff our faces, right there and then. No doubt we were breaking a whole heap of rules and regulations, but since no-one could see us, we reckoned it was worth the risk. o, to all those fine upstanding baristas and coffee shop owners out there, unsung heroes who are keeping the coffee machines of England steaming, including, but not limited to, Jen at Twelve, I offer a humble and grateful salute of thanks. our efforts are much appreciated. ■ Former Housemartins guitarist Stan is now a journalist and travel writer www.stancullimore.com
www.mediaclash.co.uk I BRISTOL LIFE I 55
