Cafe Liberty

This second-floor café, now the only spot for a bite & a cuppa in Liberty’s, has received a lick of teal paint & a suitably pretty but utilitarian look. The food, assembled in the tiniest open kitchen imaginable, is English at breakfast (bacon rolls, toasted teacakes), then swerves into rather dispiriting, could-be-anywhere territory: charcuterie boards, chicken Caesar, crab & miso salad, seared sea bass with spicy couscous – all rather perplexing in what is essentially a tearoom. Afternoon tea is a bit more like it, with finger sandwiches &/or scones, & optional Chapel Down fizz. If you’ve simply dropped by for a sit-down & a slice of carrot cake, you shouldn’t be disappointed, & there’s a lovely, chatty atmosphere, too. Staff from nearby glossy-mag offices also convene here, over pots of Lapsang.