This café does not exist; it is the demo’s idea of a perfect one. It has a single table that seats twenty, a menu written on a board, and a rule that you sit wherever there is space.

The menu changes with the market. Eggs every way, porridge with fruit, toast from a local baker, and one hot special that sells out by ten. The coffee is strong and the tea comes in a pot.

What makes it is the table. You arrive alone and find yourself passing the salt to a stranger, then talking about the weather, then about your work, then about a book you both love. By the time you leave, you know three of your neighbours by name.

If a café like this exists near you, treasure it. If not, it is not a bad thing to build.