facttime

“Oh, that’s where we got our wedding rings,” my mum said when I told her which Birmingham neighbourhood I’d visited on Saturday. That made a lot of sense given that it was the Jewellery Quarter but these days you’re as likely to find coffee rings as wedding rings — especially if you drop into Quarter Horse’s new espresso bar . I first came across Quarter Horse through their sadly now-defunct coffee shop on Oxford’s Cowley Road . Since then, I’ve been able to visit their Bristol Street café  while passing through Brum en route to matches at Molineux. Last year was their 10th anniversary and the new espresso bar — which is also now the home to their roastery — was the perfect way to celebrate. The Jewellery Quarter is about 15 minutes' walk north-west of New Street station — you could also take the  Metro , which I did to continue my journey on to Wolverhampton. As its name suggests, the area has a proud industrial heritage dating back centuries and it still retains a lot of it...

Sometimes a new speciality coffee shop opens that just has it all: warm hospitality, beautiful design, a relaxed atmosphere and, of course, excellent coffee.  Nagare Coffee , which opened in Spitalfields at the end of January, lives up to all of these, and both of my visits so far have been a pleasure. I was disappointed when I found out that Montezuma's chocolate shop at 40 Brushfield Street had closed at the end of last year. I love their chocolate and peanut butter bites and it was the only place I could find them in London. But I'd always thought the small space with its period features was wasted as a shop filled with so many shelves of sweet treats. Nagare makes perfect use of the space with a wooden counter taking up the space on the left-hand side, while the rest of the room houses a few small tables dotted around the fireplace and window seats. Two big windows let in a lot of light even on the greyest of winter days. There are also benches outside offering additional s...