3At3, Ely

Funny little cafe bar down an alley (Three Cups Walk), sporting five craftykeg and a selection of local brewery wares in bottle in the room off left. Interior seating for a dozen, quite homely with an almost Mediterranean feel in decor. Tidy paved terrace out front is very agreeable in the sunshine though the wasps are also keen – however I was informed by the two exceptionally friendly ladies behind the bar that a good shake of the lavender plant would help see them off! My half of Yonder Strawberry Shortcake clocked in at £3.50. I liked it here and would absolutely pop in again next time. Note they open earlier than the usual and you can indeed drink before midday – so in a city without a Spoons, this is nailed-on as your first port of call.

Planning a crawl around Ely can be challenging midweek. This cafe bar does not appear to open until Thursday or Friday and closes at 4pm according to websites I'd viewed, whilst other pubs don't open until 5pm. As such, I made this my second stop. It is situated in a stone building in an alleyway leading downhill from Forehill to its eponymous car park. You go down steps to the underground bar, which has a blackboard above it listing the beer selection. All are KeyKegs - Secret Project Pchyolka, Dark Revolution Orbital, Mobberley Brewhouse Crush, Three Blind Mice IPA Galaxy & Simcoe, Wild Weather Damn Good Cherry & Lovibonds Henley Gold. I enquired about real cider, which is kept in a fridge behind the bar. They had both Lilley's Somerset Scumpy Medium & Dry. I hadn't actually realised there were two. So, I selected the Medium, which certainly tasted much sweeter than Somerset Scrumpy I have had previously. So, my first new cider tick of the day! A small room to the left of the bar serves as a bottle shop to take away or to drink on the premises. There is a small area of seating opposite the bar, whilst steps lead to the much more popular suntrap patio area. A strange kind of place that feels more bottle shop than bar. But nevertheless, the concept seems to work. It's a pity they don't open in the evenings. However, the upside is that in a city that doesn't appear to possess a Wetherspoon's, it is possibly the only place you can get a decent drink in the morning.