Café culture

IT'S Friday morning in La Cuisine and, through a smokey haze, caf proprietor Ginny Stretch is chatting with her regulars. There are the Hartlepool builders enjoying their morning pit stop of burger and chips and 77-year-old Kath Smith lingering over coffee and a cigarette.

"I have been coming here for years," says Kath. "In the morning, because I live alone, the first one I spoke to was the cat, the second was the bus driver, the third was Ginny. If I didn't get out it would only be the cat."

"Ginny phones to check I'm all right if I'm not in by 10.15am it's a very friendly cafe. There's a lot of talking across tables, even with visitors."

Such familial concern for the customers plus of course the fry-ups - is the particular draw of La Cuisine. The same can be said of the Market Caf or the Olde Ulverston Tea Room (albeit without the fags). Each offers a welcoming bit of social interaction to their clientele, particularly for the pensioners.

"I've never known anywhere like Ulverston for people popping out for coffee," laughs Sue Hillman, proprieter of the Olde Ulverston Tea Room. "Every caf seems to get its far share of customers, I don't know anywhere that's particularly quiet."

For every cuppa-supping establishment there's a niche and for every one, a coterie of caf-crazy Ulverstonians plus enough tourists to beef-up the revenue.

Such is the variety of Ulverston's cafe scene, depending on one's mood and the particular timbre of one's stomach rumblings, anything is possible.

Cafe connoisseur and Ulverston writer Zosia Wand, has a circuit of favourites for each occasion. For dining and coffee, Hot Mango is definitely top.

"I go out for coffee in Manchester and London and I have yet to find a coffee as good as The Hot Mango," she enthuses. "It's excellent food and good portions.... it's also stylish and urban. But if you have any kind of specialist diet, it's The World Peace Cafe. They are very good at that without being too worthy."

The World Peace Cafe - run by Ulverston's Manjushri Buddhist Centre is the spot for relaxation. It comes replete with a meditation room where, instead of relying on a nicotine fix to still the nerves, customers can have their chosen brew (everything from cappuccino to Ayurvedic tea) then retire to the room for a moment's reflection.

Meanwhile, the quiet, cosy environs of Sting in the Tail score top with Zosia for counselling friends or reading a book.

Why Ulverston can sustain such a variety, is according to Zosia, down to its size and cosmopolitan community.

"Ulverston is just small enough to get away with it. If it were any larger it would have a Costa and all the rest. There are a lot of people in Ulverston who have moved here from larger towns and cities who are used to cafe culture. There's a European influence too, people go away and enjoy it there and want it at home.

"Some cafes in places like Hawkshead are all about customers passing through and not coming back," says Zosia. "They don't care if they produce a small portion for an extortionate sum. In Ulverston there is an understanding of customer loyalty so the quality is high. It a great thing for the town."