Free Word Centre Cafe, 60 Farringdon Road

The Free Word Centre Café is an extension of the centre, which is home to nine organisations working across literature, literacy and free expression. The cafe is supposed to function as a meeting place for discussions and exchanging ideas but it’s also a great place to drink coffee.

Their coffee is from Italian brand Illy and can’t really be complained about. At £2 for a cafe latte it’s not even that pricey, considering what other places in the area charge.

The staff are nice but despite the fact that the centre is about successful communication, they are quite slow at understanding what I want and ask me twice what I ordered. On the other hand the connection to literature is not just a catchphrase. My friendly coffee drinking neighbour even gives me her copy of ‘Small Island’ by Andrea Levy, who won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2004 for it.  The cafe also offers free wi-fi to check emails or get some work done.

The interior is spacious, light and has a rather minimal style that works well for the space. There’s also some outdoor seating in comfortable basket chairs available. A nice change to the usual weather-robust plastic or metal chairs everywhere else. The tables are tucked away behind the brick columns of the building, which makes a nice escape from the sunshine during London’s hot days. The view over Farringdon Road is not the prettiest, but you can’t have it all.

The pastries all looked delicious and they offer a lunch menu of sandwiches, paninis and salads.

When we were there, during a sunny afternoon, the Free Word Cafe was not very busy and those who were there seemed a mix of visitors to the centre, business men grabbing a quick coffee together and two or three people taking advantage of the free wi-fi.

Coffee Chase Score: 9/10