With its late liquor licence at weekends, this cool coffee bar attracts retro renegades from south of the river and beyond, drawn to an ambience that harks back to the days of bobby-sox and the young Frank Sinatra. Run by the people behind the similarly nostalgic Scooterworks Café in Waterloo, Cable (a reference to Brixton’s old cable trams) is tricked out in glorious Formica and leatherette. By day, it’s the domain of young mums, bookish types and iPad surfers who come for Italo frothy coffee, steamy hot chocolate and homemade cakes. By night, the focus shifts to cheap wine and cocktails from a well-stocked bar. With live jazz and swing in its intimate back parlour, this is definitely no big-brand chain – much to the delight of twenty/fortysomething cappuccino and caipirinha cats who detest all things corporate.