This Cypriot-owned indie coffee shop and bar is a glorious baroque jumble guaranteed to set romantic hearts soaring. Imagine Steptoe & Son’s parlour after the eponymous rag-and-bone men
had cleared out a dusty old joint in Manhattan’s Little Italy and added a scratchy, retro jazz and classical soundtrack. Boxing and film memorabilia also contribute to a mad magpie mix in a
ground-floor bar staffed by busy baristas whose duties range from frothing-up coffees at the gleaming Bezzera espresso machines to pouring beers, wines and basic cocktails or dispensing savouries,
cakes and tarts from a populous display. And if you fancy long nights in crimson, purple and gold satin (anything but white), sample the equally OTT upstairs salon – a fancy-pants New Orleans
bordello circa Gone With The Wind. Colourful, kitsch and quirky, The Bridge beats the corporate, global clones hands down.