h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How is it that Cambridge has such a high cafe-factor, compared to other English cities?

http://hilton.org.uk/cambridge_cafes.phtml can hardly keep up, and Cambridge has far more than its fair share of entries in http://hilton.org.uk/european_cafe_watch.phtml

Yeah but you missed a load out and there's more to cafe's than coffee and sofa's ... no mention of O'Briens!?!?

There are even two of them now. You can get coffee, but you can't sit on a sofa unless you take your coffee away, which is also fine. They'll even do you a hot chocolate with cream on top and a flake in a take-out cup with a lid on it (although I usually ask them to give me the flake separately). [Note for overseas readers: flake = deliciously crumbly chocolate bar often found in ice creams and hot chocolates] ... AND you can also have a truly world class freshly-made sandwich to go with your coffee. Try their Mediterranean bread, it's wonderful. Savino's also deserves a special mention for staying open till eleven when everything else shuts early. [Note for overseas readers: don't even ask!]

Clowns stays open until 1 a.m. and I think CB2 is open until midnight. Loads of places stay open until 11 p.m., and none of them are as awful as Savinos.

I did have an entry on the O'Briens in St Edwards Passage (which I like) but I need to work out whether it's a horrid chain like Burger King, or a good chain like Costa Coffee. How many others are there in Cambridge

What do you mean that 'there's more to cafe's than coffee and sofas'?

I reckon that coffee, cake, sofas, ambiance, welcome and music are important. What do you think counts?