Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

You've come for the Egyptian mummies or the local history displays, but the café tucked inside this imposing Edwardian pile deserves its own visit. The space feels properly institutional in the best way – high ceilings, marble floors, and that particular museum quiet that makes everything taste more civilised. The coffee's better than it has any right to be for a museum operation, and they do a solid line in homemade cakes that fuel many a Clifton afternoon. It's where art students nurse lattes between lectures and pensioners debate the merits of the latest exhibition over tea and biscuits. Nothing revolutionary, just reliable fuel in one of Bristol's most handsome buildings.