Costa Coffee

You'll find this Costa tucked on Crookes Road, right in the thick of things near the university area. It's the kind of place where you can genuinely work for a few hours without feeling like you need to buy another drink every 30 minutes — the staff won't rush you, and there's enough seating to actually spread out. The coffee's competent rather than revelatory, but that's Costa for you: you know what you're getting, and it does the job. Local students and remote workers have basically colonised the spot, which tells you something about how functional it is.