Comments on the Poetry Café

The Poetry Cafe is well-loved.  Here's some comments we've already received;  contact Ely Ahamed on poetrycafe@poetrysociety.org.uk if you would like to pass on a comment.

Customer Comments

"A place to reflect, be oneself and alone at times without feeling uncomfortable. I like its functionality."

 

"Laid back peaceful atmosphere, unpretentious."

 

"I like poetry and the cafe but I'm not an event groupie - it's good the place can cater for people like me who want a corner not to be sociable."

 

"Really nice food, big portions, calm atmosphere."

 

"I like the use of good ingredients: good oil, good bread etc. The cooks seem to care about their food..."

 

"Relaxed atmosphere, quiet, friendly, civilised! Always somewhere to sit, papers available, very good fresh food, good background music and exhibitions, good that you can come for just a coffee or a full meal or a drink."

 
"I would like to thank you for the most interesting and enjoyable poetry evening I attended last Saturday (...) at the Cellar of the Poetry Cafe, hosted by Niall O' Sullivan. Kindest regards from Holland"

Kees Klok, translator.

 

"Many thanks for the wine for the event last night - much appreciated (& the red was bloody good!). Cheers."

Les Robinson, Tall Lighthouse director.

 

"A very well positioned meeting place in London with good food and relaxed, friendly atmosphere."

Imelda Quinn, Administration Manager, Inpress Limited.

 

 "Thank you so much for your help when we filmed with you (TS Eliot and modern poetry for BBC2); a wonderful oasis of poetry and calm in the middle of London."

Caroline Miller, assistant producer, Wall to Wall

 

  "Hello! It was terrific to visit Poetry Cafe last week while in London and to participate in the open mic on 3/3.  I and my colony of friends really enjoyed the readings and the entertaining MC.  Thanks for the opportunity to share a bit of poetry from the West Coast.  I left a book on the shelves.  Sorry I couldn't stay longer as we had to catch a train."

Thanks and more thanks,
Paula Lowe
Arroyo Grande, CA USA
 
 
 
"Thanks very much for all your help this year. The Studio has been a very convenient space to teach in, and our group has enjoyed our workshops at the poetry cafe very much."
 
Jean McNeil
 
 
"Thanks for the space, it worked really well for us"
 
Casting Fusion
 
 
"Just a quick email to thank you and your staff for their help last night. The show went really well"
 
Paul Chandler
 

" I can tell you about the venue, downstairs in The Poetry Cafe, hidden away in a Covent Garden backstreet, below a vegetarian Cafe where the lampshades have Ralph Steadman cartoons, the walls are thickly plastered with posters for poetry events and the customers sit and discuss the relative merits of Kerouac and Ginsberg.
The performance room was filled to no more than about five times a comfortable capacity and every one of the extremely friendly and welcoming crowd was a bone fide poetry aficionado."
 
Bob Hale / The Arras Review (Midlands)
 

 

Press Comments

 

The Poetry Café was voted one of the top ten cult cafes in Elle Decoration, and is also included in the Guardian/Cafe Met guide to London's most funky, stylish and interesting cafes. "Of course all cafes are 'poetic' in the psychogeographical sense - Frenchness, smokiness, loneliness - and most people have penned the occasional ode over a half-empty stretto. But here poetry is performed and shared..."