Opening late in 2011, the Cable bar and café took the place of a greasy spoon café and its transformation is symbolic of how this area is changing.

The Venue
Cable is a traditional café that looks like it’s arrived straight out of the 1940s, with Italian coffee steamed in its impressive armoury of shiny steel machines during the day and bottles of wine and cocktails consumed in the evening. The atmosphere is set by a low key but definitely audible soundtrack of authentic 40s/50s jazz tinkling away in the background.

The Atmosphere
Cable seems particularly female-friendly, with its daytime customers including laptop-tapping businesswomen, yummy mummies with prams and lonely souls slowly devouring existential novels. Later in the evening you’re more likely to see couples or groups of female friends or work mates chatting away over a drink, but at all times it’s predominated frequented by the those in their late 30’s/early 40’s.

The Food
Apparently plans for a kitchen are afoot, but for now there’s a variety of home baked cakes and pastries including pain au chocolat (£1.20), scones with cream and jam, berry cake and a wicked-looking toffee and chocolate creation (all at £2.50).

The Drink
The coffee is rich and frothy if not huge at over £2, but in the evening it’s all about the cocktails, with the bar boasting a big collection of spirits including a lot of more obscure items you don’t see in the average bar. Prices are closer to posher Kennington levels than Oval’s, though.

The Last Word
Quirky but not unglamorous, Cable is an authentic, idiosyncratic alternative to the chain coffee shops, and clearly one of the more charming spaces in the area to spend time in the evening.

venue information venue map view london review user reviews (3)