James set up the café in Lower Marsh, near Waterloo Station, in 2006, and has continually refined his coffee, cakes and décor in order to satisfy his clientele of office workers, tourists, theatre goers and creatives.

Most of the café - including a spacious garden area -  was built by his own fair hand and James has applied the same attention to detail to the coffee and drinks he stocks behind the bar.

High-end foreign bottled beers, Prosecco and exotic looking spirits all appeared behind the counter when James got his liquor licence just before Euro 2012.

But for us the attraction of the cafe is the chance to chat about whichever CD James has got playing in the background, or to Scooter Bob, one of Lower Marsh’s most colourful characters and the founder of the bi-annual Scoot The Thames mod meet up.