please empty your brain below
I think the Bridge was too small for filming with appropriate social distancing so they didn't feature at all during the Covid-affected 2022 series, but don't they otherwise alternate between the two cafes?

martin | 23.02.23 - 7:59 a.m. | #

When I visited Bridge Cafe two years ago there was no customer toilet. Fortunately for me an assistant at the nearby B&Q let me use a staff loo.

Keith | 23.02.23 - 8:19 a.m. | #

I dropped out a while ago as the series had gotten into too much of a routine, the candidates were just passing through, although Claude Littner going through the business plans towards the end of each series was always a treat.

Externally at least, the Bridge Cafe does present better than the clutter of La Cabana, perhaps the contents of the plant pots improve the welcome in the summer.

Still Anon | 23.02.23 - 8:30 a.m. | #

I always assumed that someone in BBC Compliance got nervous that they were constantly plugging the Bridge Cafe, especially when they started selling merchandise, so they added La Cabana to try and make it less prominent.

Scott | Homepage | 23.02.23 - 8:33 a.m. | #

You hit the nail on the head when you say that filming can take a while. The programme is so heavily produced to ensure the level of 'entertainment' is kept as high as possible that any proper entertainment has long since been squeezed out of it. It's nice to think that some of what is shown is genuine action, but as other posters have said, the programme has settled into such a routine that there really are few surprises, or to be fair, much in the way of entertainment. A few plot twists, not least the long-threatened, but rarely delivered, double, or triple firings. But good to know the cafes are the real thing.

Stuart R | 23.02.23 - 9:14 a.m. | #

I notice the reference to ‘trug’,an item that featured in this series.This was the episode centred on Brighton and Hove where the Candidates were asked to haggle for and buy nine items at the cheapest possible price. Only one contestant knew what it is

My spellcheck app did not know what it is either since it made four attempts to persuade me that what I was trying to write was trig.

Kenneth Morton | 23.02.23 - 9:17 a.m. | #

'Serial Killer Link To Apprentice Cafe' piqued my interest so I had to google that to find the gruesome details.

They both sound very nice friendly cafes and it's a shame that this type of place is gradually disappearing to be replaced by expensive chains.

Thanks for today's post (and all of the others). Your blog is a real tour de force and a labour of love.

Martin | 23.02.23 - 10:11 a.m. | #

The map links are the wrong way round.

dg writes: switched, thanks.

Greg S | 23.02.23 - 10:12 a.m. | #

A brilliant idea to have the losers drinking weak tea in a humble cafe. I would have assumed that the scenes were filmed after normal opening hours, rather than have members of public wandering by as they were trying to film? I'm sure the cafes are happy for the extra business.

Mikey C | 23.02.23 - 10:20 a.m. | #

Love a good caff, and a shame there are now so few in the centre. Despite petitions, the Lido in Great Castle Street was closed by developers who then went bust, leaving it as a nail bar, and Silva’s, opposite the Shaftesbury Theatre, looks like a casualty of Camden’s area gentrification plans. Both of these really small restaurants, but caffs in spirit. Chains may be OK if you just want one type of food (such as a burger), but proper caffs offer a choice — and real tea. Sad that NW10 isn’t on my regular itinerary.

Labourer | 23.02.23 - 10:27 a.m. | #

"mugs of failure..." Love it!

Cornish Cockney | 23.02.23 - 12:01 p.m. | #

One of Acton's great claims to fame, or more accurately, the Park Royal industrial estate, is as a centre for industrial food production, such as Charlie Bingham meals, as well as being home to several large 'banqueting' restaurants.

ActonMan | 23.02.23 - 2:47 p.m. | #

I bet the filled rolls at either of those places are not a patch on the wonderful York Ham House that used to be adjacent to Acton Town tube back in the 1980s.

cau1khead | 23.02.23 - 7:50 p.m. | #

60 years serving cafe food and drinks. I had to think about that for a while.. since 1963. That's utterly astonishing.

Sausages since The Beatles first album and No.1, bacon since the Profumo scandal, tea since the legendary cold winter, toast since the great train robbery, fried eggs since the assassination of JFK.
Consider that for a second. I'm uncertain whether to feel impressed by them, or sorry for them.

Frank F | 23.02.23 - 8:40 p.m. | #

Bridge Cafe used tonight!

Mikey C | 23.02.23 - 10:25 p.m. | #











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