This cosy little café/bar is carefully hidden away down a side street in the middle of Formby…read morevillage so could be easily missed. In the daytime, it is your typical little café, offering cappuccinos, lattes, various panninis and the like. However, it is of an evening when Café D'Art comes alive, as Formby residents flock there long after the other local drinking establishments close (they have late opening hours, ideal for those poor souls craving a replacement for Shorrock's Hill, Europe's number 1 hotspot). The drinks there aren't very cheap but by the time you get there you're usually too pissed to care, plus the beer they have there is pretty good compared to your usual pub draughts. The only negative is its size, meaning it can be full without really being that busy, which usually results in the action spilling out onto the alley and round the corner into the village but if you don't mind the squeeze then I highly recommend Café D'Art as a place to drink through to the early hours.

There is a distinctly French theme to Formby's backstreet eat-and-drinkeries, well to two of them -…read moreCafe des Crepes and this little establishment. Its quiches, soups, pizzas and paninis all round here; mostly homemade (or at least constructed on site) and with judicious use of sundried tomatoes and oil. Dessert-wise it's spongy cakes, teacakes and sticky tarts - great stuff. Of an evening the little place goes full-on wine bar and serves a selection of beers, wines and spirits in a brassiere style. Of a weekend there can be a real throng of locals in here dissecting the week's events over a vodka tonic or a petite glass of beer. The walls of the establishment are hung with local art, usually of a surprisingly high quality and in a variety of styles, all of which is available for purchase. Definitely one of the best destinations in Formby for a drink, some light lunch or some art-gazing. Fantastic.

Really great tea room. Themed Alice in wonderland cafe with cups, decor and music to suit…read more Definitely worth a visit if you're into that sort of thing. Staff are polite and food is good quality.

This place is absolutely incredible if you want something different. We did the pitch and putt (me…read moreand my two sons(11/16). They aren't serious golfers, but they are always ready to have fun. This place has a pitch and putt that is super fun! And just $5 ea! It's great for all ages and abilities. The greens are artificial, so temper your expectations, but you still have to hit creative shots! The best thing about this place is the staff! the pro shop guys are unreal friendly and they make it fun and accessible for everyone! They will give you free rental clubs and free balls for the pitch and putt. I've been playing fir about 30 years and have never met a better staff. They took care of us, even though we weren't locals, they treated us so good. It really made our trip. The previous day we went to riyal Liverpool for the 151st open championship(amazing!!!), but we got absolutely drenched. This was a great way to end the trip. And just 7 pounds for 100 balls, great prices!

THIS IS NOT WHERE GOOGLE MAPS SAYS IT IS, IT'S ON MOSSIDE WHICH IS A ROAD IN FORMBY!…read moreI only discovered this place a couple of days ago after a tip off from a mate., and what a great tip off it turned out to be. The driving range is good (although some bays do lack tee's) and the pro-shop is well stocked. However the gem of this whole place is the 9 hole pitch and putt course. It is set out like a mini championship course with proper doglegged holes, bunkers, water, everything!

As much as I complain about the homogenisation of our town and city centres I must admit that I…read morereally do love a good cup of coffee and you always know that at Caffe Nero you're going to get a good cup of strong, black coffee. This branch looks, of course, almost identical to every other branch of Caffe Nero - all the decor, the faded photographs of wizened, Mediterranean-looking hands grasping an espresso cup, the sturdy Van Gough-bedroom wooden chairs, the beaten leather couches, all of it comes from a warehouse on the outskirts of Crawley or somewhere. What separates this branch out is the quality of service. Maybe it's that it's in a relatively small town but there is always extra care and attention put into making sure you're satisfied with your hot drinks and/or food (although why anyone would pay almost £5 for a pre-packed chicken pesto salad is beyond me). This being Formby the copy of the Guardian on the newspaper rack is usually completely untroubled. Lovely stuff.

Here's the plan; You get a vacant ex off-licence site in the centre of a busy and lovely village…read moreshopping area and you remodel it into a venue that knows how to make espresso coffee when all about either haven't got a machine or don't know how to work it. It was and is a good idea and rightly popular causing the opposition to convert to a charity shop or up their game. The room is fairly spacious, both it and the staff are child-friendly and the iced water is topped-up regularly. The decor posters of the leathery old dudes playing cards provide comfort as they remind me, a) of the sofas. b) that I am nearly a part of that peer group except I bet they don't lose at Snap and c) I am emulating the kind of thing other blokes do in a country that has the Uffizi Gallery so can't be THAT bad: Namely, sitting about. There are a couple of flies in this corporately themed ointment however. One strategic and the other tactical. Firstly, the few pavement seats face North and so are condemned to be for the hardy tobacco users pretty much. They get the often enviable view of the sunlight casting short shadows on that dappled terrace across the street which has the wider pavement. Temperature differences, and I have measured them, can be at least 10deg C. on the same day. (I do remember that day when we needed to be in the shade). So, the old conundrum applies....Is it better to sail on the ugly boat looking enviably at the more beautiful or to....etc.? The second problem is this; oops can't explain, not allowed to rant.

I'm not a huge fan of Costa - the obnoxious red signage, the weak mud-brown coffee and the fact…read morethat I once needed to have a lie down after having a ham and cheese toastie from here. The branches always seem to be a bit dirty too - I'm not saying all of them, I'm sure there are Costas where I would happily sup a frappaccino out of the toilet bowl, but I'm just saying in my experience they don't tend to be very well looked after. This branch was a bit of a surprise then, taking the cursed site of a number of failed wine bars I expected that the place would suffer from the same problems that plagued those premises - namely how to furnish the strange space inside the shop front. Now that it's here though it occurs that this exactly the sort of business that should have been here all along, a coffee shop completely suits the plate glass windows and surprisingly small interior space of the building. It always seems to be popular too - I did think it would be one coffee shop in Formby too far but apparently not. The coffee is still not up to scratch.

Not clean and staff not that good either Tesco Costa far…read moremore friendly and a far better service

Mulberry's is a quaint little coffee shop-cum-bistro in Ainsdale village which, I think it is fair…read moreto say, would not be out of place nestled in a European city at the roadside, with elderly gentlemen sipping cups of tea as they watch the world go by. It offers a selection of hot and cold food to accompany the usual coffee, tea and other various cold drinks as well as an outdoor seating area which is regularly filled with people sitting there, despite the view not being quite as romantic as those in Paris or Rome. The food on offer is good, home cooking, including a lovely fried breakfast which, from experience, is perfect for getting rid of those pesky hangovers and is also available all day for the lazier people amongst us. There are other various hot meals available that change weekly so it is best to check when you are there for those. The desserts they offer are also highly recommended in these parts I'm told, making Mulberry's a place I'd recommend for a quick drink, snack or even a larger meal to fill your stomach.