Caffe Nero

In the spirit of honesty, I despise Starbucks. I’ve only ever had 4 good drinks from Starbucks. 3 were in New York City and one was in Leeds when I was so hungover I just needed something approximating caffeine in my system.
With that out in the world now, I think that Caffe Nero is the best chain coffee shop that the UK has to offer; it feels more sophisticated than Starbucks, Costa and Pret (should Pret be in this list I wonder). This could be down to the soulful jazz and easy listening classics that they pump into their stores. This could be the sumptuous sofas that fill their stores. This could be me seeing what I want to see because I like what they sell.
I could of course go on and on about how Caffe Nero make their hot drinks, or how they heat their sandwiches, or how they spin their iced drinks… but every Caffe Nero, and for that matter Starbucks, Costa and others, do this to a specific brand way of doing this and so what they do there on Boar Lane differs from what they do in London, Liverpool, Southampton or Hull by about 0.1% depending on the barrista you get.
So beyond that there are only two reasons to use Boar Lane Nero over any other — location and staff.
On the location point, the Boar Lane store is pretty much in the middle of everything I do in life — it’s 4 minutes from work, 6 minutes from home, 5 minutes from the cinema and gym, 7 minutes from The Adelphi… it’s central, and this is good.
From a staff point of view, it’s hit and miss at times with a moderate level of churn in staff turnover from what I see, but most of the people that serve you really are looking to make your stay/​purchase as great as possible. There are the occasional exceptions to this of course, but aren’t there everywhere?
It’s a decent cup of hot caffeine, at a moderate price, served by completely normal people, in the center of the circle of my life — so if you work where I work and live where I live and do what I do, it’s darned near perfect; for everyone else, it’s probably just another coffee shop.

I’m really a big fan of Café Nero. They’re not the most expensive or the most pretentious of coffee shops (cough starbucks) and they operate a pretty good loyalty scheme.
Everytime I go I take my loyalty stamp card — buy 9 drinks and get a 10h for free. It doesn’t sound great but you can have whatever free drink you want (and you don’t need to buy anything either). It also adds up quickly when you meet your girlfriend there for lunch!
Service is always very good — fast and smiley. The furnishing are always comfortable and the food is quite nice too.
My favourite high-​street coffee shop chain :)

I’ve been in a few Caffe Nero coffeehouses when I’ve not been able to get the fuel that is Starbucks. I’ve been to some dire ones and some better ones. The Boar Street Caffe Nero is one of the better establishments, but as we coffee addicts know, there’s a two fold dependency on how good your coffee will be, that is the ability of the barista, and the quality of the beans. Personally I find the espresso used in Caffe Nero to be on the bitter side of the bean flavour, but this in mind, whereas I would avoid a Nero latte, I do like the Nero Americano for days when I need a boost of espresso in my system. I find the Nero cups the silliest of cups, they’re shallow and wide and when navigating a tray full of your hot beverage up stairs or around corners for the busiest of hours, it’s a bit more than frustrating when it starts slopping over the edges. I maybe a total wuss, but I often have to get my takeout cups double cupped as I nearly scold my hands when I’m in a rush and want my fuel to go. The menu is kid friendly too, some places now do the fully healthy only alternative to coffee in their establishments, whereas in Nero I’m happy to see a milkshake option on the board, which when you’ve got a kidlet in your company and you need a fix of coffee, is a good way of feeding both urges. At the moment there’s a good set of staff in the Boar Street Nero, and I’ll keep my review at 3 Stars until I go in again.

Nice coffee shop. Fairly small but still has the high quality coffee you’d expect. Many different varieties of coffee and also hot choclate for those who want something different. Good shop.

This is the best Café Nero I have ever been in. It’s well situated on the corner of Boar Lane, beside the bus terminals outside BHS. The baristas are all great, really friendly, happy to advise on different types of coffee, and create a relaxed environment.
There is plenty of seating, and also the option to take-​away.
I would definitely recommend it, and the chilled frapuccinos are to die for!