From two tucked-away rooms at the entrance - half concealed by velvet curtains and made cosy with log burners, flowers and tapestries - the Café Under The Spire in Gateshead opens up into a labyrinth of rooms with so much colour, artwork and quirky touches you don't know where to look first.
The café has brought new life to the former St Cuthbert's Church in Bensham where owner Alan Moncrieff also runs Cotfield Mirrors from a workshop where there are examples of his intricate creations in progress. His glittering mosaic frame mirrors are a familiar sight at the Newcastle Quayside market on Sundays and he and wife Carol, a fellow frame-maker, are currently making more stock to take to their annual stall at Glastonbury.
He's always back and forth between jobs, adding to the general café buzz as staff serve the customers dotted around in various rooms - although it's the sort of place that will have atmosphere even when it's quiet - and following breakfast trade, then the day-time regulars enjoying scones and lunches, the art-café morphs into a Bangladeshi-style restaurant at night, serving the likes of 'village food' dishes of lamb rogan josh and coconut chicken.
