instantly welcomed by the smell of cooking and the tranquil atmosphere.

There's a range of seating patterns, including sofas and seats around circular tables, and, refreshingly, children are welcome here. Even better, there's a dedicated play area, complete with toys and games, and a baby change room. There is also a tempting array of home-made cakes, which changes daily.

The fare is typical lunchtime food: jacket potatoes, crusty baguettes, soup, sandwiches and large rolls. To their credit, and continuing the child-friendly theme, half portions of food are also available. In addition, there's an ever-changing special of the day - on the date of our visit, this was a warming mushroom soup. There's also an impressive range of different types of coffees and various different types of tea, mostly Fair Trade.

After securing a spare table on our busy lunchtime visit (it's open all day, but gets particularly busy during lunch times) we waited until a smiling elderly lady came to take our order. We ordered jacket potatoes with a range of fillings, together with orange and apple juice. It was busy, so we were expecting to wait for our food - but it came extremely quickly, clearly someone has all their kitchen volunteers licked into shape. The food is just enough to satisfy a hungry shopper, and came complete with a generous portion of salad.

Livingstone's is run as an outreach project by the church, but not ostentatiously so - there's plenty of information on offer about their services and there's a large photo board showing key members of the church, but if you just want a drink and a sit down, that's perfectly OK too. It does mean that the majority of the staff are volunteers, so it may take a little longer that you're accustomed too, and they don't accept credit cards - but just go with the flow and relax. Whilst some churches can seem closed and forbidding, this one is making a real effort to engage with the local people, shoppers and parish.