Cafe D’Art

Café D’Art is one of those cafes it’s impossible to dislike.
Run by art lovers, it’s a homely café which usually has a mix of canvases and prints by local artists on the walls. The staff are friendly, prices are reasonable and the menu includes everything from salads, soups, quiches and sandwiches to hot specials. The thing I usually opt for however, is one of their excellent home-​made cakes with a cup of mud.
I’ve yet to visit in the evening but apparently, Café D’Art is transformed into a bustling bar every night with locals conversing over beer, wine and spirits.

This cosy little café/​bar is carefully hidden away down a side street in the middle of Formby village 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 — Café 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.