The Beginning: the letter A - 'A'fternoon tea at The Brink.

So this marks the beginning of my brand new blog that I have decided to start after a simple idea me and my girlfriend had: going through the alphabet of things to do in Liverpool. 

Liverpool is undoubtedly one of the greatest cities in the UK, with its rich history and heritage there is no denying that. Having lived in the city my entire life you'd think that I'd have discovered all there is to know, however Liverpool never stops giving and continues to throw out incredible surprises. 

That's where the idea to find a place within the city that can be represented by a letter came from. There is hundreds upon hundreds of things to do, however my goal is to visit the best places within the city and try to avoid places I've visited before. But some places can be exempt from this rule if they're too incredible to avoid. 

Another rule is that me and my girlfriend, Becki, also have to alternate between who chooses where to go. Giving credit where credit is due, she came up with the idea and so had first pick on where to go.

So, this blog obviously starts with the letter A. 

Afternoon Tea at the Brink

It was Becki’s idea to do afternoon tea as the letter A, and she picked out a pretty perfect place. We did come very close to going to Almost Famous due to it being a favourite, however we decided to go next door to the Brink, on 21 Parr Street.

The Brink on Parr Street

The Brink is a charity run café bar that is owned by the charity Action on Addiction in order to help support those recovering from a past addiction, and it’s clear that they’ve put in a lot of effort to make the café as safe and inviting as possible. It sells a variety of food and also ‘mocktails’, and refrains from selling alcohol due to the nature of helping others recover. Celebrating its 5^th birthday recently, it’s obvious to see how the café can be very appealing. The building is bright white to make it as light as possible, and has very interesting décor which involves upside down planted flowers, famous quotes from classic films changed to fit the restaurant and a very entertaining rhyme wall. There was also posters all around promoting student events and classes that occur at the café, including guitar classes (which I may definitely attend) and even support classes for those who need help to write CV’s and find jobs after recovering from addiction. It was very clear that this place is here to help.

It also gained a bit of local fame after Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton visited the café a few years ago, of which the café still has proud pictures of behind the bar.

So, since we decided to go here for afternoon tea, it only made sense to go for the afternoon tea option on the menu, which cost a respective £8.50.

Our afternoon tea

As we ordered two, the food came out on a 3-tier cake stand, with the bottom level being filled with sandwiches, the second with cakes and the third with scones. We attacked the bottom level first, each picking out our own sandwiches. The content of the butties were varied, from honey and mustard ham (my personal fave out of the selection) to cream cheese to normal cheese, as well as roast chicken. As I spent a lot of time trying to eat and Instagram my incredible looking afternoon tea, I fell behind Becki rather quickly, who’d been starving all day. It became pretty obvious that the food was fulfilling that hole rather quickly, as when she was on her last sandwich she was near defeat, even with all the food left over on the upper levels. Seeing the desperation in her eyes, I decided to quickly finish the rest of my selection while she let her stomach settle for a bit and have some of her cuppa.

We then skipped the second tier went onto the scones on the top level, which came with a shot glass of jam and tub of cream and butter. I’ve never really been a big fan of scones, though this may have swung my opinion, as the full sensation I had after the sandwiches was instantly gone after I had one bite. Becki seemed to have the same reaction, as she was able to eat the entire thing and even attempt to tackle the second tier of food.

This involved brownies, sliced strawberry and coconut cake. Brownies will always go down as one of the best desert treats ever, and even though the slices were small, they delivered in spectacular style. The strawberries also went nice with the little bit of leftover cream from the scones, however at this point the entire thing had defeated us both, and our coconut cakes only slightly tasted.

It actually took us a few minutes to move because we were both full to the brim. On paper it may sound like only a few sandwiches and cakes, however it hits the spot incredibly and is extremely filling, and it’s made me wonder what else is on offer at this place, and I will definitely be back to find out.

Afterwards when we got back, Becki could barely move due to being so full. Even hours afterwards the meal was still keeping us fulfilled, a clear statement that it was worth the money paid.

It’s fair to say that The Brink was a very good place to start this journey, and is undoubtedly a very decent place to visit in Liverpool. If the Duchess of Cambridge had a good time there then it’s fair to say you just might too, and understanding the purpose of this café just makes it all that better.

If you’ve struggled with addiction in the past and want a safe place to visit, then this is definitely the place to go. Otherwise, you can get help from Addiction Helper by calling 0800 138 7188 or texting “HELP” to 66777.

Thanks for following and I hope you stick around for the rest of my journey. We will be visiting the location of B tomorrow and I will hopefully have the next blog post up on Saturday.

If you’d like to keep up with me, you can follow me on Instagram at Jamesrobertjones or on Twitter @JJ_Journo.