BookNook is a feature in which Fiona Grew shares her favourite spots around Edinburgh to sit and enjoy a good read. Each week she will explore a different location and report on her findings.
It’s 9:15 on a Friday morning and I am comfortably seated – Americano on standby, inches from my right hand – in the sprawling, underground space that is the new DHT Café. There is nothing extraordinary about this Café (least of all the quality of the coffee!) and I certainly had not planned to give it the inaugural BookNook mention when I stepped in here yesterday to meet a friend. However, I was immediately struck by the bright, airy and quiet atmosphere. So here I am, back again, to make an early start on work before the celebrations for my flat mate’s 22nd birthday begin this afternoon.
This morning I will admit that the quiet of DHT Café probably owes much to the legacy of last night’s Twist & Shout. However, I still argue that it is a valuable space because it tows the line between library and coffee shop. Much praise on this score is owed to the sheer variation in seating on offer. From booths to little pouffes, armchairs and the more traditional tables and chairs, there is plenty of space to either curl up with a book or spread your literature out all over the table in front of you and the floor around you.
This latest addition to the campus eateries is more than merely welcomed. For returning students, it’s a relief to have a new space that encourages both work and socializing with neither the noise of Teviot nor the tension of the main library. As for Freshers, it is sure to be hit by nature of being the first university café en route from Pollock Halls.
Whilst I solemnly swear to award the BookNook prize to somewhere a little more artisan and off-the-beaten-track next week, I also urge you to take a visit to the cooler, less clinical cousin of the library. DHT café is sure to greet you with arms as open as my copy of Aristotle’s ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ should be.
