Actual Hotel
Roselló 238 (between Passeig de Gracia and Pau Claris)
Tel:93-552 05 50
www.hotelactual.com

FREE WI FI

Head past the front desk and up the stairs on the right of reception to get to this small hotel cafe with quiet alcoves where you can relax and catch up on emails and news.

Waitress service is friendly and attentive - ring the bell on the counter when there is no-one around.

A welcome (cost effective) and more relaxed option than the upmarket Hotel Omm opposite.

Café D'Artts
Bruc 118 (between Carrer Valencia and Mallorca)
Tel: 93-458 79 15
Open: Mon - Fri 8.30am - 10pm; Sat 9am - 8pm
www.caffedarts.com

Comfy is the best way to describe this place - very friendly cafe serving average to good tapas and drinks in easy surroundings from breakfast until evening. Art of variable quality lines the walls and is changed periodically to showcase a new artist or place - all for sale, if it tickles your fancy.

The tapas is a little disappointing, but it remains a great place to relax with a coffee or a drink.

Head past the bar to the back for the best of the big sofas.

Café y Té
Rambla de Catalunya 80
Open: Daily, early until late
www.cafeandte.com

One of a chain of Italian style cafés across Spain, making it rather a formulaic, but usually pleasant experience. The coffee is typically pretty good, and the sandwiches fine, although you'll need to go elsewhere if you want something a little more authentically Barcelonan.

Laie
Pau Claris 85 (between Gran Via y Casp)
Mon - Fri 9am - 9.30pm; Sat 10am - 9.30pm
www.laie.es

FREE WIFI - ask for the key at the bar

The Pau Claris version of this bookshop, like the others, boasts an excellent upstairs café and restaurant.

Unlike many bookstore cafés, this is not a place to sit and browse the books on the shelves - you have to buy to take a book upstairs. However, it is an unusually comfortable and relaxing space to sit and have a coffee or beer with pastry after shopping or while checking mail on the free WIFI.

Dry Martini
Aribau 162 (at Carrer de Corsiga)
Tel: 93-217 50 72
Open: Mon - Fri 1pm - 2.30am; Sat 6.30pm - 3am
www.drymartinibcn.com

Right out of a scene from Mad Men, Dry Martini is an ultra suave cocktail bar, a place to see and be seen and, although a little further out than most, is well worth the trip.

Describing itself as a "Speakeasy", Dry Martini's slick uniformed waiter service, dark, sultry interior and extensive cocktail list pretty much fits that bill, although if you're looking for dancing girls you'll be disappointed - this place is more about class and money than that.

Watch out for the prices - a cocktail will set you back 10+ Euros - but the drinks are top notch and the atmosphere fabulous.

Les Gens Que J'Aime
València, 286 (between Pau Claris and Passeig de Gracia)
Tel: 93-215 68 79
Open: Daily 6pm - 2.30am

A wonderfully atmospheric little downstairs bar just off Passeig de Gracia.

The small door and steps down, dark interior and velvet furnishings all give Les Gens Que J'Aime a deliberately Parisian seedy feel and the usual customers, often shrouded in cigarette smoke only add to that. The resident tarot reader just sets the whole thing off.

Generally good value, although watch out for the red wine which is only served in 1/3 bottles for €8+.

Orange Café Claris
Pau Claris 143 (between Arago and Valencia)
Tel: 93-487 59 91
Open: Mon - Sat 8am - 2am
www.orangeclariscafe.com

Groovy bar / cafe around an orange theme, the Orange Café Claris is a welcome departure from the over-priced and atmosphere-less cafes that can be found just a street away on Passeig de Gracia.

The decor is retro 60s, giving it a charming edge and the young staff are attentive and helpful. The food is reasonable and well priced: a lunchtime menu del dia is just €9.50 and main courses at night just €8-12.

Just one thing: asthma sufferers watch out - smoking is still very much allowed here and the cigarette smoke can reach industrial levels.

Premier
Provenca 236 (at Carrer d'Enric Granados)
Tel: 93-532 16 50
Open: Tues - Sat: 6pm - 2.30am; Closed Sun & Mon
www.barpremier.com

A small cocktail bar in the heart of Eixample, Premier just oozes cool.

Popular with the thirtysomething set, Premier is a groovy bar during the week and a music bar, with own DJs at the weekends playing the "Jazz, Disco, Groovy House and RnB sounds". Not the biggest place around, so you may need to hang around to get a decent seat, particularly if you want to get one of the bed-like sofas on the tiny mezzanine floor.

For us, a perfect pre-dinner cocktails place for any of the myriad of restaurants around here.

The George Payne Irish Bar (aka El Teatro)
Placa Urquinaona, 5
Tel: 93-481 52 94
Open: Daily: 9am - late
www.thegeorgepayneirishbar.com

How to describe the cavernous pub that is the George Payne Irish Bar (also known as El Teatro)?

Well, it can be summed up as very big and typical (Barcelona-style) Irish. Five yes, count them, five separate rooms, from the two small bars at the front to the upstairs dining room and the huge back room, each one with at least one screen, often more, showing whatever sport is playing at the time.

Staff are all English speaking, prices are the usual 20-30% higher than non-Irish bars and the food is mostly burgers, chillis and nachos - although not badly done, if you are in the mood for that sort of thing. Traditional its not, but it serves a purpose. Get there early for big sporting events and check the site - they have been known to charge entry for the biggest ones.