Nostalgia: You’ll have had your tea

WHETHER you prefer a good old-fashioned cup of tea in a no-frills cafe, or a skinny latte in a trendy coffee bar, you can’t quite beat taking the weight off your feet and getting someone else to make you a brew.

People enjoying the summer sunshine at The Piazza open-air cafe in Princes Street Gardens Edinburgh in August 1970

We all have our favourite cafe or tea room which provides us with that little bit of sanctuary if we need an escape from screaming kids or a rest in the midst of a major shopping spree.

For some of us, cafes and coffee shops can double up as office spaces or somewhere to get your creative juices flowing – a la JK Rowling, who penned her first Harry Potter novel, The Philosopher’s Stone, in the Capital’s Elephant House cafe.

And the Evening News wants to celebrate these institutions which hold a special place in our hearts.

The coffee room of the Edinburgh Festival Club in the Assembly Roms in 1952.

We have launched a competition to find the most loved cafes in Edinburgh.

With nominations from the great Edinburgh public, we will draw up a shortlist of cafes that will then compete for the title of Cafe of the Year 2015.

And we are expecting the competition to be pretty tough, with Edinburgh residents more than partial to a brew – a tradition that has spanned the generations.

In August 1952, the coffee room of the Edinburgh Festival Club in the Assembly Rooms was packed with women enjoying afternoon tea and men taking a break to catch up on the day’s news.

Diners try out The Barbecue restaurant which opened on Forrest Road Edinburgh in June 1958. It is now Doctors pub.

A new cafe in Forrest Road, called The Barbecue Grill – which is now Doctors Bar – pulled in the punters when it opened up in June 1958.

Families had the luxury of being able to enjoy the sunshine with their refreshments at the Piazza open air cafe in Princes Street Gardens in August 1970.