There are lots of cool little café places in Lichfield now and the majority seem to be aiming for the same sort of relaxed modern feel. The Spark does this pretty well with the spread of relaxing seats and nooks to sit and read papers, plus the food all seemed to come well presented on chopping boards or with some other rather cool aspect to it. I only had soup but it was nice and the other food going around looked good.

It isn’t the slickest place though. Service was a little bit overly familiar and “cheeky” for my personal tastes and they seemed slow to catch up from the Saturday lunchtime rush – when we ate there downstairs was still busy but the top floor was just emptying and almost all the tables were allowed to sit dirty for ages. When we cleared stuff off one onto another and asked for someone to wipe it they were happy to help, but it still felt weird to have all those long-vacant tables sitting with dirty plates and empty bottles.

The décor is a matter of “nearly” – it is a bit rough round the edges and isn’t always as warm, modern and cool as it might have liked. Still good though and would return again – seems to do lots of events too so may be worth a look for that at some point.

On a return from Ironbridge we decided to spend an afternoon in Lichfield. To conclude our trip we called in for a late lunch and had one of the best burgers ever with the added bonus of "Oxjam" - a series of musicians playing for the Oxfam charity.

The coffee was pretty good as well.

I had to entertain some American guests, so for lunch we tried The Spark. The "assemble it yourself" Chicken Sald greatly impressed them as it included Anchovies, and our speciality sausages were excellent. Atmosphere relaxed, and the service enchanting by our waitress "Ariel". Much reccomended.

My wife and I, visiting Lichfield for the first time, booked a pre-theatre evening meal at the The Spark Cafe (Saturday 13th October 2012). The friendly and welcoming staff provided an interesting although slightly restricted menu. The food was first first class and could not be faulted. Mushroom starters, moroccan lamb as the main course and a rasberry pudding to die for. No chips, no burgers, no hassle - Ventures like this, which encourage like minded people (perhaps of a certain age) to share a cafe which offers good food at a reasonable price plus poetry, music, and numerous other interests and activities, must be applauded. We wish the owners every success....