Marmadukes opened in August 2012 in a 19th-century townhouse in the city centre’s theatre district. Clare and Tim Nye, from Bakewell in the Peak District, started it when Tim retired from Derbyshire Police and their four children had left home. It is still family owned and run, with three of the children now helping to run the cafés, the sourdough bakery and the pastry kitchen. Clare is an interior designer, and each site looks different.

Cambridge Street, the second café, is the coffee flagship. Head of Coffee Tom keeps guest roaster espressos, batch filter and hand brews on the menu, in a room designed by 93ft with a contemporary Danish twist that won the Small Project Award at the Sheffield Design Awards in 2022. It is walk-in only, and laptop users are asked to buy one item for every hour. The Sorting Office, the former South West Delivery Office in Banner Cross, won the Interiors Award the same year; it has a 60-seat café on the ground floor and the bakery, which supplies the other two cafés every morning with bread made from Wildfarmed flour.

The house coffee is bespoke and seasonal. Edition 3 is Maraba, a natural Red Bourbon from Kazunga Charles at the Maraba washing station in Rwanda, sourced directly with the producer through Origin Coffee Roasters, with notes of blackberry, raspberry and caramel by Marmadukes’ account. Milk comes from Brades Farm, and dogs are welcome in all three cafés.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Marmadukes