Location, location, location. Get it wrong and those awkward silences can have you reaching for the door. Get it right and it could mark the first of many.  

1. Will you be the bun to my burger?: Hot Numbers

With a relaxed and artsy atmosphere, this independent coffee bar and roastery on Gwidyr Street, just off Mill Road is the place to head to on a Friday night. A coffee bar, you say? Oh no, this is so much more than that. With gourmet burgers from Steak and Honour, live music (jazz, blues, folk, you name it) and home-roasted coffee, the vibe is buzzing and bohemian. Exhausted conversation? Their art gallery, which offers diverse and regularly changing exhibitions, is a real talking point.

2. Let the Scotch meet the Egg: The Pint Shop

Either sit in the bar and chat over fennel pork scratchings, sausage rolls and the best scotch eggs you’ll ever eat or opt for the dining room. This pimped-up beer house on Peas Hill, just off Market Square offers traditional pub grub with a twist in a great setting. With a vast and wide-ranging beer, gin, wine and whisky menu, drinks will never run dry even if conversation does. Excellent all round.

3. Come here often?: The Punter

This relaxed pub on Pound Hill, just beyond Magdalene Bridge offers great food, fine ales and wines and friendly service. Plus the fairy lights in the courtyard add a real ‘je ne sais quoi’. Expect plentiful portions and flavoursome food. Choose between beer battered fish and chips, venison sausages and mash or seared fillet of sea bass among others. A failsafe option.