Sandra's Cafe, Paris Street bus station, Exeter

Sandra's has been at this site for at least 5 years as far as I can remember, integrated into the very structure of the awful, 1970s bus station at the side of Paris Street.

It is an ultra-modernist bus station, very functional yet always cold and grubby, long, cantilivered concrete roof beams projecting a good 30 feet onto the bus bays themselves and over the chewing gummed, shattered paving stoned floor. The local routes start at the western end, places like Newton St Cyres, Crediton, Chagford. As you go towards the other end, the destinations become further away, from Sidmouth and Lyme Regis, to the Jurassic Coast and then London and other places around whole of Britain.

There are various vending machines scattered around and lots of - about 25 - bus bays, each guarded by steel railings all painted yellow.

Paris Street bus station is also built on a rather steep slope so that it has two decks, one for the arrivals and departures at the top and one below for parking.

At the western, Paris Street end may be found Sandra's cafe, itself split over two decks. There is an upper, bus level entrance and a lower, pavement/street entrance. Yet, the interior is all on just one floor, not even a mezzanine level which could have been incorporated due to the 15 feet interior.

The staff wear yellow and red overalls, each with the Sandra's logo and apparantly women (mostly under 30, I'd say). There is one long counter running almost the entire length of the room, about 30 feet, a long steel tray rack at the front. These back onto the food counter which accommodates a whole series of see-through plastic/perspex food cupboards, each containing standard, non-fancy fare like scones, pies, cakes, crisps and so forth.

Behind is the kitchen, its smell of onions, baked pies, chips, eggs, ommlettes and so forth wafting through the place. You would imagine this to be an ideal, velvet, moulded case for the cliched greasy spoon; you would not be wrong. However, there is a certain charm about this place, not least the prices, which are very reasonable.

The walls are adored by several enormous murals, some, if I remember, showing exotic places around the world (not the sort you would reach directly from Exeter bus station - on the other hand, you might get a coach to Heathrow or Victoria and actually go on to see these places). Fruit machines cover the lower sections of wall.

The clientele are almost entirely old and poor. Lots of shabby people, the sort you would expect to find on Rab C Nesbitt - can they all be travellers/passengers? My theory is that they are here because they like it and probably not even going anywhere.

I would say, overall, the staff are polite and hard-working and offer some perfectly adequate food. In summer, you could even enjoy your drink and meal on the patio outside! (Watching the buses and cars and fumes travelling along Paris Street). Then again, why not the Honiton Inn, opposite?