In the same print edition as your “50 best museum cafes” supplement (5 April), you published a letter from Alicia Baker noting that older people often find restaurants noisy. In that connection, it was a pity that your “50 best” didn’t include the popular cafe at Edinburgh’s National Portrait Gallery. A recent makeover has seen acoustic panels installed overhead and – hooray! – now I can hear what my companions are saying without having to lean close to them. Let’s hope more cafes and restaurants will follow this recipe for acoustic wellbeing.
Susan Tomes
Edinburgh
• I was expecting to see Wakefield mentioned in your excellent 50 best museum cafes feature. Stepping into the stunningly beautiful garden at the Hepworth Wakefield (designed by Tom Stuart-Smith), you’ll find a restored Victorian gatehouse hosting a small cafe. This was our first foray into the world after lockdown, and sipping my tea in this fabulous garden, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I’m sure the gallery cafe is excellent also.
Sara Hayward
Worcester
• My wife and I visited a restaurant in Mayfair and had a great meal, but it was difficult to converse due to the acoustics. Imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks later I had a response to my review thanking me for the comment about the acoustics and saying that they had installed extra soundproofing.
David Felton
Wistaston, Cheshire
• Following on from Alicia Baker’s letter about Grace Dent’s restaurant reviews, perhaps you could also increase Dent’s expenses so that she could manage to review a few more restaurants outside London?
David Moore
Somerton, Somerset
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