The Triangle sits just west of Bournemouth’s centre, where Poole Hill, Commercial Road and the roads down to the West Cliff all meet. Flirt has held a corner of it for years, and you tend to notice the place by its furniture — mismatched chairs, salvaged aeroplane seats, the odd bed turned into a sofa, none of the colours agreeing with each other. Inside it reads less like a café than someone’s cheerful, slightly chaotic front room, and that is the point.
The food
Breakfast is served through the morning and cooked to order rather than assembled. After that the kitchen keeps going with sandwiches, jacket potatoes, salads and pie and mash — plain, generous café cooking done fresh by the in-house chefs. Coffee and cake are a fixture at any hour. Vegan and vegetarian dishes sit on the same menu, and there are gluten-free options too. Portions run large and prices stay modest, which is a good part of why regulars keep the sofas warm.
The setting
Come Wednesday to Saturday the café stretches into the evening and the licensed bar takes over, with cocktails on Friday nights; the rest of the week it closes in the late afternoon. What keeps Flirt from being just another coffee stop is the events diary — a weekly Wednesday quiz, craft nights and a book club, run by owner Ed and staff whom regulars mention by name. Dogs are welcome, children are welcome, and the free wifi and soft seating make it an easy place to settle in with a laptop for an hour or three.
Where it is
Flirt is at 21 The Triangle, BH2 5RQ, a short walk west of the Square. Poole Hill Brewery is a couple of minutes up the hill, the Lower Gardens and the seafront lie a walk east, and the Bournemouth International Centre is close by on the West Cliff — handy to know if you are eating before a show. The map of the bay shows how the Triangle joins the town centre to the cliffs.
Good to know
Hours split the week: the café runs to the early evening from Sunday to Tuesday and stays open late from Wednesday to Saturday, though it is worth checking current times before a late visit. The venue can be hired for Saturday-evening parties, with a minimum spend. For more independent places to eat and drink around town, see the food and drink guide; and if you are here for a longer stay, the sofas and free wifi suit remote working on a quiet weekday morning.