I had breakfast at a former public toilet in Bristol which still features marble sinks and white tiled walls

The cafe entrance used to be the door to the gents’ urinal

For a cafe housed in a former public toilet, there’s certainly nothing bog standard about The Cloakroom.

On the corner of Woodland Road and Park Row, this converted Grade II-listed public convenience dates back to 1904 and the interior is stunning.

White tiled walls, monochrome ‘chessboard’ floor, marble sinks and original oak panels - it has retained its Edwardian splendour.

When it was still open for its original purpose, the building was split into two as a ladies’ cloakroom and a gents’ urinals but it’s now one space full of nooks and crannies.

The cafe has retained plenty of original features dating back to 1904

More importantly, the old toilet cubicles are still in operation, complete with porcelain cisterns.

Filled with light - and far more fragrant than I remember it when it was still the gents’ - it’s a lovely space and there’s a small sun-trap garden at the front.

I was there mid-morning so I’d missed the breakfast pastries and was too early for the sandwiches and savoury tarts.

Still, there was a huge range of cakes in the glass-fronted cabinet where you order - among them, cardamom swirls, rocky roads, chocolate brownies, raspberry bakewells and delicious toasted coconut flapjack (£3) I went for.

When it comes to drinks, there is blackboard of healthy smoothies and freshly squeezed juices but the temptation of Montpelier-roasted Triple Co. Roast coffee was too much to resist.

There is a huge selection of sweet and savoury snacks on sale

My flat white was made using the BS1 Espresso, a Colombian coffee with real chocolatey richness.

Although at £3.25, the coffee wasn’t especially cheap and certainly a lot more than the days when I used to pop into this former convenience to spend a penny.

In recent years, Bristol City Council has closed most of the city’s public toilets so it’s nice to see one given a new lease of life rather than simply left to rot.

The Cloakroom Cafe isn’t the only former loo transformed into a new business. There’s The Gents barber shop on Wells Road, Café on the Square in Sea Mills, the Polish deli in Henbury and maybe others.

Flushed by the success of The Cloakroom, maybe the owners will consider opening more cafes in other derelict toilets - if there’s a concept worthy of a chain, it must be this one.

The Cloakroom Cafe, corner of Woodland Road and Park Row, Bristol, BS8 1US.