There was an Ace Cafe in San Francisco,
but this is the real thing,
located just off the North Circular Road ,
in an undistiguished quarter of North London
near the Wembley stadium.

The North Circular Road has grown to hideous proportions,
and now access to the Ace by road is tricky.
I cut through the train station parking lot.

The place smelled of new paint,
and the staff were like walking mannequins
covered in Ace Cafe merchandise.