Trying to describe Bijou Peterborough in one sentence is surprisingly awkward.

“Cocktail bar” gets you part of the way.

Except you can turn up at eleven in the morning.

“Café” works too.

Until you notice the cocktail menu, bottomless brunches, live entertainment and private basement.

Perhaps the mistake is assuming it needs to pick a side.

Because Bijou's more interesting trick is that Wednesday lunchtime and Saturday night don't have to feel like the same place at all.

Peterborough at 11am

Walk along Bridge Street during the day and Bijou can be a coffee-and-cake decision.

Or afternoon tea.

Or lunch.

Its current menus cover lunch, afternoon tea, cocktails, bottomless brunch, evening food and pizza, rather than forcing the venue into one narrow reason for visiting. Bijou

That's benefical in a city centre.

Not every catch-up needs to begin with alcohol and not every café needs to start stacking chairs just as everybody decides they'd like to stay out.

And Bijou now opens from 11am Wednesday through Sunday, according to its current website. 

But come back later and the personality changes.

Peterborough after dark

The coffee cups haven't magically transformed into cocktail glasses.

The reason for being there has.

Bijou's current cocktail menu includes the familiar territory 

Espresso Martini, Pornstar Martini, Cosmopolitan and French Martini among them while its events calendar moves through comedy, themed bottomless brunches, live entertainment and other events. 

That makes it less about finding the best time to visit and more about finding your version of Bijou.

A quiet daytime catch-up?

Afternoon tea?

Bottomless brunch with friends?

Cocktails before heading elsewhere?

Or the whole evening without going anywhere else?

They're different propositions living at the same address.

And then there's downstairs

This is probably the bit somebody walking past on Bridge Street wouldn't necessarily guess.

Bijou has three private-hire options.

The Snug takes up to 20 people.

The VIP Basement can accommodate up to 50 and has its own bar and DJ setup.

And for something considerably less intimate, the venue says full hire can accommodate up to 120 guests. 

So the place where two people can have coffee in the daytime can also disappear behind closed doors for somebody's 40th birthday later.

That's quite a change of gear.

And perhaps that's the best way to understand Bijou.

Don't ask what kind of place it is.

Ask what kind of day you're having.

Have you tried Bijou?

Coffee, afternoon tea, brunch, cocktails or a night out — tell us what you tried and what you thought. Or tell us another Peterborough place that changes completely after dark.

Comment: Tell us your experience below.