The youthful party scene around rue Oberkampf doesn’t wake up till the evening but, even by day, there’s life at Place Verte, a multifunctional, creative space with a friendly, laidback vibe. It’s an expansive interior, with a bar to the front, dispensing cocktails, smoothies and hot chocolate, tables where young families and solitary laptop-tappers can hang out for the afternoon, a greenery-filled vitrine at the rear, and a salad bar in the middle. You can order pizza, pasta, soup of the day, or fancier dishes such as rare tuna with Espelette pepper; by night, it’s more of a bar scene, with live music and DJs at weekends. Provided you’re into vaguely lefty 1970s hang-outs, you can’t go wrong here. There’s a ‘long, hot summer’ clause, too: a big, shady terrace crammed with colourful plastic chairs.rnrnrnrn