Continental café culture

"We Brits just can't get enough of European cities. We spend holidays in romantic Rome or alternative Amsterdam, and rave about the cafes... Our attitudes toward European cities, like so much else European, are conflicted. We hanker after European standards of city living, but these are expensive - and few are willing to pay Continental levels of tax for the privilege."

Since when did continental taxes pay for the continental café life? Is the argument here that the continent has the city planning to allow for the café spaces? I have been to several truly continental cafés in small backstreet houses on the continent. We have small backstreet houses in Britain.

What the Continent have but the brits don’t is the café culture. How do you change a country culture? By raising our taxes?