Cafeography
London

Specialty coffee cafés in London

Roaster cafés and espresso bars, from Leather Lane to New Drum Street.

Photo: Jean-Paul Wright, Pexels License

London's specialty coffee has older roots than its flat white boom. Monmouth Coffee Company was founded in 1978 by Nick Saunders and Anita Le Roy at 27 Monmouth Street in Covent Garden, roasting in the basement at first; a Borough Market stall followed in 1999 and a shop there in 2001.1

The next wave came from the southern hemisphere. Flat White opened at 17 Berwick Street in Soho in 2005, an early sign of Antipodean coffee culture taking hold in London.2 In 2008 James Hoffmann, World Barista Champion in Tokyo the year before, co-founded Square Mile Coffee Roasters with Anette Moldvaer; the roastery has been in Walthamstow since late 2018.3

Local tip: For beans to take home on a weekend, Monmouth's Bermondsey roastery at Spa Terminus also opens as a shop on Saturdays.1

Where these cafés are: Spitalfields & Whitechapel (4), Soho & Fitzrovia (3), Bethnal Green & Mile End (3), Hackney & London Fields (2), Westminster, Victoria & Pimlico (2), Islington & Angel (2), Covent Garden & Holborn (2), Kensington, Earl's Court & Fulham (1), Shoreditch & Hoxton (1), Clerkenwell & Farringdon (1), Mayfair & St James's (1), Peckham & Camberwell (1), Camden, Primrose Hill & Kentish Town (1), Battersea & Nine Elms (1), Chelsea, South Kensington & Knightsbridge (1), Paddington & Bayswater (1), Elephant & Castle & Walworth (1), The City (1).

At a glance

29Cafés listed
12With opening hours
06:30Earliest opening
19:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Red Bean Roastery, from 06:30 (Mon–Fri 06:30–16:30 · Sat–Sun 08:30–12:30).
  • Closes latest: Roastery Club, until 19:00 (Daily 07:00–19:00).
  • Most listed streets: Hanbury Street (2), New Drum Street (2).
  • Most common features: takeaway (45%), card payment (34%), indoor seating (28%).
Hackney & London Fields

Climpson & Sons

  • 67 Broadway Market
  • Mon–Fri 07:00–17:00 · Sat 08:30–17:00 · Sun 09:00–17:00
  • +44 20 7254 7199
  • Takeaway
  • Card payment
  • Vegetarian options
  • Specialty
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Champions, roasters and the London Coffee Festival

Prufrock Coffee has served coffee and food on Leather Lane since 2011.4 The shop at 23–25 Leather Lane was the first Prufrock venue that was not a mobile espresso cart, run by Gwilym Davies, the 2009 World Barista Champion, with a barista training school planned for its basement.5 It opens weekdays 07:30–16:30, Saturdays 08:00–17:00 and Sundays 09:00–17:00.

Store Street Espresso uses Square Mile's Red Brick as its house espresso and brings in guest roasters.6

The trade gathers every May at the London Coffee Festival, held since 2011 at the Truman Brewery off Brick Lane. The 2026 edition ran 14–17 May with more than 275 coffee and food brands, two industry days and two public days; the 2027 festival is set for 13–16 May.7

Roaster cafés in Shoreditch, Hackney and Spitalfields

Ozone began in 1998 in a New Zealand surf town and opened its Leonard Street site in Shoreditch in March 2012.8 Leonard Street opens weekdays 07:30–17:00 and weekends from 08:30; the London Fields café at 8 Pritchard's Road closes at 16:00 on weekdays. Allpress pours at its roastery café at 55 Dalston Lane.

Climpson & Sons grew from a market stall into a Broadway Market shop in 2004, taking its name from the butcher's that had traded there, and later moved its roasting to Leyton.9 The café at 67 Broadway Market opens at 07:00 on weekdays. Its coffee bar at 42 Hanbury Street is a few doors from Nude Coffee Roasters at number 25, open until 17:00 every day.

Further east, New Drum Street off Aldgate has two roasters side by side: Red Bean Roastery at number 10 opens at 06:30 on weekdays, and Roastery Club at number 2 runs 07:00–19:00 daily.

Specialty coffee by the stations and offices

Treelogy Speciality Coffee is at 50 Eastbourne Terrace, along the side of Paddington station, and Caravan Coffee Roasters has a café in Savoy Court, off the Strand, a short walk from Charing Cross. In Westminster, Jungle Roast is at 28 Monck Street, a few streets south of Victoria Street.

Workshop Coffee closed its first café, on Clerkenwell Road, on 28 July 2017 so the company could concentrate on coffee, and kept its smaller coffee bars, Marylebone among them.10

Specialty café hours in London

Expect daytime hours: most specialty bars with posted times close by 18:00. Specialty Cafetiere at 389 Hackney Road shuts at 16:00 on weekdays, Carbon Kopi at 1 Hazlebury Road in Fulham runs 07:30–17:00 daily, and The Roasting at 31 Churton Street in Pimlico opens 08:00–17:00 Monday to Saturday and from 09:00 on Sundays. Roastery Club's 19:00 close on New Drum Street is among the latest.

Sources

  1. Monmouth Coffee Company, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  2. Flat White, Time Out London (review, September 25, 2013), accessed October 2026
  3. James Hoffmann, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  4. Prufrock Coffee, Leather Lane, Prufrock Coffee, accessed October 2026
  5. Doors to Gwilym's New Coffee Shop Not Tamper Proof, Young & Foodish (2011), accessed October 2026
  6. Store Street Espresso, Store Street Espresso, accessed October 2026
  7. Visiting, The London Coffee Festival, accessed October 2026
  8. Ozone UK 10th birthday, Ozone Coffee (2022), accessed October 2026
  9. Climpson & Sons: The 20 years story, Climpson & Sons, accessed October 2026
  10. The future of our Clerkenwell café, Workshop Coffee (July 20, 2017), accessed October 2026
Keep exploring

Other ways to browse London

Outdoor seating

364 cafés

Wi-Fi

123 cafés

Bakery cafés

87 cafés

Brunch

47 cafés

Open late

69 cafés

By area: Soho & Fitzrovia Covent Garden & Holborn Clerkenwell & Farringdon Shoreditch & Hoxton The City Spitalfields & Whitechapel Islington & Angel Bethnal Green & Mile End Hackney & London Fields Camden, Primrose Hill & Kentish Town

FAQ

Specialty coffee in London: questions

When did specialty coffee arrive in London?

Monmouth Coffee Company was founded in 1978 at 27 Monmouth Street in Covent Garden and opened a Borough Market shop in 2001. Flat White opened on Berwick Street in Soho in 2005, and Square Mile Coffee Roasters followed in 2008, co-founded by James Hoffmann, the 2007 World Barista Champion, and Anette Moldvaer. Prufrock has been on Leather Lane since 2011.

When and where is the London Coffee Festival?

The London Coffee Festival takes place every May at the Truman Brewery off Brick Lane in east London and has run since 2011. The 2026 festival was 14–17 May, with two industry days, two public days and more than 275 coffee and food brands. The 2027 edition is set for 13–16 May.

Which specialty coffee shops in London open earliest?

Red Bean Roastery on New Drum Street in Aldgate opens at 06:30 on weekdays. Climpson & Sons on Broadway Market opens at 07:00 on weekdays, and Roastery Club, also on New Drum Street, at 07:00 every day.

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