Independent coffee shops are thriving at time when neighbourhood businesses are in decline. What is it about the local coffee shop that keeps us coming back for more?
Hard as it may be to imagine, coffee houses are a relatively new innovation in the UK. Starbucks opened its first UK outlet in 1998, so anyone aged twenty and over will remember life where a cardboard coffee cup didn’t serve as another appendage.
For a long time, the brand and the product seemed indefatigably merged (or should that be blended?); ‘a Starbucks’ was a ready substitute for a caffeine hit. Then the market exploded – Pret, Nero, Costa, to name three of hundreds – and as a nation we were never more than 10 metres from a macchiato.
Inevitably, overexposure led to ennui. Our palettes grew bored of the same old blends; the joke of getting your cup complete with a mangled translation of your name wore thin. We were hooked on coffee but our tastes had grown more sophisticated than what the chains had to offer. The saturated coffee market suddenly had room for more.
Enter the independent coffee shop. They sprung up subtly around London, offering exquisite coffee, cosy interiors and baristas who knew your name and cared about the coffee they made. The emphasis was on local, sustainable, ethical: gluten-free cake, made locally, and plain cups that you knew were recyclable from the very look of them.
Today, independent coffee shops are a statement in themselves, attuned to the sensibilities of the people that frequent them: they are anti-corporation, anti-disposable culture, anti-tax evasion, and anti-bland coffee – that bit is important.
Read: Join the breakfast club
They are flourishing not because of what they stand against but what they stand for. They represent community. They are a place where people come to meet – then linger. And they are synonymous with quality: anyone who considers themselves even a smidge of a coffee connoisseur is happy to walk the extra five minutes to their local, independent coffee shop simply because they know the coffee is superior. It is a pleasure to drink, an inexpensive indulgence that makes the day just a little bit better.
In a socio-political climate that dismays and disparages on a daily basis, independent coffee shops are for those who take their cup half-full.
5 of the best independent coffee shops around Battersea
It doesn’t look like much – it’s located in Queenstown Road rail station – but this tiny café serves the best coffee in south London. Possibly all of London and I’d back it pitted against the rest of the UK.
There are never more than two people behind the till but never less than four queuing up. The baristas explain how and why they are making your coffee just so. Try it, love it then don’t tell anyone else about it.
2. Brickwood
Queues for Brickwood spill down the street on a Saturday morning. Australian-quality flat whites are a highlight and the banana bread with espresso butter is the stuff of legend. The laidback staff don’t hassle, even if you’ve popped in for one coffee and stayed for three hours. As for the décor, the clue is in the name.
This place is all about location, location, location, nestled in the heart of one of London’s finest parks with lakesides views. It buzzes with families, walkers and runners on the weekend, offering a much-needed caffeine kick on a Saturday morning.
With four locations (in Clapham, Wandsworth, Wimbledon and Chiswick) this beloved coffee shop is on the independent/chain cusp, but all is forgiven when you peruse the coffee menu. Brew is an early adopter of the Piccolo and non-coffee drinkers rave about the pure varlhona hot chocolate that comes in a bowl.
Brew also opens late and has a delectable evening menu to match. Head to the Chiswick and Wimbledon branches for wood fired pizzas that are cooked in house.
One of the most recent additions to south London’s independent coffee shop scene, Sendero does ridiculously good coffee at ridiculously good prices. It is dedicated to green sourcing and production and is also one of the cosiest joints in town; one can happily spend a whole day in one of the armchairs with a book and latte on drip feed. It’s open plan with friendly staff to match and there is often a sweet dog running around patrons’ feet.
Sendero is always busy, whatever time of day you go, which is no mean feat, considering there is a Nero across the road.
Even in the shadow of a mighty chain, this independent coffee shop is still hot.
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