Costa Coffee in Southwark Street (ex Harper's Cafe)

boroughpaul wrote:

where are our shoreditch/hoxton style proper coffee shops?

Absolutely!
If ever there was a case screaming to be taken before the ECHR, this must be it.
The only justifiable "skinny" option is jeans, surely?

[boroughpaul wrote:
where are our shoreditch/hoxton style proper coffee shops?]

mainly in shoreditch and hoxton I think. Tourists & accountants sadly prefer Costa....

Have you guys deliberately forgotten Monmouth? :) The queues can be hideous on Saturdays but the coffee is worth it...

Jayne at Terry Cafe - Great Suffolk Street - uses Monmouth and is a fine fine fine Barista..

sarahse1 wrote:

But we do have the lovely new coffee shop on B Square Hej, selling Swedish coffee

Being Swedish, I was very excited when my husband told me about the new (Swedish) coffee shop HEJ in Bermondsey Sq. I was a tiny bit disappointed to discover it is run by Sweden's biggest coffee company which is called Löfbergs (they bought Percol last year) and far from small and independent. Saying that, I love coffee and go to all coffee shops in the area, chains as well as small ones, and should probably keep quiet :-) I just think it would be nicer if HEJ didn't pretend to be a small independent coffee shop.

To be fair they do have booklets lying around stating their provenance. Went in there yesterday and can confirm the quality. Would have liked a sofa though. The coffee grains waste built table is an impressive piece of furniture.

Kristina wrote:

sarahse1 wrote:

But we do have the lovely new coffee shop on B Square Hej, selling Swedish coffee

Being Swedish, I was very excited when my husband told me about the new (Swedish) coffee shop HEJ in Bermondsey Sq. I was a tiny bit disappointed to discover it is run by Sweden's biggest coffee company which is called Löfbergs (they bought Percol last year) and far from small and independent. Saying that, I love coffee and go to all coffee shops in the area, chains as well as small ones, and should probably keep quiet :-) I just think it would be nicer if HEJ didn't pretend to be a small independent coffee shop.

It's how everything is branded, from the big Supermarkets advertising themselves on TV as being part of your Christmas (yuk!) to Coffeeshop chains pretending to be independent. No more local shops for local people!

PS - don't know what the impact will be, but Starbucks are moving their European HQ from Amsterdam to London.

eDWaRD WooDWaRD wrote:

Kristina wrote:

sarahse1 wrote:

But we do have the lovely new coffee shop on B Square Hej, selling Swedish coffee

Being Swedish, I was very excited when my husband told me about the new (Swedish) coffee shop HEJ in Bermondsey Sq. I was a tiny bit disappointed to discover it is run by Sweden's biggest coffee company which is called Löfbergs (they bought Percol last year) and far from small and independent. Saying that, I love coffee and go to all coffee shops in the area, chains as well as small ones, and should probably keep quiet :-) I just think it would be nicer if HEJ didn't pretend to be a small independent coffee shop.

It's how everything is branded, from the big Supermarkets advertising themselves on TV as being part of your Christmas (yuk!) to Coffeeshop chains pretending to be independent. No more local shops for local people!

Hmm... wait a minute, in fairness, on their website they are very much upfront about Löfbergs being their supplier, but that's a very different thing from being run by them. What's the reality, can someone clarify?

Sandgrown Dave wrote:

eDWaRD WooDWaRD wrote:

Kristina wrote:

sarahse1 wrote:

But we do have the lovely new coffee shop on B Square Hej, selling Swedish coffee

Being Swedish, I was very excited when my husband told me about the new (Swedish) coffee shop HEJ in Bermondsey Sq. I was a tiny bit disappointed to discover it is run by Sweden's biggest coffee company which is called Löfbergs (they bought Percol last year) and far from small and independent. Saying that, I love coffee and go to all coffee shops in the area, chains as well as small ones, and should probably keep quiet :-) I just think it would be nicer if HEJ didn't pretend to be a small independent coffee shop.

It's how everything is branded, from the big Supermarkets advertising themselves on TV as being part of your Christmas (yuk!) to Coffeeshop chains pretending to be independent. No more local shops for local people!

Hmm... wait a minute, in fairness, on their website they are very much upfront about Löfbergs being their supplier, but that's a very different thing from being run by them. What's the reality, can someone clarify?

Hi again. Yes, that's what I mean. On their website www.hejcoffee.co.uk, they mention Löfbergs is their supplier but when you look at "who's running the show" and "your friendly coffee fiends" you find one of the names is the same as the Managing Director of Löfbergs UK division and that is what I didn't like. I love Löfbergs coffee but just thought it a bit unfair on the smaller places. I might be wrong? Today, I went for lunch at another great Scandi place called Scandinavian Kitchen and thought their coffee was beautiful. Turns out it was Monmouth :-) (hope I can mention that despite it not being local)