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The past two years have been among the most challenging for hospitality businesses, including speciality coffee shops, in London, and around the world. Keeping a speciality coffee shop in business in London is difficult even in normal times, let alone during a global pandemic, which has felt like a game of snakes and ladders with constant changes of rules, snap lockdowns and general uncertainty. Unfortunately, some coffee shops have had to close permanently (please come back, Black Swan Yard !), but it's been encouraging to see how many new — and often exciting — cafes have opened in London in the past couple of years.  I created an Instagram Guide highlighting some of my favourite 2020 and 2021 openings , but I wanted to collect them together on this blog too. Scroll on down if you're looking for new places to explore and support throughout the city. My usual caveat is that this isn't an exhaustive list, but I have visited most of these coffee shops more than once and enjo...

My speciality-coffee-shop-hopping continues to turn up connections — unintentionally — this week, and today's post is about my return visit to  Quarter Horse Coffee  on Bristol Street. Meanwhile, if you follow me on Instagram , you may have seen that I stopped by  Peloton Espresso in the weekend before — which occupies the former site of Quarter Horse's now-defunct Oxford cafe, which I visited many times. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I was in Birmingham again briefly on Sunday ahead of another Wolves match (we lost again, 0-1 to Spurs, this time, although played very well and were even fun to watch; I know you didn't ask). I only had an hour before I had to be at New Street station, but luckily, I knew the way because I visited Quarter Horse on the same day as Faculty , when I was in town for a conference almost two years ago. My fellow panellist we go for a drink before our train, and I countered with a coffee suggestion. Very fine was the Mexican single-origin c...

While back in the West Midlands earlier this month, I was able to visit a second speciality coffee shop in Birmingham before catching my train home. And like Tilt , Faculty  is based in a historic arcade close to New Street station. I have  visited Faculty before: appropriately enough, I was on my way to speak on a conference panel at the University of Birmingham way back in those crazy beforetimes (AKA November 2019). Somehow, though, I never ended up writing up my visit (I blame an incredibly hectic time at work and my trip to Seville ). In these pandemic times, nothing ever stays the same for long in any case, so I've included a couple of photos from my first trip to Faculty as well as some more recent ones. The Piccadilly Arcade dates to 1910 and is rather lovely with its grand facade and ceiling murals. Faculty is located near the Stephenson Street end, which is directly opposite the shiniest part of New Street station. Proximity to the station was a key factor in my f...

En route to  Molineux Stadium  to watch Wolves play a friendly against Spanish team Celta de Vigo last weekend, I broke my journey in Birmingham. I had to leave home very early during a torrential downpour and was in dire need of more coffee by the time I got to Moor Street station. Luckily, I knew exactly where to go:  Tilt , a speciality coffee shop, craft beer bar and pinballeria in Birmingham's historic City Arcade, which my fellow coffee blogger Brian recently  wrote about again on the Coffee Spot . Tilt is around five minutes' walk from Moor Street, New Street and Snow Hill stations, making it a perfect coffee stop for anyone passing through the city and those staying longer. I came via New Street, following the Tilt sign along Union Passage to the City Arcade, which arcade dates to the late 19th century, and boasts a red-brick facade, high ceilings and decorative green ceramic trimmings. Tilt itself occupies an angular corner space at the end of the arcad...