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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...

One of my all-time favourite meals in London was the first time my friends and I visited the original Pedler on Peckham Rye . We were there for the neighbourhood eatery's soft launch in 2014, and with 50% off food and five of us present, we got to make that wonderful order: "We'll take one of everything." As predicted, we all returned regularly, celebrating birthdays, babies and boozy brunches, usually featuring a Little Bird gin cocktail (they're owned by the same people). But although the restaurant was beautifully designed, it could feel crowded even in the beforetimes, and unfortunately, after one lockdown too many, Pedler closed its doors for good.  Luckily, however, it has now reopened as Pedler Good Fortune in a new location on Queens Road, still in Peckham but a mile northeast. The delicious food, great décor and excellent service remain the same, but when I visited one evening last week, there were some exciting changes too. A few doors down from Queens...

Without doubt, 2020 has been an exceptionally challenging year for independent coffee shops and other small businesses in the hospitality industry, but the COVID-19 pandemic was one of factors that drove the opening of NOLA , a new speciality coffee shop on Rye Lane in Peckham. Owners Josephine and Anthony also form the band Oh Wonder . They created NOLA as a neighbourhood coffee shop that brings together things they love about coffee shops they've visited around the world, and that offers much-needed calm, respite and great coffee to the local community in uncertain times. And the care they've taken with their new release is clear; from the design to the warm, friendly service and, of course, the coffee, the attention to detail is impressive. While London is in lockdown, NOLA is only open for takeaway, but the minimalist décor — light wood, accent lights and carefully chosen greenery — mean it will be lovely place to sit in while enjoying a coffee and sweet treat once that...