# The London coffee scene as it once was...



## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

With Soho being changed out of all recognition this is a nice reminder of the previous glory days of the coffee bar.


----------



## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

Rob,

Being of a certain age I found that great to watch!!


----------



## Brewdog (Jun 29, 2014)

It made me reminisce of enjoying a coffee with a cigarette in a coffee shop before we all became healthy! Lol


----------



## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

I'm old enough to remember "Look at Life" although I would have been a bit young for this one. I just loved seeing the post war wave of coffee shops in an area I used to love. Now changed out of all recognition and not for the better.


----------



## Grimley (Jan 18, 2015)

I wouldn't've frequented any of those shops back then, almost everyone was smoking in that film







Said shops would stink of stale tobacco & not coffee. & I dont care if smoking was considered cool back then either.

Apologies for the rant but I hate smoking.


----------



## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

@Grimley are you old enough to have frequented them? I'm not being cheeky, just interested. I used to smoke like a chimney until 1991 and wouldn't have minded at all. But I do understand how more recent people would find the old coffee bars (and pubs, restaurants etc.) unpleasant places to be because of the smoke.


----------



## Grimley (Jan 18, 2015)

No. I'm 50 but when I was little, I used to go into Southend in the Early 70's to a couple of Coffee shops (Cowardines & Tomassi's) the Smell of smoke in those two places was enough to put me off going there back then but as being a child back then I was expected to be seen but not heard so I had no choice even if I complained. FTR My parents have never smoked so they asked to sit in the non smoking part of the premises. I could still smell the smoke though, Hated it then & I do to this day.


----------



## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

@Grimley - Tomassi's is still going strong! It attracts a particular demographic (I think you need to show your pension book to get in). Don't get too excited and jump in your car to make a visit though, what they serve can't be classed as speciality coffee (unless you count Mellow Birds)


----------



## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

@Grimley OK I understand where you're coming from. OTOH there are some of us that miss that smokey atmosphere. I stopped in 1991 but still miss it.


----------



## Vieux Clou (Oct 22, 2014)

...Once our beer was froffy but now we've froffy coffy.

I had to give up halfway through the video, I found it too excruciating.


----------



## NickdeBug (Jan 18, 2015)

I remember wandering into Bar Italia on Frith Street after a night out at Ronnie Scotts on numerous occasions. Usually for a pick me up before heading for a club.

Ah, what it was to be young and dumb


----------



## Grimley (Jan 18, 2015)

Daren said:


> @Grimley - Tomassi's is still going strong! It attracts a particular demographic (I think you need to show your pension book to get in). Don't get too excited and jump in your car to make a visit though, what they serve can't be classed as speciality coffee (unless you count Mellow Birds)


I won't go in there. Overpriced & poor service from what I hear. My Coffee shop of choice in Southend on the rare occasions I go there is Utopia. Very quirky place & their roaster sits pride of place by the counter. I've yet to buy beans from there though.


----------



## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Grimley said:


> I won't go in there. Overpriced & poor service from what I hear. My Coffee shop of choice in Southend on the rare occasions I go there is Utopia. Very quirky place & their roaster sits pride of place by the counter. I've yet to buy beans from there though.


I'll second Utopia for Southend. The owner is a really nice bloke who's happy to indulge my inane questions. I've had a couple of bags from there in an emergency, they are a bit dark for my liking though.

Have you tried Barlow & Fields in Leigh? (Another cool quirky place) They normally have some interesting guest roasters


----------



## Grimley (Jan 18, 2015)

Been in there a few times. Best coffee in Leigh. He uses Coffee Officina IIRC (Local roaster) last time I was in there. Another place to try if you go there is ACanteen in Chelmsford.


----------



## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

I work in Chelmsford and had given up looking for somewhere decent for coffee! I wish I'd known about Acanteen before now. I'll give them a try next week


----------



## Grimley (Jan 18, 2015)

OK. Post what you think here. Our part of Essex is somewhat lacking in decent 3rd wave coffee establishments methinks.


----------



## 44Whitehall (Feb 4, 2014)

Just visited Barlow & Fields. A good call...


----------



## woop (Jan 6, 2017)

Having not lived in those days, I feel we're a bit snobbish looking back at old coffee. Im far too young but over extracted drip seems to come to mind. Is this an unfair prejudice? Since the italian espresso stuff seems newer, and weve drank coffee for yonks...was old school coffee like of this movie tasty?

My mum often goes on about how cream was a big thing back in the day and I remember visiting vienna with its coffee culture of yonder, just something I think about from time to time. If new is better?


----------



## Grimley (Jan 18, 2015)

Daren said:


> I work in Chelmsford and had given up looking for somewhere decent for coffee! I wish I'd known about Acanteen before now. I'll give them a try next week


Just to bump this thread after 2 years to give some updates folks.

@Daren a new place has just opened in Baddow Road Chelmsford by the Odeon roundabout, called Driink coffee club, next door to immortal ink tattoo shop. They serve mac & me coffee. pretty good considering they are new.

Roos coffee by the train station is one to try as well FYI.


----------



## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Grimley said:


> Just to bump this thread after 2 years to give some updates folks.
> 
> @Daren a new place has just opened in Baddow Road Chelmsford by the Odeon roundabout, called Driink coffee club, next door to immortal ink tattoo shop. They serve mac & me coffee. pretty good considering they are new.
> 
> Roos coffee by the train station is one to try as well FYI.


Ooo - I know where I'm going next week!! Thanks for the heads up!


----------



## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

I wonder what the coffee actually tasted like in those days.

I started drinking speciality coffee in the early 90s and with no internet to guide me, I was buying pre ground coffee and running though a cheap filter maker, then press pot, then moka pot, before the internet started to take off and info and roasters became more abundant. Anyone who remembers the days before then will realise how coffee has been completely revolutionised since. I bought coffee from a well known coffee shop ( coffee not weed ) in Amsterdam called J. Geils and even there I suspect the beans were stale. I also found couple of roasters in the UK but funnily enough, I was never in Manchester or London as often as Amsterdam, despite living near Manchester at the time.

All the coffee I could find in the UK was overroasted.


----------



## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

cold war kid said:


> I wonder what the coffee actually tasted like in those days.
> 
> I started drinking speciality coffee in the early 90s and with no internet to guide me, I was buying pre ground coffee and running though a cheap filter maker, then press pot, then moka pot, before the internet started to take off and info and roasters became more abundant. Anyone who remembers the days before then will realise how coffee has been completely revolutionised since. I bought coffee from a well known coffee shop ( coffee not weed ) in Amsterdam called J. Geils and even there I suspect the beans were stale. I also found couple of roasters in the UK but funnily enough, I was never in Manchester or London as often as Amsterdam, despite living near Manchester at the time.
> 
> All the coffee I could find in the UK was overroasted.


It takes you back, doesn't it - there simply wasn't the coffee/roasters around like there are now. I thought I was posh having Dowe Egbert in my cafetière


----------



## Hasi (Dec 27, 2017)

Le Macabre - what a place!

https://horrorpedia.com/2014/06/30/le-macabre-coffee-house-soho-london-horror-themed-location/


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Wow this takes me back.

I remember being dragged into local coffee shops by my parents (non smokers) and being choked by the cigarette smoke, overflowing ashtrays, grubby decor, and that sound of screaming milk being steamed (incorrectly).

Bloody awful.


----------



## ValeTudoGuy (Aug 20, 2018)

Cigarettes can be resigned to the history books for all I care... But a coffee and a cigar is a thing of beauty.


----------



## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

@Grimley - Just been to Driink (Baddow Road). Great recommendation, thanks!!

Mac & Me coffee was really good (they only do blends). The real star was the Espresso machine! 2 group LM lever machine with glass panels! The internal gubbins on the levers are a work of art!!

Off to find Roos later



Grimley said:


> Just to bump this thread after 2 years to give some updates folks.
> 
> @Daren a new place has just opened in Baddow Road Chelmsford by the Odeon roundabout, called Driink coffee club, next door to immortal ink tattoo shop. They serve mac & me coffee. pretty good considering they are new.
> 
> Roos coffee by the train station is one to try as well FYI.


----------

