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Permalink Reply by Dale Harris on August 18, 2008 at 10:05am

UK is filled with chains, Sbux, costa and Nero are the biggest.

If you visit the below link below there is an incomplete map of great UK coffee shops.
In my experience Monmouth coffee in london are fantastic, and i believe square mile, of WBC fame are looking to open a coffee house at some point in the future. Flat white in soho are great and have just opened a second unit.

also in Wadebridge, cornwall you can find a deli called relish run by the current UK barista champion and his partner.

you'll find more info if you look through the uk forum and chat to some of the guys there. We need more great coffee houses to kick our 'third wave' up a gear!

http://www.coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=92

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Christerson on August 18, 2008 at 12:40pm

Yea I've spent some time in the UK, and that is all I found - Cafe Nero, Sbux, and Costa Coffee. We have been researching different independents in the UK and have only found 2 that seem somewhat legit. Malt Cross in Nottingham and Cafe Kino in Bristol.

Do you know anything about how to start a coffee shop in England?

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Watson on August 18, 2008 at 1:07pm

There are a growing number of great independents in the UK.

I would recommend frequenting some of the Coffee Forums in the UK, such as Coffee Forums UK, TooMuchCoffee, CoffeeGeek and CoffeeTime to get a feel and check out the cafe reviews sections.

In London there are at least 10 cafes that I could recommend

Life in the provinces is a different story, with maybe 1 and sometimes 2 decent independants operating in a smaller city.

There are some good baristas working at the chain stores as well and it is a case of finding one who goes outside of the standard issue procedure (every now and then ;) to hand craft a nice coffee.

Where did you intend moving to?

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Christerson on August 18, 2008 at 10:22pm

Well, I have spent a good amount of time in Colchester, Nottingham, and London. So, hopefully one of those, but one my friends who is going over with me has family in Bristol, which makes it a possibility. We just need to figure out how - loans, obtaining a location, hiring, setting up a business in the UK, etc.

Glenn Watson said:

There are a growing number of great independents in the UK.

I would recommend frequenting some of the Coffee Forums in the UK, such as Coffee Forums UK, TooMuchCoffee, CoffeeGeek and CoffeeTime to get a feel and check out the cafe reviews sections.

In London there are at least 10 cafes that I could recommend

Life in the provinces is a different story, with maybe 1 and sometimes 2 decent independants operating in a smaller city.

There are some good baristas working at the chain stores as well and it is a case of finding one who goes outside of the standard issue procedure (every now and then ;) to hand craft a nice coffee.

Where did you intend moving to?

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