Climpson & Sons - London

On a rainy, but warm August afternoon in London I manged to find a moment to steal away from the family holiday to visit Climpson & Sons, one of the cafés listed on the London Coffee Map.


The café is to be found on Broadway Market in east London and, on entering, I instantly liked it. Ordering a flat white I take a perfect seat at the front window and observe life. With about 15 people also drinking coffee and enjoying toasted cibattas and pastries there's not much more space. Most are trendy, young Londoners. And me. Plus a couple of guys from 'Frisco who seem to be patronising a crazy homeless guy outside by seeking his advice for how best to turn a bin bag into a rain jacket.


So I sat at the window (I always will if a seat is available) and watched the world go by. And the world did go by: An orthodox Jew left the bakery across the street while two boys dressed in white robes returned home after Friday prayers. A couple of mothers laden with buggies and kids on scooters made their way to the nearby park and a vagrant stepped in to the bakery hoping for some charity. Across the road the bald and tattooed hairdresser took another drag on his cigarette and watched curiously, along with me, as a man walked down the street and stopped to put a red sticker on a door before moving off quickly. A sign perhaps for the angel of death to not passover.

Meanwhile the bin-bag-jacket homeless guy sheltered under the dripping canopy in front of me and, finishing his cup of milk which the café had earlier given him, signalled through the window that there was a little left for me should I want it. I declined and he made his way to another part of the world down the street.

The coffee was long gone before I managed pull myself away to return to my own world.

Ah yes, the coffee. Fantastic.