**photo is not my own.
1. Cereal Killer Café
139 Brick Lane, London E1 6SB
With a punny name like that, how could anyone resist? Yes, it's pretty expensive for the fact that it is, for all intents and purposes, your own kitchen, but there's just something about a niche idea that really gets me goin'. Just off Brick Lane, this café is, as you would expect, so very hipster. The workers, the retro décor - the whole thing is mega indie. I'd recommend eating your cereal downstairs as it's even cooler than the ground floor. Plus, if you're lucky you'll get to see the owners! (My friend Tara majorly fangirled when we saw one of them.) For the record, I chose a "The Lion King" cereal cocktail, which set me back £4 but was pretty tasty, y'know, for a bowl of cereal.
2. Fernandez & Wells, Somerset House
Strand, London WC2R 1LA
This is the kind of place I'd recommend you could take your parents if you were in London together. Admittedly, it was far cuter when the ice rink was up in the courtyard but it's still a nice little café even now. It's settled amidst the East Wing of Somerset House, sharing its home with the Courtauld Gallery, which contains one of my favourite paintings. (There we go, there she is, Pretentious Georgia strikes again.) It sells hot food and drink, and also alcohol, as it's kind of a café/restaurant/bar hybrid. Note that they offer a 10% student discount, which is always a fabulous notion.
3. The Terrace (King's College Student Union café)
Macadam Building, London WC2R 2NS
Look, I know I'm biased. However, the truth is, if you're looking for cheap food and drinks, this is the place to go. I have been known to spend many hours here, whiling my time away between classes. It's mostly full of students (what with the fact that it is, y'know, inside a university) but it's open to the general public too, and I often see non-students working there and some even performing interviews. I should let you know, it gets pretty loud at lunchtime so if you're hoping to go there to work in peace and quiet, I'd probably avoid that time of day. There's also a loyalty card scheme, wherein if you buy ten drinks you get the eleventh for free (but only a small drink, not the regular size, because we live in a raging capitalist society where we cannot spare an extra few millilitres of coffee every so often. Obviously.)
4. Scooter Café
132 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7AE
This café is super duper kooky. I believe there is a resident cat, so do not be alarmed if you see a four-legged feline wandering the place. The furniture is mismatching and the décor is pretty retro, and you'll find that from the outside it still looks like the scooter workshop it used to be, many years ago. They don't tend to sell much food apart from various cakes (which, to be honest, is fine by me), but the staff are more than happy for you to bring your own food in and eat it there. Prices are relatively low for Central London, which is good to know. Also, there's free WiFi. NICE. If you want somewhere laid-back, cosy and quirky, then this is the place for you.
5. Starbucks
2-3 Conduit Street, London W1S 2BX / Unit 2, Eldon Chambers, 30-32 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1AA
**
I am a Starbucks fiend. Yep, it's a franchise, yep, it's overpriced, but I cannot help but love the Starbucks Experience. I'm no coffee connoisseur so I cannot vouch for the delicate nuances of flavour pertaining to each coffee variety, but I enjoy going in there and knowing what I like, how I like it, and the fact that it'll be pretty much the same in any branch. The two branches I mentioned above are two particular Starbucks (Starbuckses? Help.) I really like, for pretty much the same reasons. Both of these cafés have a downstairs floor with loads of seating and comfy sofas, plus the usual Starbucks perks like free WiFi and sockets to charge your electronics from. Also, the Conduit Street branch has these super cosy alcoves you can sit/lounge/sleep in if you're lucky and one is free.
6. Corner Café
178 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7JY
I've only ever had two things from here (not because anything else is bad but because the two things I got were so good that I couldn't bear to try anything new.) There is something about a Corner Café hash brown that beats any hash brown I have ever eaten/will ever eat. I wholeheartedly recommend a sausage/hash brown/bacon/mushroom sandwich. You can ask for anything else within the sandwich (or take some things out), the staff are usually pretty accommodating. They do bacon sandwiches, fry ups, bubble and squeak, all that kind of stuff. I also usually get an Oreo milkshake (they have a multitude of other flavours too) which costs around £2.50 I think. Don't expect it to be super fancy (c'mon it's technically South London); the clientele tends to consist of builders, ambulance workers and police officers who are getting their food fix before or after a shift. It's pretty much always packed (which is a good sign) but turnover is quick so it's unlikely you'll be too long without a seat, even though it's actually a very small café. I have nothing but good things to say about this place - it's happy and buzzing and for a 'greasy spoon' the food is REALLY good and portion sizes are big!
*Weirdly, it's not open on Sundays. Why?
7. Costa under the BFI IMAX
1 Charlie Chaplin Walk, London SE1 8XR
I find cafés such nice places to be, whether alone or with friends or family, and so I hope this list may prove useful to anyone looking for somewhere to ~chillax~ in London.
If you know any other cute cafés let me know, I'd love to check them out.
See you next time!
Georgia
5. Starbucks
2-3 Conduit Street, London W1S 2BX / Unit 2, Eldon Chambers, 30-32 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1AA
I am a Starbucks fiend. Yep, it's a franchise, yep, it's overpriced, but I cannot help but love the Starbucks Experience. I'm no coffee connoisseur so I cannot vouch for the delicate nuances of flavour pertaining to each coffee variety, but I enjoy going in there and knowing what I like, how I like it, and the fact that it'll be pretty much the same in any branch. The two branches I mentioned above are two particular Starbucks (Starbuckses? Help.) I really like, for pretty much the same reasons. Both of these cafés have a downstairs floor with loads of seating and comfy sofas, plus the usual Starbucks perks like free WiFi and sockets to charge your electronics from. Also, the Conduit Street branch has these super cosy alcoves you can sit/lounge/sleep in if you're lucky and one is free.
6. Corner Café
178 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7JY
I've only ever had two things from here (not because anything else is bad but because the two things I got were so good that I couldn't bear to try anything new.) There is something about a Corner Café hash brown that beats any hash brown I have ever eaten/will ever eat. I wholeheartedly recommend a sausage/hash brown/bacon/mushroom sandwich. You can ask for anything else within the sandwich (or take some things out), the staff are usually pretty accommodating. They do bacon sandwiches, fry ups, bubble and squeak, all that kind of stuff. I also usually get an Oreo milkshake (they have a multitude of other flavours too) which costs around £2.50 I think. Don't expect it to be super fancy (c'mon it's technically South London); the clientele tends to consist of builders, ambulance workers and police officers who are getting their food fix before or after a shift. It's pretty much always packed (which is a good sign) but turnover is quick so it's unlikely you'll be too long without a seat, even though it's actually a very small café. I have nothing but good things to say about this place - it's happy and buzzing and for a 'greasy spoon' the food is REALLY good and portion sizes are big!
*Weirdly, it's not open on Sundays. Why?
7. Costa under the BFI IMAX
1 Charlie Chaplin Walk, London SE1 8XR
**
This is my favourite Costa in all of London, mainly because when I go there I feel like I'm hidden away in some secret underground bunker with free WiFi. (I've mentioned free WiFi a lot in this post - what does that say about me?) When you first see the IMAX building it doesn't look like there's any way to get in, as it functions as a roundabout just off Waterloo Bridge, but if you walk down one of the many ramps/staircases you will find yourself semi-underground, with an ivy ceiling covering your head. The café itself takes up most of the space on the ground floor level, and has a lot of seating, including many squishy sofas (one of which is actually away from the rest of the café...sometimes I sit there when I want to be completely by myself. Social butterfly, me!). Even when it's busy it never seems to get super loud, which is good for the many students who frequent it. I included this Costa on my list mainly because of its whole am-I-in-a-dystopian-secret-agent-bunker ambiance, but it's also a nice place to drop into and do work or meet friends.I find cafés such nice places to be, whether alone or with friends or family, and so I hope this list may prove useful to anyone looking for somewhere to ~chillax~ in London.
If you know any other cute cafés let me know, I'd love to check them out.
See you next time!
Georgia
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