London · United Kingdom
Caravan Coffee Roasters
Caravan Coffee Roasters is one of 14 London roasters tracked on day9, in England.
Since 2010 · Laura Harper-Hinton, Chris Ammermann, Miles Kirby
Overview
Caravan was founded in February 2010 on Exmouth Market by three New Zealanders — Laura Harper-Hinton, Chris Ammermann and chef Miles Kirby — who met working at Mondo Cucina in Wellington in the late 1990s. They put every penny into a 50-cover all-day restaurant with a coffee roaster in the basement; chef Margot Henderson (Harper-Hinton's cousin) became their first wholesale customer at her Rochelle Canteen, and the second venue — the converted Granary Square grain store at King's Cross, opened August 2012 — became the template for the modern London all-day-restaurant-plus-roastery format.
Known for
- Antipodean-led 'well-travelled' all-day dining and specialty coffee, alongside Allpress and Climpson & Sons in shaping London's third-wave coffee scene
- Lamb Works flagship roastery in Holloway, North London — an ~8,500–10,000 sq ft Victorian warehouse with cafe, coffee school and events space
- Roasts approximately 3,000 kg of coffee per week
- B Corp certified
- Eight London restaurants/cafes including Exmouth Market, King's Cross, Bankside, Bloomberg Arcade, Fitzrovia, Canary Wharf and Vardo (Chelsea), plus a Manchester opening in August 2024
- Cookbook: 'Caravan: Dining All Day' (Vintage Books)
Why it matters
Caravan was among the first London businesses to fuse all-day dining with an in-house specialty roastery, anchoring the Antipodean wave of London cafes that ran from roughly 2005 through the early 2010s. Their 2012 King's Cross opening, in a 'middle of nowhere' Victorian grain store at Granary Square, became the proof-of-concept for the entire neighbourhood's hospitality redevelopment.
Production
- head roaster
- Sam Langdon
- roastery location
- Lamb Works, Holloway, North London (flagship)
- annual volume tonnes
- 156
Café
11-13 Exmouth Market, London EC1R 4QD (original 2010 venue); Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, King's Cross, London N1C 4AA; plus Bankside, Bloomberg Arcade, Fitzrovia, Canary Wharf, Vardo (Chelsea) and Manchester
Recognitions
- B Corp certified
Sources
- caravanandco.com · about
- dineoutmagazine.co.uk · story.php
- restaurantonline.co.uk · Caravan London restaurant business profile
- group.canarywharf.com · caravan brings their well travelled all d…
- blogs.lse.ac.uk · meet miles kirby
- confidentials.com · caravan comes to manchester
- unpacking.coffee · caravan coffee roasters
- foodism.co.uk · london coffee culture