London · United Kingdom
Monmouth Coffee Company
Monmouth Coffee Company is one of 14 London roasters tracked on day9, in Bermondsey.
Since 1978 · Nicholas Saunders, Anita Le Roy
Overview
Monmouth was founded in 1978 by Nicholas Saunders and Anita Le Roy in the basement of 27 Monmouth Street in Covent Garden — a Grade II-listed 18th-century terrace where they roasted on a small UNO and then a 1930s Whitmee direct-flame machine for thirty years. Le Roy took over the business and steered it toward single-farm and cooperative sourcing once UK importer Mercanta opened in 1996; alongside Mercanta, Monmouth is widely credited as a foundation of London's third-wave coffee scene, and many of London's leading independent roasters trace their training back to its bar.
Known for
- Pioneer of London single-origin and direct-relationship coffee buying since the 1990s
- Helped regenerate Neal's Yard in the late 1970s and Borough Market in 1999-2001
- Bermondsey roastery in five railway arches at Spa Terminus running Loring smart-roast machines
- Strict no-paper-cup policy: ceramic for stay, reusables for takeaway
- Founder Anita Le Roy is widely cited as the dean of British specialty coffee
Why it matters
The oldest continuously operating specialty roaster in London and a foundational training ground for British third-wave coffee. Without Monmouth, the lineage running from Square Mile to Workshop to Caravan would not look as it does.
Production
- roaster machine
- Loring (multiple)
- roastery location
- Spa Terminus, Bermondsey, London SE16
Café
27 Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9EU; 2 Park Street, Borough Market, London SE1 9AB