With a week of locked-down annual leave in London earlier this month, I took the opportunity to get on my bike and visit a few of the coffee shops that I'd been meaning to visit. Among these was Paradox Design + Coffee, based in the spot Terrone once occupied in London Fields' Netil Market.
While back in my Oxford bubble for my birthday and my mum's, I was able to experience the take-out offerings from three different restaurants. And although it wasn't quite the same as dining in, we were impressed with all three, which serve different cuisines at different price points. And while Oxford will be out of lockdown and in tier 2 restrictions from next Wednesday, takeout for formerly dine-in-only restaurants seems likely to remain on the agenda for some time, but do always refer to the restaurants' websites or social media accounts for their most up-to-date information.
Without doubt, 2020 has been an exceptionally challenging year for independent coffee shops and other small businesses in the hospitality industry, but the COVID-19 pandemic was one of factors that drove the opening of NOLA, a new specialty coffee shop on Rye Lane in Peckham.
If I were still commuting into the office, Establishment Coffee on Saint Bride Street in the City of London, would be an ideal stop-off on my cycle route, along Cycleway 6. As I am, like many people, working from home for the foreseeable future, it took me a little longer to visit, but I've now stopped by twice, once during London's second lockdown and once just before.
It's been several years since I last compiled a holiday gift guide, but this year of all years, I thought it would be a good way to highlight some of the products I love — or would love to own — that you can buy from some of my favourite coffee companies and other small businesses. I hope you'll find some inspiration for gifts for the coffee lovers in your life. And yes, that includes gifts to self, of course (I promise I won't tell).
Keeping an independent coffee shop afloat in central London is no mean feat at best of times, let alone opening one, and especially in 2020. But Black Box in Covent Garden is not barista and owner Ant's first specialty coffee rodeo; it's not even Ant's first Black Box, although it was the now-defunct Black Chapel in Wandsworth, beloved by my fellow bloggers at BeanThere.at among many others, that was the one that got away from me.
With both my holiday and birthday plans brought to a screeching halt by the sudden announcement of a second lockdown in England last week, I took the opportunity to arrange a pre-lockdown early birthday dinner for myself. The Clove Club in Shoreditch, which has a Michelin star and which features on the world's 50 best restaurants list, has long been on my fine-dining wishlist.
Its popularity means booking well in advance is usually essential, but changing rules and restrictions in London and beyond, meant I was able to secure a slot at the chef's counter on Lockdown Eve Eve.
Things could be much worse, but I've had a tough few months, with work busier than ever — I work for a scientific journal so it's been non-stop COVID-19 research. And unfortunately, all of the six holidays that I had booked this year happened to fall during times when London and its UK were under more restrictive COVID-19 measures.
My last hope of getting a proper break was the two weeks I had booked in November, initially to go to Thailand, then I thought I might manage Italy, before eventually booking a last-minute trip to Athens, with a family trip to Devon as a back-up.
My 'plan C' was to use my annual leave to visit lots of coffee shops and restaurants in London — I really feel for everyone working in the hospitality industry at the moment, and want to continue to show my support. And then, of course, the 'not-a-lockdown' second lockdown put paid even to that.
