Rosslyn has opened its tenth specialty coffee shop on Cheapside in the City of London.
The new store is located close to St Paul’s Cathedral and directly beneath the bells of St Mary-le-Bow, the church whose peals have defined “true London” for centuries.
The opening comes a week after Rosslyn was named the highest-placed coffee shop in London in Europe’s 100 Best Coffee Shops, the continent’s ranking of specialty cafés.
The recognition reinforces Rosslyn’s position as one of the capital’s leading names in specialty coffee as the independent brand continues to expand across the City.
London’s relationship with coffee is one of the oldest in the world outside the Middle East.
The city’s first coffee house opened on St Michael’s Alley in Cornhill in 1652, and within a generation London had more coffee houses than any other city on earth.
These became hubs of trade, gossip, journalism and politics, giving rise to institutions from Lloyd’s of London to the modern stock exchange.
Rosslyn’s team see the Cheapside opening as a continuation of that history.
“London invented coffee culture as we know it, long before Melbourne or Seattle got anywhere near it,” said James Hennebry, Co-Founder and CEO of Rosslyn.
“Somewhere along the way the city forgot how good it used to be at this. We’ve built Rosslyn on the belief that Londoners deserve the coffee their own history promised them, and opening on Cheapside, under the Bow Bells, feels like the most fitting home for Rosslyn.”
Tradition holds that to be a true Cockney, or true Londoner, one must be born within earshot of the Bow Bells.
For centuries, the bells of St Mary-le-Bow have marked out the heart of the City, standing as a symbol of authentic London life amid a Square Mile now dominated by glass and steel.
Rosslyn’s tenth store sits directly in their shadow.
“There’s something in that old idea of the Bow Bells that we love,” Hennebry added.
“It’s about proximity to the real thing, the true version of London, not the postcard version. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do with coffee: not a trend, just the real thing, done properly, for the people who actually live and work here. Ten stores in and we’re still only interested in serving true London.”
The new Cheapside store follows the same model as Rosslyn’s other nine City sites, serving specialty coffee in a fast-paced format built for Square Mile workers, while maintaining a focus on quality and hospitality.
Rosslyn is 100% independent and has grown organically from one coffee shop on Queen Victoria Street in 2018 to ten sites across the Square Mile.
The business said its growth has been supported by the City of London community.
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