Showing posts with label Camden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camden. Show all posts
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Magic beans...
Whilst the mighty/merciless Starbucks and its bloated brethren consume every spare spot on the high-street, small coffee independents are fast becoming the caffeine equivalent of the woolly mammoth. However tucked away on Delancey Street in NW1 is the Camden Coffee Shop – a purveyor of coffee by the bean (rather than the cup!) and a true gem of a find.
The shop itself is rustic to say the least – it’s more reminiscent of some backstreet bolthole from Dickensian days than a coffee emporium. But here you will find outstanding beans from across the globe; hand roasted on the premises and packaged up with panache in a gloriously 70’s style branded paper bag. You even get a little hand scribbled instruction as to what you’ve purchased and how best to keep it. But if you are looking beyond beans, search elsewhere. There are no overpriced espresso cups, frothing wands, flavoured syrups or any of the other fripperies now associated with a classic cup of Joe. The only other service on offer is to have said beans ground!
A gentleman called George Constaninou has been the proud proprietor since 1978, using an 85 year old roaster that envelops Camden High Street in the most amazing aromas on a daily basis. And let’s face it – the cruddy Camden could do with a bit of a fragrant spritz of something…anything!
In fact it was this scent that drew me to the premises in the first place and is certainly some of the best ‘advertising’ that I’ve encountered in some time. There is nothing particularly chic or customer friendly about the layout – it’s dark and dusty, while all the beans are simply kept in plastic tubs, but the man’s an absolute authority and his prices are so keen its almost embarrassing!
Just when London seems to have obliterated all of its originality, you turn a corner and find one small stand against the high street drones & clones so kudos to you The Camden Coffee Shop!
Boat Drinks Mr Constaninou.
The shop itself is rustic to say the least – it’s more reminiscent of some backstreet bolthole from Dickensian days than a coffee emporium. But here you will find outstanding beans from across the globe; hand roasted on the premises and packaged up with panache in a gloriously 70’s style branded paper bag. You even get a little hand scribbled instruction as to what you’ve purchased and how best to keep it. But if you are looking beyond beans, search elsewhere. There are no overpriced espresso cups, frothing wands, flavoured syrups or any of the other fripperies now associated with a classic cup of Joe. The only other service on offer is to have said beans ground!
A gentleman called George Constaninou has been the proud proprietor since 1978, using an 85 year old roaster that envelops Camden High Street in the most amazing aromas on a daily basis. And let’s face it – the cruddy Camden could do with a bit of a fragrant spritz of something…anything!
In fact it was this scent that drew me to the premises in the first place and is certainly some of the best ‘advertising’ that I’ve encountered in some time. There is nothing particularly chic or customer friendly about the layout – it’s dark and dusty, while all the beans are simply kept in plastic tubs, but the man’s an absolute authority and his prices are so keen its almost embarrassing!
Just when London seems to have obliterated all of its originality, you turn a corner and find one small stand against the high street drones & clones so kudos to you The Camden Coffee Shop!
Boat Drinks Mr Constaninou.
Thursday, 20 May 2010
An ode to the crazies of Camden…
To make my much needed lunchtime escape from the dreary office corner I inhabit, I must run the gauntlet of the Camden streets. No mean feat I assure you!!! People bemoan the vast quantities of tourists (primarily German and Italian students with their bad denim and oddly coloured backpacks) who wander aimlessly (always in the complete opposite direction of the infamous/rubbish market where they actually want to be!?!) but they are quite frankly the least of my worries! This particular corner of North London is the haven for lunatics, mentalists and crackpots of every stripe. It is quite literally ‘Care in the Community’– as in they have a thriving community of crazies living it up in NW1!!!
Now before I get accused of being some delicate home-counties type, I went to school in this area and spent most of my formative years wandering these scummy streets in a drunken haze, so I’m not averse to slumming it. However I am daily confronted with a deluge of the demented and the disturbed (not to mention the hordes of crack addicts and winos!).
Looking like the more prominent cast members of ‘28 Days Later’ (i.e. the zombies that actually get close enough to eat you!) I must confess I often fear that I will not make it back to the office with all of my limbs and/or brain intact, but then when you consider how dull my job is, that may be no bad thing…
Boat Drinks Bedlam!
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