LDNGuide

The Best Coffee Shops For Getting Work Done

Is your flatmate a pain? Are you over your sofa? Sounds like you need a coffee shop with wifi.
People sitting on ratten chairs in Wave, a vegan cafe in Hackney.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Are you triggered by any or all of these words? Pyjamas. Blank email. Homes Under The Hammer. TikTok. Peanut butter. Spoon. TikTok. Blank document. TikTok. 4pm. If yes, then congratulations, you know what it’s like working from home.

There’s a reason why coffee shops exist: it’s to keep you from doing the above. But not all coffee shops are made for working in. Aside from good coffee you need somewhere comfy, with good wifi, and plenty of those sacred plug points. These are the best coffee shops in London with everything you need to get work done.

THE SPOTS

Central

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

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“Redemption Roasters closes at 6pm” are words that will give any freelancer goosebumps. Better yet, this coffee house is open seven days a week too. There are a few outposts dotted around London but the Covent Garden spot is our favourite thanks to the winning combination of foliage and fast wifi. The pour-over bar will get coffee fanatics all excited and the pastries are great.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

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FWD:Coffee

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There are a few things to know about FWD:Coffee, besides the fact that it’s a spacious, light-filled coffee shop in Clerkenwell. Firstly, it has an excellent range of cold drinks and coffees, from a special espresso roast from Climpson’s to a banana frappé which is 100% worth your while (even when it’s freezing). The second is that it’s open until 5pm during the week, which is pretty much a USP in a city where most coffee shops close at four.

photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch

Bakery/Cafe

Farringdon

$$$$Perfect For:Coffee & A Light Bite

Prufrock on Leather Lane has been one of the best coffee shops in London for a long time—both for the quality of its coffee and the airy, inviting environment you’ll drink it in. It’s laid-back enough for you to relax and finish that PowerPoint you’ve been working on for a month, and the service is great. They also make a delicious decaf which is practically unheard of. A big win for no-caffeine-after-12pm people.

photo credit: Söderberg

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Söderberg is where you go to work when you want to feel cool. Case in point, the tiny pine bookcase with a record player on top. But it’s also really practical—with a good amount of seating, lots of USB ports, and cinnamon rolls to fuel afternoon Zoom meetings. The laid-back, Scandi-inspired spot in Soho also does great coffee.

North

This one goes out to anyone who regularly gets turfed out of closing coffee shops at 3pm, and then has to make the long, cold walk to the nearest Caffè Nero. Introducing Frequency, a casual day-to-night coffee shop on Angel’s cobblestoned Camden Passage, that’s open from 8am-6pm throughout the week. It’s set across three floors so there’s plenty of seating to snag, a bookable light and bright meeting room, and cocktails in the evening.  

Trampoline is one of those cafes where you can simultaneously convince yourself that you’re cool enough to write a memoir and also not care that you’ve got the crumbs of one of London’s best pain au chocolats down your top. A social enterprise cafe on Angel’s Camden Passage, it helps refugees find work while serving hefty pastries and daily sandwiches packed with things like chilli chicken and roasted aubergines. There’s extra seating upstairs too.

For lunch and by night, this spacious and bright Hornsey Road spin-off from Newington Green’s Jolene is all about pizza and wine, but it’s really an all-day bakery. Throughout the morning and afternoon you can eat pastries fresh from the ovens out back. You can also drink excellent coffee. We absolutely would not pitch up here with our laptop riser, trackpad, and external keyboard, but it’s perfectly comfortable when you need to do some low-intensity screen work.

If you’re after a place to work with coffee, tea, snacks, and varying distractions, then you’ll enjoy Spiritland in King’s Cross. This music cafe and bar is comfortable and cosy, and just the right amount of dimly lit without having to worry about eye strain. You could come here with colleagues or bed in on your own, which makes it particularly useful considering where it is.

photo credit: Caravan King’s Cross

Caravan in King’s Cross is a huge all-day restaurant on Granary Square that takes the needs of freelance coffee drinkers very seriously. It’s open until 10:30pm throughout the week. Plus, there are a couple of rows of workshop-style sharing tables at the back where you can get on with whatever you’re doing without having to worry about giving up your table for an incoming party of four at lunchtime.

South

Bellefields has dedicated workspaces and meeting rooms you can book, or you can just pitch up in the cafe area of this airy Brixton spot. It’s a lot more chic than your average co-working space, with sage-green booths, marble-look tables, and bright artwork to look at to recenter whenever you fantasise about sending off your resignation letter. For lunch, there are toasties and fresh salads, but try one of these nearby spots if you fancy a change of scenery.

Working at Gladwell’s is just like working from home. If your home had a massive, solid wood kitchen table with dinky vases of flowers, a pantry stocked with beautifully packaged chocolate, and your soup was a hearty, salty broth with fresh vegetables, and not a watery disappointment. Open until 8pm during the week, this Camberwell cafe and deli is ideal for quiet work days and fantasising about your dream home.

At Change Please, the coffee is good, there are blue velvet seats to sink into, and a pink wall with geometric shapes that makes for a great Zoom background. It might be small but it’s never too busy or loud, and we’ve never had trouble getting a seat. You're close to Elephant and Castle tube station and, more importantly, great lunch options—Murger Han, Original Spice Kitchen, and Beza Ethiopian Food. Plus, this is a social enterprise where profits go to people experiencing homelessness.

A stumble away from Clapham Common tube station, Common is a cosy, all-day cafe. It’s ideal for tapping away on your laptop for a few hours during the week (hot tip: the plug points are towards the back and the front corner, so get here early to grab those coveted spots) or for a quick post-work cocktail. Plus, if you’re enamoured with (read: distracted by) the trinkets on display, you can likely buy them from the in-house boutique.

Chapter 72 is a charming and cheerful coffee spot on one of London’s most picturesque stretches of pavement, Bermondsey Street. The prices are freelancer-friendly, the wifi is pretty quick, and if you don’t round off your day with the affogato, you’re doing it wrong. It’s a relatively small space so be prepared to beg, borrow, and steal a table at peak hours, but it’s worth it for the “good to see you again” atmosphere and late closing time.

New Malden High Street has several cafes but The Place is, well, the place to be. It feels like a proper local spot where everyone knows everyone, and servers brewing Monmouth coffee or whipping up bubble tea make the effort to stop to chat. It’s also the kind of place you can work from all day—with a morning flat white, lunchtime toastie, and doorstep slab of Korean honey bread come afternoon. There are plugs dotted around and you won’t find any loud music blasting so you can take an emergency Zoom meeting if needs be.

Sadly, this isn’t a cafe with a staff of lumberjacks who pass around pens crafted from disused oak and yell “timber” everytime you check your phone. But what this Camberwell cafe lacks in plaid-clad men, it makes up for in excellent coffee, light bites, and local artists’ work for sale. You can pretty much always find a spot downstairs. Know it can get noisy so it’s more suited for light laptop work rather than a full schedule of calls. It’s open bright and early at 7:30am on weekdays with things like shakshuka and banana bread on offer.

If you like your mornings with a side of great food, then Juliet's is the Tooting spot for you. It may only be open until 3pm in the week (so it’s probably best for early birds), but this walk-in only cafe is as likely to serve you a smoked pumpkin omelette with a massive whack of lemon salmoriglio, as it is a latte and a couple of hours of uninterrupted peace while you nail that presentation. A ratio we entirely approve of. Just know that at peak times, it’s good form to sit on the big communal table at the back with the other laptop-workers.

The first thing you should know about Stir in Brixton is that it serves decent coffee. The second is that it is so dog-friendly we're coining a new category to describe it: dog-ecstatic. But you will have to cut your petting session short at 3pm when they close. As well as lots of exposed brick, there are plenty of craft beer options, pastries, and enough seating that you can usually find a corner (and yes, a plug) to claim.

If we’re talking incentives to get work done, a cold craft beer must be up there. Bean & Hop in Earlsfield is a cafe by day that does excellent sausage rolls and good coffee, and has an extensive craft beer list at night. The internet’s reliably fast, there are plenty of power outlets, and the cafe has the sort of laid-back indie feel that’s always welcome in this part of town.

East

Wave is where we work from when we want the calm feel of an LA health spa, in Hackney. The menu is vegan, the material of choice is rattan, and coffees come with lion’s mane, cordyceps, CBD, and other things an influencer we follow promised would give us glowing skin. There are plenty of plug sockets too, even outside in the large courtyard. The food can be hit and miss, but the pillowy, gluten-free pancakes always hit.

Trust Google Maps when it leads you from Blackhorse Road station to an industrial-looking yard. You’re in the right place for Blackhorse Workshop Cafe. It serves Wood St Coffee direct from the roastery, has wifi, loads of plug sockets, and dogs aren't just welcomed, they’re practically encouraged. Come at breakfast for excellent french toast thicker than Anna Karenina and bacon-stuffed bagels.

If one more person refers to you as funemployed, you’re going to force them to submit your tax return next year and see who’s having fun then. But, on the plus side, being freelance means you can make small plates and coffee spot, Attendant Coffee Roasters in Shoreditch, your work zone for the day. Expect lots of foliage, coffee art, whitewashed walls, and reliable wifi.

One of the best places to work in Hackney isn’t a coffee shop. It’s Martello Hall, a pizzeria-slash-bar on Mare Street. During the day, there’s a comfortable first-floor lounge where you can get bottomless coffee and fast wifi for a tenner, and the ground area is ideal for a casual meeting or lunch.

The area around the Old Street roundabout is rammed with coffee shops, ranging from your Prets to the sort of places that take 20 minutes to make your drink. Walk a few minutes up City Road to Coffee Junction which, owing to being slightly out of the way, is quiet and spacious, and perfect for settling in and going deep on that spreadsheet you’ve been working on. The mugs of coffee are big if you’re on a freelancer budget, and there’s also a nice outdoor area for meetings when the weather’s nice.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

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Market Cafe

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You’d imagine Broadway Market would be one of the easiest places to find a coffee shop to work from. Oddly though, it isn’t. That’s why Market Cafe always feels like such a find. It’s got a solid brunch and lunch menu, so probably best to avoid peak hours. However, outside of that, this spot is spacious and friendly, with a laid-back atmosphere, a good spread of plug sockets, reasonably good wifi, and—if you pick the right spot—excellent views of the canal.

West

Cromwell Place Café is probably the most serene spot on this list. The cafe is inside an exhibition space and gallery in South Kensington, and there’s a strong chance that the sound of soft strings from a classical jazz concert happening next door will drift into the room and impress everyone on your Zoom call. Tap away underneath high, stuccoed ceilings and eat a potato galette for lunch while staring at a marble fireplace. Nab the big communal table if you’re with a group, or stick to the curved sofas tucked into the corners if you plan on making calls.

When you need calm vibes, an aesthetically pleasing coffee counter to stare at, and perhaps the odd golden labrador to stroke, Kanenas has got you. This family-run cafe is our emotional support coffee shop. It’s tucked down one of Ealing’s leafy side streets and serves great coffee and pastries. There aren’t many tables, but it’s quieter during the week and makes for a serene office for a few hours if you’re in the area.

Chestnut Bakery is the kind of place we wouldn’t mind moving into permanently. In fact, we would happily spend eight hours working our way through the menu of clay oven-baked flatbreads while typing away in the spacious Victoria dining room, preferably on a window table or on the charming terrace. You’ll have to be strategic about the plug situation, but if you get one, you’ll want to spend your whole day here.

Natoora is a little deli and cafe off Portobello Road that’s perfect to stop into for an hour or two. Although selling fresh produce is the main thing going on here, the store offers a daily changing menu of brunch-type dishes (vegetable-forward bowls and things on toast) depending on what produce has been delivered. There isn’t a tonne of seating, but grab a stool by the window and it makes for an ideal spot to power through some emails.

Someone managed to write a novel at this cafe in Shepherd’s Bush. That’s got to be at least a third as hard as setting up a website for your new personalised litter tray business. Not only does this place serve pancake-packed breakfasts that’ll get you out of your home office (your bed), but it’s also got a jolly, rustic Riviera feel that’ll keep you chilled. Be warned, there can be a rush at lunchtime and when the local schools let out, but generally you can always find a table.

It’s hard to get work done in Notting Hill when you’re fighting for precious cafe real estate with locals who are on their fourth glass of wine. Although most cafes along Portobello Road aren’t ideal for productivity, Bluebelles is an exception. It’s always easy to find somewhere to work and unlike hanging around in Daylesford, staff are super accommodating to freelancers. As well as nice coffee, the cakes here are especially good.

This isn’t just a coffee shop, but a coffee school too—so you know the brews are good. Artisan Coffee School is a big, open-plan cafe in Ealing, a short walk from the station. There are lots of tables for two scattered about and a big communal table in the centre for group working. Add to that the generous amount of plug sockets and 7:30am opening time, and you’ve got a solid work spot in west London. The food is pretty average, so head to nearby Park’s Kitchen for bibimbap instead.

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