After Asia, and the Algerian Coffee Stores

During this past year in APAC, I travelled a fair amount between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. And each time I returned to Singapore (after perhaps only a couple of months' break) there would be some fairly key changes. Malls would have completed and launched; shiny new stations on the MRT lines opened; condominiums gone up; large new stores would have taken a foothold. 

I've come back to London after seven years, and not much has changed. There has been some change - which Londoners seem to perceive as quite radical! But compared with the pace of the places I lived in in Asia, it's kinda slow. 

There are reasons for this of course: London has been 'developed' for many centuries, the infrastructure in London's centre is antique, often architecturally protected, and difficult to change.  So it's not following a new masterplan like Singapore can. But there are also cultural differences, I think, in which UK people value things which are old. Perhaps over convenience or practicality. And there is a little suspicion of the new, which doesn't exist in APAC.

For tourists, I suppose this also gives the UK some of its appeal: it's historical with its own unique thing going on. 

For me, it has cut both ways. I have both struggled with the non-modernity of many systems here (tech, transport etc etc) and rather enjoyed the interesting old places with character. And here is one of them: the Algerian Coffee Stores shop, on Old Compton Street. 

This is not a tourist attraction, but just an old place offering decent service for people interested in coffee and making it. I went in to find a replacement washer for a friend's coffee percolator. And the chap there spent a good 20 minutes searching and trying items to best fit the pot. The cost of the washer: £1.10! (About SGD2/USD1.50) It wasn't about the money, but getting it right, so that good coffee could be made! And this is a kind of old-fashioned, quality, service which I like. 

Also, when you go in, you are greeted with an excellent whiff of coffee / tea / chocolate. And treated to the visuals of shelves packed with all kinds of exotic coffee beans, confections and apparatus.

I guess what, in modern business terms, might be lost in time (while people take care to look after customers) is perhaps compensated for by brand and uniqueness. And, I'd guess, repeat custom throughout generations? This shop has been handling coffee in London for over 130 years. I think you can buy an affordable espresso or latte in there now, too. 

Anyway, if you ARE a tourist in London, you could do worse than popping in to this place to purchase an interesting roast, or some good chocolate. :)

Link:  Algerian Coffee Stores



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Coffee making