London · Covent Garden & Holborn
Cafés in Covent Garden & Holborn
Monmouth Street's first roaster, Neal's Yard, a crypt café on Trafalgar Square and the cabbies' hut at Temple.
Photo: Felix-Antoine Coutu, Pexels License
Covent Garden grew from a square: Inigo Jones laid out the piazza for the 4th Earl of Bedford in 1630, and in 1670 Charles II granted the earl a charter for a daily fruit and vegetable market.1 The market moved about three miles south-west to Nine Elms in 1974, and the central hall reopened as shops in 1980, with the London Transport Museum in the old flower market.1 Holborn lies east, from Kingsway and Lincoln's Inn Fields to Chancery Lane and Leather Lane.
One shop gives the area its place in London coffee. Nicholas Saunders and Anita Le Roy founded Monmouth Coffee in 1978 at 27 Monmouth Street, a listed 18th-century house, roasting in the basement and tasting on the ground floor.2 The shop still trades there, Monday to Saturday 08:00–18:30, at the southern edge of Seven Dials.
Local tip: Walk rather than ride between Leicester Square and Covent Garden: the two stations are about 270 m apart, London's shortest hop between tube stops.1
At a glance
146Cafés listed
29With opening hours
06:30Earliest opening
23:00Latest closing
- Opens earliest: The Fleet Street Press, from 06:30 (Mon–Fri 06:30–18:00 · Sat 08:00–17:00).
- Closes latest: Brew Garden, until 23:00 (Mon 07:00–22:00 · Tue–Thu 07:00–23:00 · Fri 07:00–22:00 · Sat 09:00–21:00 · Sun 09:00–18:00).
- Most listed streets: High Holborn (6), New Row (6), Red Lion Street (5).
- Most common features: outdoor seating (8%), takeaway (8%), indoor seating (6%).
Amelia
Arcade Cafe
Arcana Coffee
- Outdoor seating
- Takeaway
Bageriet
Beck's cafe
- Outdoor seating
- Partial wheelchair access
- Open late
Brew Garden
Cotti Coffee
Cream Dream
- Indoor seating
- Vegetarian options
Drury 188-189
- Partial wheelchair access
Fantail Cafe
- Pet-friendly
- Bakery café
Jacob the Angel
Katsute100
Mandira
Orée
Press
- Wi-Fi
- Takeaway
- Indoor seating
- Card payment
Qima Cafe Covent Garden
Red Lion Café
- Outdoor seating
- Indoor seating
- Card payment
- Vegetarian options
- Wheelchair access
Rosetta
Santa Nata
St. George London
The Fleet Street Press
- Partial wheelchair access
- Smoke-free indoors
The Garrick
- Partial wheelchair access
- Smoke-free indoors
The Marquise
WA café
- Outdoor seating
- Takeaway
- Bakery café
Arôme Bakery
TIRAFFE
Abuelo
Apple Butter Cafe
Arro: The Temple of Coffee
Avobar
Baudry Greene
BIBI’S KITCHEN
Breadline Cafe
Cafe Chutney
Cafe de Provence
Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in London.
Coffee chains in Covent Garden & Holborn
Chain
Starbucks
Show 9 locations
Chain
Costa Coffee
Show 10 locations
- 1-5 Strand
- 104 New Oxford Street
- 11 KingswayMon–Fri 06:30–19:00 · Sat 06:30–20:00 · Sun 07:00–19:00
- 112 Southampton Row
- Coffea Sandwich & Coffee Shop, 13 Villiers St
- 226 High HolbornMon–Fri 06:00–17:00 · Sat–Sun 06:30–16:00
- 28 Chancery Lane
- 37 Southhampton StreetMon–Sat 06:30–20:00 · Sun 07:00–18:30
- 39-41 Shelton Street
- 5 High HolbornMon–Sat 06:00–20:00 · Sun 06:30–18:00
Chain
Caffè Nero
Show 16 locations
- 10 Bedford StreetMon–Fri 06:30–21:00 · Sat 07:00–21:30 · Sun 08:00–21:00
- 100-110 High Holborn
- 108 Southampton RowMon–Fri 06:30–19:00 · Sat–Sun 07:30–18:00
- 1a Central Saint Giles Piazza, St Giles High StMon–Fri 06:30–19:30 · Sat 07:00–19:30 · Sun 08:30–19:00
- 2-4 Lancaster PlaceMon–Fri 07:00–19:30 · Sat 07:30–20:00 · Sun 08:30–20:00
- 30 Earlham StreetMon–Sat 07:00–21:00 · Sun 08:00–20:00
- 32 Cranbourn StreetMon–Thu 06:00–21:00 · Fri 06:00–22:00 · Sat 07:00–22:00 · Sun 08:00–19:00
- 333 High HolbornMon–Fri 06:30–20:00 · Sat 07:30–19:00 · Sun 08:30–18:00
- 36A St. Martin's LaneMon–Fri 07:00–20:30 · Sat 07:30–20:30 · Sun 08:00–19:00
- 54 Theobalds Road
- 65-72 StrandMon–Fri 06:30–19:30 · Sat 07:30–19:30 · Sun 07:30–18:30
- 77D KingswayMon–Fri 06:30–21:00 · Sat 07:00–21:00 · Sun 08:00–18:00
- 7B KingswayMon–Fri 07:00–20:00 · Sat 08:30–19:00 · Sun 09:00–17:30
- 83-84 Long AcreMon–Fri 06:30–21:00 · Sat 07:00–21:00 · Sun 08:00–20:00
- Nero Express, Charing Cross Station, The Strand, London, Greater London, WC2N 5DSMon–Fri 06:00–23:00 · Sat 06:30–23:00 · Sun 07:00–22:00
- Unit G4/G9, Oxo Tower Wharf, Barge House St
Chain
Joe & The Juice
Chain
Black Sheep Coffee
Chain
Pret A Manger
Chain
Blank Street Coffee
Chain
Benugo
Chain
WatchHouse
- WatchHouse Somerset House
- 28-29 Southampton Street
- 7 Upper St Martin's LaneMon–Fri 07:30–18:00 · Sat–Sun 08:00–18:00
Chain
Hagen
Chain
Soho Coffee Co.
Show 4 locations
- 138 StrandDaily 07:00–18:00
- 215 StrandDaily 07:00–19:00
- 41-42 Bedford Street
- 65 KingswayMon–Fri 06:30–21:00 · Sat 06:30–19:00 · Sun 08:00–18:00
Chain
Caffè Concerto
Chain
Grind
Chain
Notes Coffee
- 31 St Martin's LaneMon–Wed 07:30–21:00 · Thu–Fri 07:30–22:00 · Sat 09:00–22:00 · Sun 10:00–18:00
- 36 Wellington St
Chain
Kiss the Hippo
- 24 New RowMon–Fri 08:00–18:00 · Sat 09:00–18:00 · Sun 10:00–18:00
Chain
L'ETO Caffè
Chain
Redemption Roasters
Chain
EL&N
Chain
The Gentlemen Baristas
Chain
Monmouth Coffee
- 27 Monmouth StreetMon–Sat 08:00–18:30
Chain
% Arabica
- 5 King StreetMon–Fri 08:00–20:00 · Sat–Sun 10:00–20:00
Chain
Attendant
- 75 Leather LaneMon–Fri 08:00–17:00 · Sat–Sun 10:00–16:00
Chain
Roasting Plant Coffee
- 190 Strand
- 95-97 High HolbornMon–Fri 07:00–17:00 · Sat–Sun 07:30–15:30
Chain
Apostrophe
Chain
Lexpress Coffee
Chain
The Black Penny
- 34 Great Queen StreetMon–Fri 08:00–20:00 · Sat 08:00–21:00 · Sun 09:00–18:00
Chain
Coffee Island
- 5 Upper St Martin's LaneMon–Fri 07:30–20:30 · Sat 09:00–20:30 · Sun 09:00–20:00
Chain
Lavazza
Monmouth Street, Seven Dials and Neal's Yard
Monmouth began by selling three or four kinds of bean in sacks of one, three, seven or ten pounds.2 Le Roy wanted to buy from individual farms, which became possible in 1996, when the importer Mercanta opened; Monmouth was one of its early customers.2
Seven Dials and Neal's Yard, north of Long Acre, hold most of the area's independent shops.1 In Neal's Yard, 26 Grains at No. 1 stays open until 21:30 from Wednesday to Saturday, and Jacob the Angel at 16A opens 08:30–17:00 on weekdays. Amelia, a bakery café at 9 Monmouth Street, opens at 08:30 on weekdays, and Arôme Bakery at 9 Mercer Street opens Wednesday to Sunday.
Coffee under St Martin-in-the-Fields
James Gibbs built St Martin-in-the-Fields, on the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square, between 1722 and 1726.3 Its crypt holds a café whose profits support the church's work, and jazz concerts are held there.3 Church and crypt reopened in summer 2008 after a £36 million renewal.3 The Café in the Crypt is at 5 St Martin's Place.
From there, Covent Garden's piazza is a short walk up St Martin's Lane, where St. George London at No. 112 opens from 08:00 Tuesday to Friday. Leicester Square and Covent Garden stations are only about 270 m apart, London's shortest tube journey, and Covent Garden's platforms can be reached only by lift or stairs.1
Tea from a cabmen's shelter at Temple
The green huts on some London roadsides are cabmen's shelters. Captain George Armstrong, editor of The Globe, helped set up the Cabmen's Shelter Fund in 1875, so that drivers could rest and eat without leaving their carriages outside a pub, where they risked being stolen.4 Sixty-one shelters were built, and 13 survive, all still run by the fund.45
Inside, the seats are normally reserved for cab drivers.5 The shelter on Temple Place, built around 1900, is one of the least altered and still sells takeaway food and drink, with blackboards offering bacon rolls and corned beef sandwiches.4 It opens weekdays 07:00–14:00.
Holborn's weekday cafés
Leather Lane has held a street market since around 1666, and by 1913 it had become a lunch market for factory and office workers; it trades on weekdays and is again one of London's largest street food markets.6 Attendant, at 75 Leather Lane, opens 08:00–17:00 on weekdays.
Further south, The Fleet Street Press at 3 Fleet Street opens at 06:30 on weekdays, and Press at 81 Chancery Lane at 07:30. Beck's cafe on Red Lion Street opens at 07:00 every day and stays open until 22:00 on weekdays. Knockbox Coffee is at 29 Lamb's Conduit Street, and Pear Tree Cafe sits inside Lincoln's Inn Fields.
Sources
- Covent Garden, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Monmouth Coffee Company, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- St Martin-in-the-Fields, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- A brief introduction to cabmen's shelters, Historic England, Heritage Calling (April 9, 2024), accessed October 2026
- Cabmen's Shelter Fund, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Leather Lane Market, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
Keep exploring
More of London
Soho & Fitzrovia
148 cafés
Clerkenwell & Farringdon
77 cafés
Shoreditch & Hoxton
111 cafés
The City
126 cafés
Spitalfields & Whitechapel
112 cafés
Islington & Angel
102 cafés
Bethnal Green & Mile End
84 cafés
Hackney & London Fields
119 cafés
Camden, Primrose Hill & Kentish Town
103 cafés
South Bank, Borough & Bermondsey
142 cafés
Notting Hill
81 cafésIn Covent Garden & Holborn, also browse: Specialty coffee Outdoor seating Wi-Fi Bakery cafés Brunch Open late
FAQ
Covent Garden & Holborn cafés: questions
When did Monmouth Coffee open in Covent Garden, London?
Monmouth Coffee was founded in 1978 by Nicholas Saunders and Anita Le Roy at 27 Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, a listed 18th-century house where they roasted in the basement and ran a tasting room on the ground floor. The shop still trades there, Monday to Saturday 08:00–18:30, at the edge of Seven Dials.
Can you buy tea at the cabmen's shelter on Temple Place near Covent Garden, London?
Yes, through the hatch. The cabmen's shelter on Temple Place, built around 1900, still sells takeaway food and drink to passersby, with blackboards listing bacon rolls and corned beef sandwiches, and opens weekdays 07:00–14:00. The seats inside are normally reserved for cab drivers. Thirteen of the 61 shelters built by the Cabmen's Shelter Fund survive.
Is there a café in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields in central London?
Yes. The Café in the Crypt, at 5 St Martin's Place on the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square, is under James Gibbs's church of 1722–1726. Its profits support the church's work, and it also hosts jazz concerts. The church and crypt reopened in summer 2008 after a £36 million renewal.
For café owners
Own a café in Covent Garden & Holborn?
Free listings are free for good. A featured page gives you photos, a menu and your own URL, in your café's own design, for less than a coffee a day.