Why it belongs in ORBIS
London's first specialty roaster, opened on Monmouth Street in 1978 by Nicholas Saunders and Anita Le Roy. Three sites now, and still no laptops.
Monmouth Coffee Company opened in 1978 at 27 Monmouth Street in Covent Garden, founded by Nicholas Saunders and Anita Le Roy. They roasted in the shop's basement on old direct-flame machines — a small UNO first, then a 1930s Whitmee — years before "third wave" was a term anyone used in London.
The company joined Borough Market in the late 1990s, among the first specialty traders there, and its arrival helped pull both Borough Market and Neal's Yard back from decline. Today Monmouth runs three sites: the original Monmouth Street shop, a counter at 2 Park Street next to Borough Market, and a roastery in Bermondsey on Dockley Road.
The house rule hasn't changed: no laptops. Monmouth sells beans and pours coffee — nothing else competes for counter space or attention. For a shop credited with laying the groundwork for London's post-2000 coffee scene, the format has stayed almost defiantly simple: single-origin beans, black-and-white price boards, and a queue that starts before opening.