Prufrock Coffee

Prufrock Coffee on Leather Lane is one of the cafés that helped shape London's specialty coffee scene. It was founded by Gwilym Davies, a former World Barista Champion, and the Leather Lane site combines a café with a barista training centre, spread over two floors near Holborn and Farringdon. The emphasis is on carefully prepared espresso and filter coffee, served in a relaxed, pared-back space.

The coffee menu covers espresso drinks and filter options, using carefully selected beans, and the baristas are happy to talk through what is on offer. Food and drinks are made from scratch with sustainably sourced ingredients, and the café typically serves breakfast and lunch dishes alongside cakes and pastries. Coffee beans and merchandise are available to buy in the café and through the webshop, so it is easy to take home a bag of something you have enjoyed.

Prufrock suits coffee enthusiasts, people working in the Holborn and Farringdon area and visitors exploring Leather Lane's weekday street food market. The space is calm by central London standards and works well for a coffee meeting or a quiet breakfast. Weekday lunchtimes can be busy when the market is trading, so mid-morning or mid-afternoon are good times to visit. The education programme, which includes barista training, makes it a useful stop for anyone interested in learning more about coffee.

Opening hours are 07:30 to 16:30 Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00 on Saturdays and 09:00 to 17:00 on Sundays. There is no need to book for the café, but training courses are booked in advance through the official website. Seating is spread over the ground floor, with additional space used for training and events. If you are visiting at the weekend, the area is much quieter than on weekdays, when office workers fill the surrounding streets, so Saturday and Sunday mornings can be a relaxed time for a slow breakfast.

Leather Lane runs between Clerkenwell Road and Holborn, and Chancery Lane Underground station on the Central line is a short walk away, with Farringdon, served by the Elizabeth line, Thameslink and Underground, also close. Hatton Garden, London's jewellery quarter, runs parallel to Leather Lane, and Holborn Circus, Ely Place and the pubs and restaurants of Clerkenwell are all within a few minutes' walk.