Purveyors of Modern Coffee, WatchHouse has announced that 2021 will see the opening of five new sites across London, as well as its first site outside of London, in Bath.
Dedicated to redefining the multi-site model, WatchHouse’s next six sites, which will see the total number of houses reach 12, will continue to be as thoughtfully designed and sustainably sourced as the original site in Bermondsey Street which opened in 2014.
Opening on 19 April, WatchHouse St Mary’s Axe will be the group’s largest site.
Based in the iconic Foggo-designed, ‘Can of Ham’ building in the City, the 3,900 square foot cafe will stretch over three floors with seating over 70 guests in total, alongside a spacious outdoor terrace which will seat 30. It will be open for outdoor dining from the opening date onwards.
Spearheaded by WatchHouse’s design team headed up by Deidra Hodgson, the design takes inspiration from the Can of Ham building itself, integrating state of the art brewing technology to include a custom brewbar and acid washed ModBar, within a twelve meter long brushed stainless steel curved counter with suspended monolithic canopy arch.
The carefully designed space offers quiet and scenic working spots as well as a cantilevered bar to closely observe the baristas at work and a mezzanine, perfect for groups who seek the Modern Coffee experience.
Following the opening of St Mary’s Axe, WatchHouse will then open sites in Bishopsgate, Seven Dials, Marylebone and Covent Garden within the next six months.
Cementing WatchHouse’s reputation for sites within beautifully designed neighbourhoods, WatchHouse Bishopsgate will open in July, offering a grab-and-go service five days a week, perfect for those returning to the office, and as an introduction into the WatchHouse experience.
The opening of WatchHouse Seven Dials, in August, will be the first time the company expands into the centre of London. Opening within the historic, listed Shaftesbury estate, the split-level Brunch cafe, will serve as a sophisticated yet comforting retreat within the hub of London’s west end. This will be followed by the arrival of two more sites in central London, with WatchHouse Marylebone and WatchHouse Covent Garden both opening in the autumn.
As part of this planned expansion, WatchHouse will open their first site out of London, in Bath in autumn 2021. Chosen for its historical background and vibrant retail centre, both of which align with WatchHouse’s design-led principles, the cafe will be found within a Grade II listed building in the heart of Bath’s central conservation area.
The beautifully designed space will offer a retreat for shoppers as well as serving as a destination for sustainably sourced coffee and food, with breakfast, lunch and brunch to be offered, alongside the full range of WatchHouse’s products.
WatchHouse has used the last year in order to significantly expand across all areas of the business, including the development and opening of its own Roastery and Central Production Units, both of which mean that the majority of products sold within the Houses are produced by the company itself.
This allows them to ensure that sustainability and quality are maintained throughout the whole WatchHouse experience, an idea which is embodied by the Modern Coffee ethos; the idea of making visiting the cafes into a holistic experience, encompassing community, product, design and experience.
This has been shown by their commitment to their at-home service which saw their coffee subscription, WatchHouse. YourHouse launched in September 2020, delivering high quality, fairly sourced and priced coffee, on a flexible subscription basis to homes across the world, with new coffees added into the rotation seasonally, showing the importance of sustainability to the brand.This focus, established during lockdown, has set up the business to successfully expand the physical estate as restrictions begin to lift.
The expansion will be overseen by CEO and founder, Roland Horne, alongside the experienced WatcHouse team and board, which has recently seen Andrew Walker join as non-executive director, having previously worked at Pret-a-Manger as UK Managing Director and more recently EAT, as CEO overseeing the acquisition by his former employer.
Roland, CEO and Founder, said, “I've been incredibly proud of the resilience and long-term mindset of the WatchHouse team throughout the challenges of Covid-19. To have been able to use this time to take all of our coffee roasting and food production fully in-house has been game changing and sets us up to scale the WatchHouse estate with even greater consistency.
'We look forward to bringing the Modern Coffee experience to many more communities in London and beyond, as well as continuing to drive our WatchHouse.YourHouse. subscriptions at scale. This rapid expansion is a huge testament to the best-in-class WatchHouse team.”