WatchHouse opened its first House on Bermondsey Street in 2014 and took its name from the building: a former 19th-century watch house beside a Bermondsey church, which once gave shelter to those guarding the churchyard. Bermondsey Street is WatchHouse’s original House, its namesake and its Tardis. The room seats ten, and it serves hundreds more each day with coffee, sandwiches and sweet treats, every day of the week. There is outdoor seating, and dogs are welcome.

Bermondsey is one of the company’s Espresso Houses, the smaller format built around coffee with fresh bakes and sandwiches. The Brunch Houses, which began with Tower Bridge in 2016, add breakfast classics and seasonal plates. Daily bakes for the London Houses come from WatchHouse’s own bakery in the city.

Founder and CEO Roland Horne’s approach is Modern Coffee: coffee taken seriously “but left the ego elsewhere”, with as much attention to how and where it is served as to the cup. The company opened its roastery in 2020 and now roasts in London and New York, developing each coffee through tasting and profiling to hold one standard across every House. It sources seasonally from producers that are long-term partners and cups each lot before buying. From the Bermondsey original the group has grown to Houses across London, with Bath added in 2023, New York in 2024 and the UAE in 2025. The current retail range is listed below with the roaster’s own tasting notes.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: WatchHouse