Superstar Bartender Tony C Joins Biker Chef Andrew Clarke to Revive 60’s Brit Caff in Hackney

Chatsworth Road’s iconic Jim’s Cafe has been revived for the second time in as many years. Black Skulls London — “motorcycle clothing and lifestyle brand” — appear, from Instagram, to have teamed up with Tony Conigliaro (of Dalston’s Untitled bar) and Andrew Clarke (of Brunswick House) to bring Jim’s back to life as a “bar, biker cafe, and restaurant.”

Jim’s first (re)opened in 2016 when Hugh Thorn (behind Hackney’s Lardo and Lardo Bebe) teamed up with Nuno Mendes to breath new life into an iconic shopfront that had sat dormant for six years. Originally a 1960s ice-creamery, and then a genuine east London caff, the rejuvenated Jim’s Cafe lasted less than a year before recently shutting its doors once again, this time with little fuss.

Apparently, though, the biker renaissance is real. Following the likes of Black Axe Mangal and (Hackney coffee roasters) Dark Arts Coffee’s cafe I Will Kill Again, Black Skulls have taken the reigns at Jim’s Cafe, filled it with motorcycle ephemera, and fired up the charcoal grill. Clarke’s Instagram features good-looking honest fare like Arbroath smokies with miso cream, poached egg and chives, a smoked Hereford brisket burger, and a spicy pizza of pepperoni, guanciale, crispy pigs ears, fior di latte, tomato and chilli.

There’s little in the way of further information on their website, but Jim’s promises “three distinct sides”: the 60’s diner at the front, the “airy, industrial ice-cream factory” in the rear, and the private basement dining room, which seats up to 12 people and offers either feasting or a la carte menus depending on group size and availability.

Jim’s Cafe is open Tuesday — Sunday, 9am – 10.30pm.