City Road Landmark Shepherdess Cafe Forced to Close After 37 Years

Shepherdess Cafe, a London landmark for steaming hot chips and all-day breakfasts that served its local economy and community off Old Street has been forced to close down after 37 years. With rapid “regeneration” in the area pushing rents higher and higher throughout the 2010s, Shepherdess has been unable to withstand the twin forces of financial precarity and COVID-19 downturn. Writing on Facebook, the cafe said:

It is with great sadness after 37 years we have decided to close the Shepherdess. Circumstances, Covid-19, increased rents and a lack of sympathy from agents and landlords have all come together and forced the issue.

A very big THANK YOU to all our staff who were loyal all those years and made the Shepherdess the friendly greasy spoon cafe that it was. We will miss you all but it is time to move on. Enjoy retirement or find a new venture... we shall see!

The building is owned by a shell company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, but tied to Troxy, the historic music and live event venue on Commercial Road. That building in turn is owned and operated by Ashburn Estates.

Eater has contacted the cafe, which opened in 1983, for further information on the reasons behind the closure and its history; more soon.