Outstanding South London Coffee Shop and Bakery Kapihan Is Closing for Good

One of London’s best coffee shops and most innovative bakeries — Kapihan, in Battersea — has announced that it will close its location on Parkgate Road on 31 October, owing to complications with a new landlord.

“We are sad to inform you that Kapihan will cease trading from 13 Parkgate Road from November 1st,” owners Nigel, David, and Plams Motley wrote in a newsletter to customers this lunchtime, 20 October.

“This is due to a complex legal situation with our new landlord. We appreciate the sudden news will come as shock, unfortunately the new owner is unresponsive to negotiations and has other plans for the building.”

Eater contacted the Motley family for further details regarding the situation but did not immediately receive a response.

They wrote that they would attempt to “continue to try and resolve matters” but that it was in their “best interest to look for our new home, which we hope to announce before the end of the year.”

David and Nigel Motley, the British-Filipino siblings behind Kape and Pan, the now-closed, cult-followed central London brand (which moved from SOAS University to the Central Saint Giles development off Shaftesbury Avenue in the first half of 2019), opened their flagship home: Kapihan, which means coffee house in Tagalog, on the edge of Battersea Park in south west London, in August of that year. It was at the time the most innovative bakery in the city, cleverly integrating Filipino baking traditions into modern European Viennoiserie, alongside a unique and precise speciality coffee programme.

The Motley brothers, trained in immigration and criminal law, and insurance underwriting, respectively — referred to their application of “European techniques to Filipino and Asian classics.” It produced a collection of immaculate breads and pastries, including the cult kimchi croissant.

In the email this lunchtime they wrote: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody from the bottom of our hearts, for all your support since day one. Our small Kapihan on Parkgate road has grown beyond our expectations. It’s been hard to let go, it’s where everything began and we hold so many fond memories together.

“We are currently exploring a larger site with bigger seating capacity. We can also share with some degree of confidence that we will be back on Parkgate Road in the early half of 2022. In the mean time we will keep you posted and look forward to welcome you to our new home very soon.”

More soon on what’s next for Kapihan.