One of London’s Best Coffee Shops Will Spread Wings Again in Bermondsey

One of London’s best coffee shops will again spread its wings in south east London, when Black Swan reopens around March. Having been forced to leave its space on Bermondsey Street in spring 2021 by an obdurate landlord, Andrew Aveling and Jon Arbuckle will return to the cafe world in partnership with outstanding London bakery Little Bread Pedlar, on Tanner Street.

Aveling told Eater that the new space, aptly located in Swan Court next to co-working space WorkLife, would be “cafe, bar, breakfast, lunch, dinner,” with the possibility of an early return to coffee service while other elements of the space are still being built. It will be a considerable expansion for Black Swan, which previously focussed on coffee, sweet bakes — particularly superlative cardamom buns from the Snapery and then Little Bread Pedlar — and, sometimes, toast. Aveling and Arbuckle had purchased a soft serve machine to take advantage of 2021’s sunshine and expand the offer, but that was locked inside the space, along with everything else, when the landlord abruptly locked them out in May 2021.

More soon on the revival of one of London’s best coffee shops.