One of London’s Best Coffee Shops Will Be ‘Making It Frothy’ in East Dulwich Soon

One of London’s best coffee shops is opening a new cafe in south east London. Brown’s of Brockley will open at 43 Lordship Lane in East Dulwich, replacing Truly Scrumptious Bakery and adding a third site to its lineup, after the original on Coulgate Street in Brockley and St David’s Coffee in Forest Hill, which founder Ross Brown took over in the summer of 2020.

A job advert for the new cafe has since expired, with no timeline for the opening as yet; it will be near neighbours to the likes of Yardsale Pizza, Meatliquor, Dulwich Tandoori, and Terroirs. Brown has told Eater that the new cafe will be called Bon:

“A really simple, really small unit — we’ll do takeaway only, has a small kitchen in the back for a couple of baked goods. We’ll just try and focus on making coffee well, and consistently and building a nice little neighborhood shop.”

He says it will continue Brown’s’s simple formula of coffee from Square Mile — with occasional forays into guesting from the likes of Sweden’s Drop, or Bath’s Roundhill — good sandwiches, and a serious banana bread alongside pastries from Little Bread Pedlar.

The original Brown’s of Brockley opened in 2009, a banner year for then new, now celebrated cafes, with the likes of Peter Dore-Smith’s Kaffeine in Fitzrovia; cycle cafe par excellence Look Mum No Hands; and The Espresso Room in Bloomsbury all opening. Brown’s remains one of few London coffee shops that can count itself as both neighbourhood institution and a pillar of the city’s development of a coffee “scene,” expanding into its neighbouring unit in 2017 and running a very successful coffee van in Victoria and Brockley parks in the summer months. Brown also co-runs bottle shop Salthouse and bar Joyce in the area with Richard Salthouse, as well as restaurant residency unit 10 Coulgate Street.

Check back for news on the opening.