London with Rosslyn’s head of coffee 🇬🇧

The front window nook of Rosslyn Coffee’s Queen Victoria Street location is one of those spots that looks as good on a magazine cover as in real life; a coffee there in one of Rosslyn’s pink ceramics by Melisa Dora is a pleasant pause in a busy day in London. And in London days are busy.

This is the first Filter guide to one of Earth’s leading cities, as told by Chris Sheppard who is head of coffee at Rosslyn. If many tourists’ days in London are busy shuttling between Big Ben and London Bridge, Chris’s Filter guide takes us on a tour of bakeries, markets, and how to bicycle between them.

Filter: What do you like to do for fun around London?

*Rosslyn Coffee, London. Photos courtesy of Lauren Kallen (@laurenkallen)*

Eat! I’m pretty driven by my stomach, whether that’s brunch, a market stall, or a dinner spot. For me, it’s all about sharing the experience with friends and trying out new places wherever I am in the world. I love pastries, and luckily in London we have so many awesome bakeries. At Rosslyn, we are lucky to work with some excellent bakeries including the likes of St. John and Populations. Some of my other favourites for pastries are Jolene, TOAD, Cut the Mustard, and Pophams (I often grab brekkie from their café on the corner of Victoria Park, and then have a wander round the park—during the summer, we caught the sound check for a big music festival, which was pretty cool. We just sat in the skate park and listened to an amazing gig for an hour or so!)

I also love cycling! There are many options for cycling on the outskirts of the city, from a weekend ride out to Windsor Castle, the Olympic route up Box Hill, or join the hundreds of cyclists doing laps of Richmond Park.

Filter: Where would you take a friend visiting London?

Ah, it’s hard to choose the perfect day in London as there’s something for every mood you may be feeling.

A cool thing about my family living overseas is making a mental note of all the places I want to take them when they next visit, which usually means a week or two of exploring different neighbourhoods with them. My cousin recently visited, and I took him to an Arsenal game—that’s my number one for a day in London!

If I wanted to plan a chilled Saturday with a friend, I’d head to Spa Terminus Market, in Bermondsey, which is a street of markets that are built into railway arches! Grab a pastry from Little Bread Pedlar and then wander through the market which has great fruit and veg, cheese and gelato. Eventually you can find Dynamic Wines which is one of the most beautiful wine shops I’ve ever seen. They often have free tastings on Saturday too. As you walk further through Bermondsey towards London Bridge, you will soon reach the Bermondsey Beer Mile, which is a mile of beer breweries! You really are spoilt for choice in London, so if you find yourself here, pop into Rosslyn and ask the team for their top recommendations—we love to share our favourite parts of the city depending on what you’re looking for.

Filter: What do you like to do to escape the city?

If I ever want to escape the city, I usually head to my mother-in-law’s in Surrey, which is about 1 hour from London. It’s great for walking trails, getting some fresh air, and catching up with family.

I’d also recommend checking out one of the many buzzy coastal towns that aren’t too far away. In the summer, there are heaps of campsites along the coast wherever you fancy exploring and on a budget. My wife and I took an impromptu trip to Camber Sands over Christmas, which was the perfect spot for a break from the city. We stayed at The Gallivant and stopped at Tillingham Wines for English low intervention wines and wood-fired pizza. You can also book in for tastings and a wander round the vineyard or stay on site to make the most of their wine list! Camber Sands is a stunning beach which is great for a sunset walk followed by a whiskey and a book by the fire.

Filter: What touristy things in London are worth the hype?

I’d say any of the big parks are worth a visit. Autumn in Hyde Park is pretty beautiful with the orange leaves. If you can, grab tickets to a West End show, the Lion King is amazing or get to the annual Wildlife Photo Exhibition at The National History Museum and enjoy the free exhibitions afterwards.

Filter: Where are your favorite green spaces in London?

London is very lucky to have heaps of lovely green spaces. Some of my favourite places for a walk are Battersea Park, Hampstead Heath, or Richmond and Bushy Park (which is full of deer).

Filter: What's another coffee shop around there that you really admire, and what about them stands out to you?

At the moment I’m loving Nagare. It’s a beautiful space down a street behind Spitalfields Market. The team are lovely, and the coffee is always top, so I often pop in for a brew and to do some work or read a book. For weekends with mates, Nola in Peckham has a great vibe.

London’s coffee scene is absolutely booming and there is always somewhere nearby to grab a great coffee. More of my favourites that are doing an awesome job are Formative, Batch Baby, Nostos, and Norman's for an English fry up and a mug of filter!

Filter: What makes London feel like home to you?

I’m Australian but I’ve lived in London for the most part of the last 10 years. As a kid, London felt like a big, exciting city on TV and in movies, and I now feel lucky to live here and call myself an honouree Londoner. South London is home to me, I live across the road from a common—so I get the best of both worlds with green space and working amongst the bustle of the city.

The London coffee scene is super vibrant too! Our regulars at Rosslyn are the best, and I’ve made friends that I’ll cycle or go to the football with. Working in cafes has given me a sense of community, and a home away from home—I’m still mates with some of the first people I met and worked with when I first moved here.

Filter: How did you end up in the London coffee scene?

I’m from a small country town in Far North Queensland, Australia. Coincidently, the shed in the back garden of the house I grew up in was originally a coffee roastery back in the 80s. You could see chalk writing of origin names on the walls. The area I’m from is an agricultural hub (we call it a fruit bowl), and so I’ve always had an interest in food, good produce, and flavours. It wasn’t until I moved to the UK that I started working in hospitality and met my now wife in a pizza and cider bar. I lived in Bath and would get my morning coffee from Colona and Smalls—I loved what they were doing.

One day a barista said to me they had a flat white that tasted like a blueberry muffin, and I didn’t believe him until I tried it. This really excited me, and I wanted to give that excitement to others through memorable service and flavours. After living in Bath, I moved back to Australia and got myself a job in a café/roastery called Clandestino which was the perfect place to learn and develop my knowledge. I eventually moved back to London and not long after joined the team at Rosslyn.

Filter: Can you share about your role at Rosslyn?

I’ve worked at Rosslyn coming up to 5 years now and have been a part of the growth from 6 to 30+ team members. What Mat and James (the founders) have created at Rosslyn has completely transformed the way I view hospitality. Their attention to detail, drive for excellence, and ambition to give the local community great coffee shops is inspiring and I’m grateful to have played a part in Rosslyn’s journey so far. We have some big plans in the pipeline over the next 12 months with more shops in the city centre due to open in 2024.

My work at Rosslyn varies a lot and is incredibly rewarding. Alongside our house coffees which are roasted by Origin, we run a guest coffee programme which changes every two weeks, so meeting and forming relationships with some of the best roasteries around the world and having access to unique and interesting coffee keeps it exciting. We have a special team at Rosslyn, and we’ve built a real community of talented baristas—one of the best parts of my role is creating and overseeing the training of our team, everyone is starting from a different level, maybe they haven’t made coffee before but within a few months they will be smashing it. I’m proud of the high standards we are able to consistently deliver, whist being amongst some of the busiest specialty coffee shops in the industry.

Filter: If you could move to any place in the world just for the coffee scene, where would you move, and what shop would be the biggest reason?

It’s hard to ignore Sydney because I love the café scene there but if I was to choose somewhere to visit, that I’d love to learn more about, it would have to be Paris. There is an amazing coffee culture there with the likes of Kawa, Substance, and Motors to name a few. At the top of my bucket list for my next visit to Paris is Holybelly—it’s got a great reputation as one of the best cafes in Europe with its creative menu, excellent hospitality and attention to detail.

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Rosslyn operates 3 cafes across London.

Rosslyn - Queen Victoria Street

Rosslyn - London Wall

Rosslyn - Tower 42

Food & Beverage