Published: 5 January, 2011
by JOHN GULLIVER

WHERE there was one, now there are eight. Where there was one, now there are five.

This is a thought about a phenomenon that is passing almost unnoticed – the tide of coffee bars now covering Camden Town and Primrose Hill.

Several years ago, when coffee bars were fancy places in proper High Streets, a little coffee bar was started up in Regent’s Park Road, Primrose Hill, by what seemed a Polish family.

Its reputation for good coffee and delicious patisserie soon spread far and wide, and queues were commonplace.

Then, two years ago, a competitor moved in. 

But in the past year six more have found new leases within a few hundred yards of it.

Up to a couple of weeks ago, there were three coffee bars in Camden High Street, between Delancey Street and Parkway. 

But just days before the festive season began, two more opened – one part of the Greggs chain, the other, an independent much to be welcomed.

I’m sure I could find sound balance-sheet explanations for the sudden epidemic.

Though rents are murderously high, especially in Camden High Street, a coffee bar can more than get by on low overheads – low level of wages, relatively inexpensive fittings – and gain a ridiculously high “mark-up” from each sale.

But does that really explain what’s happening?

Is there something happening to the public taste?

In these economic bad times are we finding solace in our coffee cups?