Support the Hornbeam Bakers' Collective

Two of my current intrigues are colliding: local food and drink, arts and crafts.

The Hornbeam Bakers' Collective are moving a new bakery premises in the also new Blackhorse Workshop.

Their bread is delicious, I love sourdough and it's great to buy it freshly baked locally. Their very affordable sourdough baking course is clearly fantastically popular - running at least once a month. I aim to do it next year once my kitchen has been refurbished and I have a much better space for baking.

The Collective are also refurbishing... in the New Year they're moving into their new premises and they've launched a crowdfunding campaign. They're a self-funded organisation and the funds will particularly go towards a professional oven. They're already over two thirds of the way there - BUT! they can only access all these fantastic donations if they reach their goal of £3,000. You can donate money or skills, they're looking for all sorts of help (building skills, website development, marketing, fundraising and business skills).

One of the reasons that I'm interested is that they aim to open an in-house cafe. This will be a great addition to the Blackhorse area and hopefully help bring people into the new arts-and-craft workshop space. I'm excited about the ongoing arts development in e17 and I'm so pleased to see the Blackhorse area developing too.

Lot 107, E17 3LL

Lot 107 (found at 107 Wood Street, opposite the indoor market) is part of the newly-popular Wood Street cluster of cafes. Wood Street has a similar mix of eateries to the High Street but far less footfall. That obviously has pros and cons, and I hope these businesses continue to survive but retain some of their peace. I head to Wood Street when I want a walk, a little browsing in the shops and a peaceful coffee. I head to the High Street for people watching and have a coffee for a rest after battling down the market.

When I started the blog, I decided to visit places at least twice before writing about them. This rule has served 107’s coffee well, because unfortunately on my first visit it was a huge disappointment. I ordered a large soya latte, it was sweet, weak and lacked body. On my second visit, I was asked if I wanted a second shot. Of course – here was the problem! I’d assumed that large drink = two shots. A reminder to me, to check! And yes, the coffee is good, mellow and drinkable. 

Lot 107 stands out because of the quality of their food offering, especially their all day breakfast. Everything is fresh and well made. One of my favourite dishes in the world is Eggs Benedict. Whilst I do believe it’s boring to continually order the same thing, this dish makes me happy. I could easily show you a series of Eggs Benedict photos.

Eggs Benedict £4.95

The egg is always perfectly poached and I think they use a high proportion of lemon juice in the hollandaise sauce because it’s a strong flavour which quickly cuts through the richness. Friends have tried other dishes on the menu, and can attest that they are just as good!

The staff are friendly and the service is quick. They are clearly popular – on one visit at 4pm on a Saturday (an hour before closing) they were still busy. It’s full height shop window at the front means it’s light and airy even in the worst weather. They have plenty of tables so you shouldn’t have to wait for a seat. In summer their space doubles, as the garden gets full use with large picnic tables and small bistro tables. They also grow some veggies in the back, which presumably contribute to the menu in summer.

Open Monday to Friday, 7am-5pm and Saturday 9am-5pm, with free wifi. It’s disappointing they’re not open on a Sunday as Wood Street’s Sunday offering is growing and I think they’d turn a good trade. On Tuesday’s they have a coffee morning from 9 -11, half price cakes with any hot drink – I imagine it’s a popular slot! You can find the soup choice and other specials on their Twitter feed @LOT107.

Leek and potato soup

Popular with... older teenagers, families with little ones and shoppers from Wood St Market. 

Accessibility... There is a small step at the entrance that would be difficult for powered wheelchair users (more than just a bump), but probably fine for people using manual chairs. Tons of space inside to move around. Toilets are available, with baby changing facilities, accessed by going out the back door down the side of the garden. I'm afraid I forgot to check whether there was a step here, but I will on my next visit.

The Hornbeam Cafe, E17 9AH

Soya hot chocolate

I love the Hornbeam Cafe for being different. I have lived in Walthamstow for nearly five years but only set foot inside the Hornbeam (458 Hoe Street) six months ago. It was always slightly out of the way, but my partner knew I had a hit list of coffee shops and took me for a surprise lunch on my birthday. We were very late and there was no food left, but the lovely ladies in the kitchen said they’d cobble together a lunch and it was delicious – a bit of everything. Though the most evocative memory of that meal is the world’s best soya hot chocolate. I have yet to try Cafe Bonito’s hot choc but it has competition!

Since then, I’ve purposefully made time to go for a coffee or a meal. Even when it’s full of customers, it’s a respectfully quiet place with no blaring radio. Last weekend I sat and read a good 100 pages of my book (Room by Emma Donoghue) without being disturbed. It has 6-8 mixed sized tables and I love the window table with wicker chairs for watching the relatively busy street – it’s near the Hoe Street/Bakers Avenue junction.

The Hornbeam is a vegetarian, mostly organic, cafe which offers home-cooked hearty meals, making use of whatever seasonal food they can acquire. Though a mainstay on the menu is the vegan brunch (£5.80) which is an incredibly satisfying and spicy breakfast.

Brunch: vegan sausages, tofu scramble, beans, potato cake,
mushrooms, salad and toast (homemade bread).

They also have an extensive drinks menu (including alcoholic) and when you order they automatically ask ‘dairy or soya milk’ – brilliant! Their coffee has a rich flavour, not too strong or too bitter (a latte was £1.90). Their hot chocolate is deliciously creamy. Water is freely available, on a side table. It feels very homely.

Soya latte £1.90

As a Community Cafe and Environment Centre, they have all sorts of information about local projects and green schemes, so there is reading material available if you didn’t bring your own. They sell locally created wood crafts and have regular events such as open mic nights and supper club. Open 11am – 4pm Monday to Friday, 10.30am – 5pm Saturday. Sadly not open Sundays - I wish they would, but volunteers make the Hornbeam special, so it's probably difficult to open all weekend. 

I have yet to try any other cafes in this part of Walthamstow/Leyton, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know in the comments below. 

Accessibility... Ramp at the door and good space once you’re inside. Accessible toilet. Two high chairs available for little ones. If you’re parking in the area, you can get a visitors parking voucher from the shop next door.

Popular with... vegetarians (quelle surprise) and eco-lifestyle-advocates, tends to attract a slightly older crowd rather than hipsters or parents.

Le Delice, E17 4QR

Le Delice (114 Hoe Street) manages to be all things to all people: a cafe, restaurant, coffee and cake shop. It has a generous and well executed menu and flexible space which caters for everyone. For me, it stands out as one of the few places in E17 with a large space to allow singles to dwell with a coffee whilst simultaneously serving breakfast, lunch or dinner. 

If you like people watching find a table by the window, which wraps around the corner of Hoe Street and Jewel Road. You have a choice of dining tables, sofas and low tables, and a back room that is used as a meeting space. Their Facebook page advertises a recent Mehndi evening and I know of two business networks and a church group that uses the back room. It’s a popular place! If you want to find out what’s going on elsewhere in the Stow, they have plenty of local activities and groups advertised on the noticeboard by the till.

It’s worth noting (now that winter is upon us) that they either have amazing central heating (and a huge bill) or a kick-ass kitchen pushing out the heat, because it’s always toasty warm.

However, back to my priority, the coffee . With such a large menu I wasn’t expecting perfection in all things, but their coffee is surprisingly good. I may have found a new favourite-within-walking-distance-of-home (because I can’t have one out-and-out favourite). I chose a large soya latte (£1.70 plus 20p for soya), which was strong but mellow and smooth. It had the strength of a cappuccino, so those who like milky coffee could probably have used a little more, but I was very happy. Their coffee menu features three different piccolo selections – so it strikes me that they expect coffee drinkers to pull up a chair and linger for awhile, keeping our caffeine high going.

And linger you can, because they’re open until midnight – a rarity in E17. When the ‘The Scene at Cleveland Place’ opens at the end of 2014, I hope we’ll get more evening openings.

So what else is on the menu? Well everything. Sandwiches, paninis, baguettes. There are lunch specials every day, which they post on Twitter and Facebook if you want to choose before you go. 

Breakfast tagine (£6.25),
really filling brunch with lots of flavour.

They have Movenpick ice cream by the door which is still popular even though winter has practically arrived. I was sheltering inside from a downpour and a family of 3 was getting double cones!

They also make cakes to order. I watched a young man perform the delicate balancing act of getting a 15” square decorated cake into a 14” box, I have no idea how the woman carried it home.

Chicken pesto baguette (£2.50),
deliciously creamy,
easy to taste the parmesan in the pesto.

My one minor gripe is that they could clean up the menus behind the counter, on the wall, they’re a bit scruffy and it affects customers’ perception of cleanliness – which isn’t a problem at all.

Ultimately peoples, you can’t argue with a huge coffee that costs less than £2. Every major chain will charge you more. And if the coffee doesn’t keep you, the friendly efficient staff and free wifi will.


Accessibility... Level access at the entrance and plenty of space inside to move around and they’ll happily shift tables to make a bit of space if needed. A very slight ramp to the male and female toilets at the back. The ladies is accessible with space for transferring (though the passageway looked a little tight to me) and a baby changing table. There are a few steps at the rear of the cafe, to go down to the seating area at the back.

Popular with... everybody.

L'Hirondelle, E17 4QH

L’Hirondelle (160 Hoe St) needs little marketing, it’s an incredibly popular coffee shop that easily manages on word of mouth. When I moved to Walthamstow, two friends told me to become an early riser and get down to L’Hirondelle for freshly baked croissants. My sleep habits haven’t changed dramatically, but thankfully L’Hirondelle must be baking more these days because there are still pastries on offer when I saunter in mid-morning.

Best of all is the smell, like walking into a Parisian patisserie, it warms your lungs when you breathe in. And L’Hirondelle behaves like a patisserie: families queue up to take a selection box of cakes home for tea.

They’re great for breakfast, lunch and coffee and cake anytime. Everything is made fresh on the premises, breakfast pastries, cream cakes, fruit tarts, little biscuits and occasion cakes made to order. If you sit there on a weekend, it’s fun to watch people picking up personalised cakes for their special occasions, and to see them smile.

Their coffee is delicious and made using two large brass coffee urns on the bar. It’s strong coffee, but has a smoother taste than coffee brewed at Ricco's. Sadly, they don’t offer soya milk. But when coffee and a croissant costs £2.20 and they happily leave you to sit with your book, it’s impossible to complain!

Newcomers to the Stow underestimate L’Hirondelle. From the outside, it doesn’t look incredibly special but when you enter the guys serving are energetic, friendly and jokey and make you feel welcome. The counter is mirrored and helps create an illusion of more space, and there are three high shelves full of North African tagine pots. It can get incredibly busy, but I’ve always found a table. On Sundays, there is often a congregation of North African or East European men setting the world to rights. It’s open 8am – 6pm.

Accessibility... there’s a small step at the door and it’s too narrow to be accessible to wheelchair users, though buggies are manageable. Seating is on two levels – 4 or 5 tables by the counter, two steps down to 4 more large tables and toilets. From my perspective, it’s worth noting that they have tall backed chairs which are very comfortable for my poorly back!

Popular with... families out for a treat, groups of friends catching up over lunch or a coffee and lone coffee drinkers with a book.

The Deli Cafe, E17 9NJ

The Deli’s main virtue is its location. It’s is a pretty typical, easy going cafe with nice food and average coffee, and it’s also the only casual eatery on Orford Road. Eat17 doesn’t really accommodate casual coffee drinkers anymore, and the Bakery has sparse seating, so The Deli is an easy choice when visiting the heart of the Village.  

The Deli always has friendly and welcoming staff, they’re polite and helpful, and let you sit and drink in your own time. They have a good selection of their own books, including a meaty poetry selection, and there’s always local art on the walls.

They offer hot drinks, cake and sandwiches with mix and match furniture, indoors and out. 

It’s a nice, but honestly, I feel pretty ambivalent about it. It’s an easy and quick walk for me, but it wouldn't be my top choice in E17 because there are other places in Walthamstow with more character, personality and passion for their product. Lately, their cake seems to have been more shop bought than homemade, and their coffee is passable. I’ve visited twice in the last two weeks, it was first burnt and bitter, and second weak. Though it’s well-priced at £1.90 for a soya latte and they do have lovely, chunky, warm-your-hands mugs!

The paninis however, are great, their best feature. I visit especially for their goat’s cheese panini which is generously packed with cheese, sun dried tomatoes, pesto and rocket. It is delicious. They serve a few hot dishes on most days, such as lasagne or cottage pie.

Ultimately, it’s all about the location. Orford Road is where Hackney residents come to contemplate moving to the Stow. On both recent visits, I was able to ear-wig on conversations about house deals and the relative merits of different parts of E17.

There isn’t masses of space and there’s no customer toilet but it is buggy and baby friendly, again down to its relaxed attitude and locale. They’d be very foolish to turn away all the local mummies – which previous management regimes learned to their cost!

Accessibility... I have to admit, I didn’t pay close attention to the entrance, but I think it's level. Once inside however, there isn’t enough space for a turning circle for a wheelchair user. There is outside seating, in good and sometimes not-so-good weather, and table service. There is enough space to manoeuvre buggies inside the cafe and tuck them out of the way. 

Popular with... home buyers surveying the area, Village residents, relaxed readers.

Ricco’s, E17 7LD

Ricco's coffee shop is one of my favourite places in Walthamstow. They have great strong coffee and the decor is a fantastically bonkers mix of Viennese coffee house with North African accents, plus a modern East End/East European vibe.

Located near the bottom of the High Street, I use this coffee shop as an excuse to barrel my way through the market on a Saturday. You won’t find it on Google Maps but head for the ‘SAM 99p’ shop and it’s almost next door. 

Their coffee is strong, like an after dinner coffee which coats your mouth with a smokey flavour. Soya milk was available on my most recent visit, and it was £2 for a soya latte. Bargain. They have a selection of croissants and cakes - carrot cake and chocolate chip muffins were on offer but sadly, not homemade.

Ricco’s has wooden decor throughout – a long bar with grape vines in the paneling  mirrors behind the bar and gold coffee urn– though not actually used for brewing. However, the old fashioned cash register is still used and makes a noisy ring when they cash up your bill. Mock Louis XV chairs, with luminous yellow, pink and green reupholstering dominate the front of the coffee shop, with sofas in the back. 

With all that wood paneling it could be dark and dingy, but the mirrors bring in the light from the floor to ceiling windows at the entrance. Moroccan lamps hang in the windows and in the back. Ricco’s isn't open in the evenings, but I wish it was, so I could see the room lit with spangly coloured glass.

It’s a cheery place, but easy to sit and read a book too. They usually have music on the radio, one person making coffee, and one offering table service.

They have 3 high chairs available, stacked in the back, a few toys and children’s books to keep little ones entertained whilst their parents watch the market traffic outside.

Opening hours seem to be a little haphazard. I usually trot down there on Saturday or Sunday, but they’re not consistently open on Sundays.

Accessibility... level entrance, enough space for wheelchair user to sit at a table inside but probably not enough for a turning circle. Toilet available, but not accessible.

Popular with... Saturday market-goers, parents with children, groups of men who chat freely with the staff, people watchers. 

Wood Street Coffee, E17 3HX

Wood Street Indoor Market is full of independent traders displaying their passion and selling it. There are vintage clothes shops, record stores, medal and war memorabilia, the chair man, antiques, and soap! The enthusiasm that they all have for their products and for making Wood Street a better place, means the Indoor Market is a lovely friendly welcoming place. It’s designed for poking around and finding a gem.  

And both Wood Street Coffee and Aura Rosa Cakes are real gems. They’re worth walking 20 minutes from Walthamstow Central for – in fact, I’ve been telling half the office to come to e17 on a Sunday just for a piece of cake.

Wood Street Coffee is run by Clare and Gareth and they’re starting small and building their business from scratch. Their desire to deliver good quality products, with a smile, means they have the capacity to create a great independent coffee shop. They’ve got a great, simple brand for their new venture, and their presence is helping give the market more of an identity.

I visited with a good friend, and we sat outside in the windy sunshine, feeling glam in our sunglasses, sipping a flat white (£2.20) and a cappuccino (£2.20), on retro furniture supplied by The Chair Man – a Wood Street upcycler. It's quieter than other Walthamstow venues, a consequence of being slightly further from central Walthamstow, and being a Sunday. We visited after lunch at Cafe Bonito and I think it’s much busier in the morning.

The Climpsons and Sons coffee was mellow and light – not as strong as I’d expected but had definite depth and body. I was over the moon that they had soya milk and for no extra charge. With such little storage space, I’ve learned to manage my expectations and cope with real milk. Decaf is also available – they’re very accommodating folks!  

The mellowness of the coffee was really refreshing with the rich, rich, chocolate cake I had from Aura Rosa Cakes. (Wood Street Coffee does have their own cake suppliers, but by 3pm, there was nothing left!) The cake stall is another recent addition, currently a pop up stall that will soon occupy one of the shops. It was being painted white and pink as we shopped! Jason and Gio were happy to chat to us about the cake and their business plans, their excitement was infectious.

They had a full range of cakes, meringues, cupcakes and crème brulee. We chose a chocolate cake and a cheesecake.  

The Chockaberry cake (£3.50 a slice) was three layers of light chocolate sponge soaked in rum, with raspberry cream and covered with chocolate ganache, topped with a raspberry macaroon and fresh raspberries. The macaroon was a raspberry explosion – such a strong flavour it tasted like bakewell tart – a delicious extra treat.

My friend had Amaretto cheesecake topped with caramelised peaches (£3.50 a slice), which had a subtle but distinctive flavour of amaretto, rich and creamy.   

The combination of new coffee and cake stalls has made Wood Street Market a Sunday destination, bringing in customers that probably didn't visit as regularly as before. The only downside of visiting on Sundays is that not all the shops are open, which makes it a less fruitful trip. I had been hoping to pick up some raspberry vodka from the Gin Palace, Mother's Ruin, but I will have to go back on another occastion. Let’s hope their customer base grows and they’re able to open all weekend very soon.  

A full directory of the Wood Street Indoor Market is online. 

Accessibility... Wood Street Market is wheelchair accessible, though it would be impossible to enter most of the shops. All the shops have full windows and I’m sure all owners would happily bring things out to view. Wood Street Coffee is right by the entrance on Marlowe Road, with a concrete ramp and enough space to move around inside. Cafe Aura Rosa is the first shop by one of the two entrances on Wood Street. No toilets available.  

Popular with... the e17 Twitterati, local residents and hipsters from Hackney, caters for everyone.

William Morris Gallery Tea Room, E17 4PP

I am always proud of introducing the William Morris Gallery (Forest Road) to friends when they visit Walthamstow. It’s an easy way of getting them to understand e17’s cultural credentials, especially since winning Museum of the Year.

The addition of a Tea Room as part of the 2012 refurbishment has helped deliver a huge transformation for visitors of the Gallery and Lloyd Park. I love the Gallery, but I wouldn’t go anywhere near as frequently were it not for the coffee, and being able to sit with the sunshine streaming through the windows, looking at the cute white bunny border on the floor to ceiling windows.

The Tea Room is glass-walled and glass-roofed and when the skylights aren’t propped open, it’s like sitting in a greenhouse. There is bench seating in the centre, where large groups can congregate and there is small table seating around the outside – the large green bucket chairs seem to be especially designed with a William Morris pattern.

The copious seating is great, but when the cafe is full, it does make it a squeeze to get round with a tray of drinks. There are also a few tables outside on a small terrace, overlooking the park. One slight downside of the layout is that their bins and the trolley used for clearing tables are in the cafe itself, rather than hidden in the kitchen - where there obviously isn’t space.

The coffee has a good flavour and it’s fair-trade, I think it's Columbian. 

They provide decaf and soya milk at no extra charge and a wide variety of herbal tea and soft drinks. Friends who have visited with me love the Fentimans bottles on offer – Rose Lemonade, Dandelion and Burdock and the Mandarin and Seville Jigger. Water is freely available in jugs on a side table.

They also provide a good selection of hot and cold sandwiches, salads and a few hot meals such as a few pies (meat and vegetarian) and jacket potatoes. Prices range from around £4 for a panini and around £6 for pie/potato. A great lunch place.

Half eaten (sorry!) chicken, rocket and basil pesto panini.  

The Tea Room is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 10am – 4.30pm. Generally, I find on sunny Sunday afternoons that it is rammed to the gunnels with families (makes things rather loud) but I have also found it quiet with only a few tables occupied.

There is usually at least 3 staff working, so service is quick and they clear tables quickly too.

Accessibility... The Tea Room (and the Gallery) is accessible to wheelchair users and there is an accessible toilet. There are also baby changing facilities and they have 3 or 4 high chairs stacked in the corner for use.

Popular with... families and children, cooing grandmothers and their pals, and quiet art lovers like me.

Costa Coffee, E17 7JR

The principle behind this blog is to support independent coffee shops so that our local area thrives. But I have to blog about the Costa Coffee in The Mall, because for me, it's about the  beginning of life in Walthamstow and I’m not really blogging about the coffee.

I bought my first flat when I moved to Walthamstow in 2009. I’d been living in Stoke Newington (sound familiar?) for four years and my landlord decided to sell the beautiful period 2 bedroom house I was living in, just off Church Street, with my Canadian housemate. She decided to move back to Canada, I decided it was finally time to buy.

As a first time buyer, I didn’t know what I was looking for. I had my list of desirable features but I didn’t know what I would compromise on, so I looked at 42 properties before I put in an offer – bonkers! I suspect the estate agents were incredibly fed up!

Buying on my own meant that the emotional support and practical advice I needed, came from my parents. They also think I’m mad, for living such an urban place when I grew in the New Forest. Whenever my Mum visits her standard question seems to be ‘If you could live anywhere, where would it be?’

Once I’d put in an offer, I needed their help with a second viewing. They drove to London and I hopped on the tube from Seven Sisters.

I remember walking through the automatic doors at the entrance to The Mall from the Town Square Gardens and peering around the corner, and seeing them both stood by the counter with cups in their hand, chatting. It was so reassuring and I suddenly felt like Walthamstow was somewhere I could really live. That this would be my life – being present in London with urban amenities and cultural milk and escaping to them in the country, for the green relaxation, peace and quiet.

So now when I walk past the Costa, I remember that day. Sometimes fleetingly as I’m rushing through, sometimes not so fleetingly.

I’ve probably only been there once or twice in the last four years. When I switched to soya milk a year ago, Costa became my chain of choice over Cafe Nero (when no independent is available of course!), because Nero charge extra for soya. I zipped in to this store recently on the way to catching a bus and ordered a medium soya latte (£2.40). I was incredibly impressed by how clean and tidy it was, much more so than branches in central London. It was also well staffed with polite, smiling people.

Accessibility... the bonus with large chains is that they are much more obliged to invest in physically accessible stores. This store is flat throughout, some thoroughfares are a bit tight as they have a lot of tables and chairs. Toilets, including accessible, are available in the mall.

Popular with... shoppers, parents with buggies, and reminiscing young women.