Independent coffee shops will be facing competition from Waitrose, as was recently reported in the national press.  The supermarket’s managing director was quoted as proposing to launch a chain of standalone cafés – it turns out that he was mis-quoted, and that he really said he was going to develop his instore coffee shops. He then made a speculative remark about maybe running standalone cafés ‘one day’, which was taken as a statement of intent.

However, it seems likely that Twinings, the tea brand, may indeed have plans to appear on the high street. There have been reports that Stephen Twining of the founding family has been planning a chain of tea shops across the country.
He has responded that although he is certainly planning one ‘flagship’ store in central London, future plans will depend on the performance of that site.