Breakfast at Pinner Café

THESE are rough times for a national treasure – the traditional British café or “caff”. Pinner Cafe in Somers Town is a fine example.

Originally known as La Gondola, it’s been trading in Chalton Street since at least the 1970s. Like many cafés in this country, it was originally run by Italian immigrants. Now it’s in the hands of Paul Duran, whose parents took over three decades ago after moving to Britain from Turkey.

At Pinner Cafe, you can grab a plate of spaghetti Bolognese for just £6.90; a hefty jacket potato with beans costs £5.50.

Contrast these prices with the options in King’s Cross, just a stone’s throw away. The Bolognese at Italian chain Prezzo, for example, costs £16.75.

I cycled to Chalton Street for an early breakfast. The café is bright, spotlessly clean and simply decorated, with framed photos of the London Eye, Big Ben and a red telephone box.

At one table, a family with young children in school uniform were fuelling up on toast for the day ahead. A gentleman called John – an old friend of the café – was checking on stock and serving tables.

Pinner Café receives rave reviews online – a fantastic 4.7 on Google. One visitor praises the friendliest fry-up in central London. Another describes a “fantastic local place, tiny, ordinary, but with delicious food and lovely staff”. Tourists often visit, Duran says, keen to savour an authentic London experience.

Paul Duran at the Pinner Cafe [Simon Lamrock]

Top marks, too, for the neatly folded copy of last week’s Camden New Journal spotted on one table.

Breakfast options include various fry-ups priced from £6.80. My vegetarian version included a nicely fried egg, beans, mushrooms, bubble and squeak and a vegetarian burger. Both white and brown toast is included – a stylish touch.

Later in the day, the menu shifts to dishes such as sandwiches, omelettes, fish and chips, grills and shish kebabs, followed by a pie and custard or rice pudding with jam.

Duran explains that he loves his work but times are difficult. Here in Chalton Street, the street market is in slow decline. The trend for working from home has shrunk his customer base: “Before Covid it was crammed – you couldn’t get through the door.”

Eating habits have evolved, with less demand for fried foods at the start of the day.

The café also faces fierce competition from the chains of coffee shops and even pubs such as Wetherspoons, which have muscled in on the breakfast trade.

Price inflation is the latest stress. Duran explains that the price of a catering-sized box of eggs has almost doubled; a box of chips has jumped 30 per cent.

So far, he’s resisted the pressure to crank up prices.

“I should have put them up long ago,” he says, “but a lot of people round here are hard up.”

Pinner Café is a total gem – but just one of many local cafés that deserve our cash and custom.

Pinner Café
44 Chalton St, NW1
020 7387 5303