Weirdly, one of the things I miss about living in Holland is that there always seemed to be cats in bars. Two of my regular haunts in Leiden both had resident cats that would ignore you no matter how much you tried to give them some love. This doesn't seem to happen as much in London, which is a real shame when you live on a busy road that can't justify having a cat and have a landlord that won't allow cats but you still realllllly want one. So when you do find a place in London that has not one, but three resident cats you know it's probably going to be a pretty special place.
Scooter Cafe on Waterloo's Lower Marsh is that place. It's one of those places that doesn't have a website, that you only find by randomly walking past one day when you're already in search of a coffee. A happy coincidence.
The decor of this place means it almost feels a little odd hidden away on a street in Waterloo. It seems like it would make more sense to be somewhere which is too cool for me, like Shoreditch. But Scooter has a history which means it makes sense - it used to be a scooter workshop where Vespa owners over time have grabbed a coffee whilst they waited for their scooter to be fixed. Now the workshop has moved to Bermondsey and just the coffee remains.
It should be mentioned that they do have an antique coffee machine, which means that sometimes you might have to wait for the hot water to heat up (not a place if you're in a hurry) and that there aren't all that many seats.
I ordered a mocha and was warned that it was served Italian style and that it would be thick. They weren't joking - this has to have been the thickest and the sweetest mocha I have ever had in my life. Definitely not an every day drink unless I want to end up the size of a house. A massive treat for a slow Saturday afternoon! They also have a small selection of cakes on offer, when I was there it was ginger cake for the day, but my mocha was already sweet enough.
Scooter Caffe also doubles up as a bar, you can grab a wide selection of beers and a small selection of cocktails too.
The only downside of Scooter is that it's probably not the cleanest place in the world. I'm sure it passes its hygiene tests otherwise it wouldn't be open, but it takes shabby chic to another level. Stick to the terrace outside if you're super bothered!
Any recommendations for odd places to grab a coffee in London will always be welcome!
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