“We feel like we’re doing something right”: Dan’s café has survived gentrification, COVID and the vegans.
Unlike most cafés in Islington, the words “flat white” or “matcha” have not infiltrated the menu at Café Fiori – a popular spot in Northampton Square, where Dan has been serving the students of nearby City, University of London for the past two decades.
“I hate vegans,” Dan says with a wide grin on his face. As he shoos off his last customer, Dan squeezes round the counter and closes the door to stop any stragglers “begging for a cup of tea.”
With the door closed, the air thickens with the smell of bacon grease and melted cheese. The shabby converted hut that serves as Dan’s premises may not be the haunt of the Islington young professional, but there aren’t many places in central London where you can get a bacon roll and a tea for £3.
Unlike the iced matcha latté, Dan has been around for a while. The café owner was born on Caledonian Road, just minutes from where his café is now. But after his family was forced to relocate to east London as a teenager, he lost most of his friends.
After leaving school, he went straight into an apprenticeship as a painter. “It’s a bad lifestyle,” he says. “You sit on the floor all day and eat your lunch in a dusty room. They’re not the nicest places in the world.
“Everyone thinks builders are having a laugh, because yeah, when they’re outside, having a tea break, they are. But when you’re inside, it’s not fun. Not fun at all.”
Eating his lunch on a park bench, frustrated by working on dusty construction sites, Dan dreamed of owning a café. Then, he looked across the park and saw a derelict hut. It sparked an idea that would become his livelihood for the next 20 years. “I thought I didn’t have much to lose, so I got in touch with Islington Council and asked whether I could turn it into a coffee shop.”
On the weekends, Dan used his building skills to transform the unused shed into a café, but it took years of planning bureaucracy to get approved by the council. Finally, after three years, he opened the café’s doors.
“The moment I opened those doors we had a queue of people and it’s been the same ever since,” he says.
For a decade and a half, his café was smooth sailing. He hired Debbie, who hasn’t “missed a day in 19 years.” Students from the local university also provided ample custom.
However, the pandemic took a major toll on the café. “It was a really bad time. The [university] totally closed down and we just weren’t getting customers, it was a bad time for me personally,” Dan says.
What got Dan through almost 20 years of café ownership, was Debbie. “I would not have got through COVID without Debbie. We just had to scrimp and scrape, and she was just fantastic at that.
“She has been my rock for 18 years. If Deb wasn’t here, I don’t think I’d still be here. She’s my best friend, she’s brilliant. When people say this is Dan’s café, no, this is our shop, we both run it.
“Debs is the real boss here,” he adds. “When the customers aren’t in here, she has a go at me all the time! She keeps me in my place though, that’s for sure.”
For Dan and Debbie, the customers are unsurprisingly the favourite part of the job: “We just love it. We love the people we meet and the stories they tell. We feel like we’re doing something right. You get some undergraduates, who you’ll get to know for three years. We become very close with them; we love it.
“I’ve met people from countries I never knew existed. I’ve learned a lot of things, made some good friends. I’ve even travelled abroad to visit students that have been [university] customers.”
Dan prides himself on his cafe’s affordability. A bacon sandwich costs £2.20. A chicken escalope sandwich costs £3.20. A tea? £1.
Meanwhile, Islington’s cost of living is 73 per cent higher than the national average, according to the Economic Research Institute.
While Dan feels other shops can sometimes take the mickey, he understands how expensive it can be to run a cafe. “They call Exmouth Market [a fashionable local street of cafes where high rents are charged] the graveyard. Most have to charge what they charge.”
Despite having children, Dan’s proudest achievement is his shop. “Kids goes without saying, your kids are your kids. But I think keeping this going, it’s been hard but, well, we’ve done it and that’s my proudest thing.”
He has no great regrets, apart from his alarm ringing at 4:30 in the morning, or working in the summer heat.
Dan thinks he’ll remain standing where he is stood for a while. He turns 59 next week, and while he thinks his “belly is taking its toll,” he knows he will work at this café for years to come.
His only wish is to have a bench on Northampton Square named after him. From there, in his retirement, he could sit and gaze upon the hut he first saw 20 years ago – now, a thriving café, one he built from scratch.
Jamie Boys is a student journalist from London. He is the beat reporter for Junction Ward, i.e. Archway, North London. He also has a by-line at the Standard. Jamie grew up in central London, but has lived in the USA and Australia. Jamie is a huge Chelsea fan and has had a season ticket his whole life. He has a particular interest in political journalism.