Overview

SENZO COFFEE is a delightful, independent coffee shop which currently has branches in Epsom and London. This review is for their London branch. The cafe sells excellent quality food and drink. It is worth a special journey alone to try their red velvet croissants. The cafe opened in May 2023, it has its own entrance but shares the building with the City Wall at Vine Street museum, see my separate EG review for more details. The cafe has outdoor space on Vine Street, a quiet pedestrianised street, but is also a short distance from Aldgate Square and the Tower of London, which are both popular and busy areas, so it provides a little oasis. There is step free seating at street level and at their Level -1 (although the lift was not working on the day I visited) and an accessible toilet.

Transport & Parking

The nearest tube station is Aldgate, which is not step free. However, there are several buses that stop close by. I took the bus and it was a 5 minute, level walk to the cafe.

Access

The cafe is in a peaceful, pedestrianised side street. Outside the cafe their is a very spacious area with free standing tables and chairs. This is where I sat and it's very peaceful and relaxing. There are automatic doors into the cafe and it is step free. At street level there is a counter at different height levels with an attractive display of their pastries and cold drinks. Around the walls is seating. There are some free standing tables and chairs as well as high stools and table. There is a large open space in the centre which makes it easy to get round. At Level -1 there is more seating consisting of free standing chairs and round the walls fixed sofas. Again there's plenty of room to get past. To access the seating on Level -1 and the toilets including accessible toilet, there is a lift. Unfortunately when I visited the lift was not working and had not done so since the cafe/ museum had opened a month ago. There is also a flight of stairs with handrails on both sides.

Toilets

There is a manual door into the corridor and the accessible toilet also has a manual door. The toilet is very spacious and clean. There are grab rails. The emergency red cord had not been unwrapped and was midway up the wall. I untied it and put a Euan's Guide red cord card on it. On the opposite corner was a shower and shower chair with grab rails. The shower did not look operational, as at the top the shower head was missing and there was a hose without a shower head as well. This shower gave the appearance of being an unfinished Changing Places toilet, with the shower fittings, hoist and height adjustable changing mat missing. Is this meant to be a Changing Places toilet and someone just could not be bothered to complete the job? The site manager should not have signed this off. However, as a regular accessible toilet it works very well, so don't be put off by my comment. Personally if the shower was not there I would not have thought anything wrong about the room, only that it was a missed opportunity as it would have been large enough to make a Changing Places toilet.

Staff

The staff were exceptional. They were very friendly, helpful and welcoming. I had visited the museum and was climbing the stairs to the cafe when the owner came to ask if I needed help. He accepted my answer. Brilliant I love it when people ask and listen, I don't feel comfortable when people touch me without my consent, even if they mean well. When I got to the cafe counter level, he sat with me and listened to my access concerns. He had been raising these repeatedly with the building management since before the cafe opened. However, he took my details and made notes and said that he was going to raise this again by including the access problems I encountered. I then went to sit outside and had a red velvet croissant and lemony lemonade, both were amazingly delicious. Service was quick but I was not rushed to leave, and it was nice to sit out in the sunshine.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

I loved this cafe, it has really nice food, a lovely atmosphere, friendly and helpful staff. I would definitely return. At the moment the lift does not work, I see this as a temporary problem and one that will shortly be resolved. However, I would suggest contacting them to double check if you need step free access to the accessible toilet. The owner informed me that he is planning to extend his opening hours soon, so please check their website for details. This is a lovely find if you are in the City of London, near the Tower of London or Aldgate. It's great to have a friendly, relaxed place to pause and eat away from the nearby busy streets. Highly recommended.

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