Dear Coco Coffee

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Dear Coco Coffee

Dear Coco Street Coffee is an inviting coffee shop located opposite of 85 Strand on the Green, London. With its specialty coffee and homemade bakes, this unique spot also boasts a little sweet shop and stories that are sure to brighten up your day. Plus, its views of the River Thames will provide an additional calming atmosphere. Experience immersive storytelling and Piaggi at Dear Coco Street Coffee!

Recent social media posts

02/06/2026

I work in a bloody cool industry. Coffee is cool.

So how do you be a cool leader in a cool industry?

It’s not the clothes you wear, the language you use or the car you drive.

Work ethic is cool. A learner mindset is cool. Empathetic leadership is cool. Caring is cool.

Caring so much that it’s infectious is the coolest damn thing ever.

Care more and deliver better than anyone else on your team. You’ll be the cool cat everyone wants to work with, I promise you.

Ant x

01/06/2026

Top 5 challenges of running a coffee truck

31/05/2026

Top 5 Tips - How to run a successful coffee truck business

30/05/2026

Walking into a new life. Thanks for listening.

For anyone who’d like to read my book, it’s available in print and digital, worldwide.

Link in bio 📚

28/05/2026

Before becoming full-time Founder of Dear Coco, I spent 16 years leading marketing teams in blue chip, multinational corporations.

I loved it.

It was the ultimate training ground for what I now need to do every day as Founder of a growing business with 30 people.

When asked what I miss about corporate, it’s easy to say “the people”, “the travel”, “the expense account”, “the niceties”.

But there’s two things I TRULY miss...

1/ The reciprocated energy

In corporate, if you send energy, ideas and passion up the chain, the energy MUST be reciprocated back down otherwise your leader isn’t doing their job.

At Dear Coco, there’s no doubt all 30 Coconauts are passionate and committed to what they do for us - they’re the best. But their energy is shown on the job, not how they interact with me as owner of the business.

The result is a level of loneliness that requires immense self-discipline and motivation to keep raising the bar.

2/ The phone calls

In corporate, leaders are accountable to deliver positive (and constructive) feedback - it’s their job. So when the phone rings, odds should be reasonably balanced that it’s some positive feedback or a back slap.

In small business, your phone only rings with problems. No one calls just to say how well you’re doing. And that’s fine, it’s part of the territory. But you need immense mental fortitude and thick skin to work day-in day-out without any positive reinforcement.

On balance I way prefer being a Founder rather than corporate person. But man, you have to earn it, every day.

To those fellow Founders pushing hard in the dark, deep respect.

Ant x

24/05/2026

Google Review shenanigans ⭐️

20/05/2026

Long Black versus Americano ☕️

15/05/2026

Grok sure knows what’s up ☕️

Dear Coco @ Apo Kew Bridge
2 Lionel Road South, Brentford TW8 0RZ
Open 7 days

12/05/2026

2 years ago. My JUMP moment.

🎬 .films

11/05/2026

Today marks exactly two years since I jumped off the entrepreneurial ledge and became full-time founder at Dear Coco.

Two years ago today, I walked away from the security, structure, and predictability of my corporate career as a Marketing Director at American Express and took the biggest professional leap of my life.

I was 46 years old.

It was exhilarating, terrifying, uncertain, and emotional all at once.

I left behind a world I had known for decades — the infrastructure, the safety net, the routine, the identity that comes with corporate life — to scale a tiny coffee truck business with no guarantees of success.

But somewhere deep down, I believed I could do it. More than that, I believed I was supposed to do it.

I want to thank my co-founder Sam and wife Emma for their trust, belief, patience, and generosity of spirit.

Building a business without the familiar scaffolding of corporate life can feel incredibly exposing, and there were moments of nervousness and vulnerability. Having people beside you who believe in the vision as much as you do makes all the difference.

What these past two years have taught me is that entrepreneurship is not just about building a business. It’s about building yourself.

It stretches you in every possible way — emotionally, mentally, creatively, and financially. But it also brings a level of purpose and fulfilment I honestly never imagined possible.

I genuinely love this life. The highs, the challenges, the chaos, the community, the creativity, the constant learning. I feel deeply grateful that I get to wake up every day and build Dear Coco with incredible people around me.

And while I’m proud of what we’ve built so far, I honestly feel like we’re only just getting started.

Here’s to the next two years ☕️

Ant x

10/05/2026

This was a space. Now it’s a place ☕️

Dear Coco @ The Draper
32 Aerodrome Road, London NW9 5LW
Open 7 days

🎬 .films

08/05/2026

I have some OG advice for baristas...or anyone for that matter who runs late for work (which happens).

Don’t rush in, late, p*ssed off and grumpy.

You’ve already put pressure on your colleagues by being late, don’t suck more energy out of the room.

Your job in this moment is to inject energy and lighten the burden you’ve created - not play the victim.

So, steam in with purpose, energy and an apology. Dig in and release the pressure on the team.

If you bumble in screaming blue murder, they’ll hate you even more.

Trust an old dog on this, young friends.

Be good

Ant x

Beautiful photos by

04/05/2026

There’s a version of this business you see every day — the music playing, the coffee flowing, the smiles, the rhythm of it all feeling easy and alive.

And then there’s another version that exists quietly, mostly out of sight, under the cloak of darkness.

The early mornings filled with problem-solving before doors open. The late nights spent thinking through numbers, people, risks, and “what ifs.” The constant balancing act of keeping things steady, even when things feel uncertain behind the scenes.

Running a business often means carrying the weight of things nobody else sees — not because anyone is hiding it, but because that’s the role.

To absorb the pressure so the space can feel calm. To make decisions that protect the team, even when they’re difficult. To keep moving forward, especially on the days when it would be easier not to.

It’s not about recognition, and it’s definitely not about sympathy. It’s just a quiet truth: a lot of what keeps something going happens in the background, held together by persistence, care, and a sense of responsibility to everyone involved.

And maybe that’s the point.

If the team feels supported, if the environment feels stable, if people can come in, do their jobs, and feel part of something that works — then the invisible work is doing exactly what it’s meant to do.

In business, every smooth day you experience is usually built on a lot of unseen effort.

And that effort is always for something bigger than one person.

Here’s to the leaders of Dear Coco, who own the dark and make it happen when the sun comes up. We salute you.

Ant x

03/05/2026

POV Street Coffee Barista ☕️

(an oldie but a goodie)

02/05/2026

Specialty coffee shops are about letting experts do expert things, as much as humanly possible anyway.

Take us as the case study.

We own and operate specialty coffee shops. We’re all about the coffee, with some bakes sitting alongside. We’re not full-service cafes with hot kitchens.

Sure we offer a small toasted focaccia menu in our indoor shops to satisfy more customer needs and increase AOV (average order value), but it’s not our core focus.

Impeccable coffee and great customer experiences in beautiful environments is our expertise.

As we open more locations, we learn.

One big learning is the toasted focaccias.

We’ve been making these ourselves to date. But having highly trained specialty coffee baristas buried back-of-house, spending hours a day making sandwiches is not efficient. It’s not their expertise.

So from today we’re pumped to welcome as our focaccia partner to make and supply our focaccias for us. We now just toast and serve.

We’re only one day into our new sandwich rhythm and it’s already saved us 3 hours in effort, happier baristas, more engagement with customers and less-cluttered work environments.

Sure we lose a little margin by buying ready-made focaccias. But it’s now done by sandwich experts so our coffee experts can hone our craft.

Here’s the working with experts and finding efficiencies that make us better…and your experience even tastier.

Ant x

29/04/2026

Yesterday was a real honour.

I was invited by the MBA programme at the Paris Business School to tell the Dear Coco story, and my journey from corporate side-hustler to full-time entrepreneur.

I love doing things like this. It’s a brilliant opportunity to pass on insights, share knowledge and pay it forward.

I’ve had some brilliant coaches and mentors over my career, so I jump at the chance to do this.

Over 2 beautiful hours we covered things like…

• The Dear Coco origin story
• How I built a coffee truck business alongside a corporate Marketing Director career
• Working 100-hour weeks and building in public to create a relatable brand in a crowded space
• My approach to building a social media community
• Becoming venture-backed and how I selected Sam as my business partner
• The impact of entrepreneurship on loved ones
• The future of Dear Coco and scaling specialness

The students honoured me with their attention, energy and questions. They made me feel like a worthy contributor to their own business journeys.

I recently heard someone say the best age for someone to become a first-time entrepreneur is 43, due to deep life experience, strong networks and corporate / emotional maturity.

At 48 I’m already past this point. But seeing the impact my insights had on these young minds, I hope I’m still in the sweet spot.

Thank you MBA’s for having me. And thank you Paris for a beautiful 2-day trip.

Ant x

26/04/2026

Happy Sunday to the hardest workers in the room…the baristas.

Every barista is gloriously different. Some are cherpy, some are moody. Some are serious, some are sunshine and lollipops. We love them all.

For giggles, here’s 10 things customers think but never say when they look at a barista…

1. “You look like you’ve already lived a full day… and it’s 8:12am.”

2. “I suddenly feel the need to order confidently.”

3. “You’ve already judged my order, be honest.”

4. “You’re the most important person in my life right now.”

5. “You definitely have strong opinions about grind size.”

6. “You look like you’re in an indie band that hasn’t released music yet.”

7. “I can’t tell if you’re tired or just… aesthetically serious.”

8. “I feel like asking for sugar would change how you see me.”

9. “You haven’t said much, but I trust you completely.”

10. “You’re not unfriendly… you’re just deeply focused and slightly iconic.”

🫶🏼

24/04/2026

Opening a new coffee shop is intense. It’s emotional.

I liken it to spending 3 months planning a very special party for people you’ve never met, hoping they turn up.

It takes nerves of steel and a level of self-belief many might struggle with.

It’s not everyday you risk such large sums of money. It’s not everyday the level of commitment required drains the family so dramatically it dims the lights in the house.

You design, visualise and build a venue. You map out barista workflow in chalk with your 10 year old on the sidewalk. You make 1,000,000 decisions, assemble a team of strangers and help them believe.

You open the venue. Then you cry. Then you hope.

If you’re lucky, people come.

The past 2 weeks since opening The Draper, people have come. They’ve come in their thousands. Around 750 people a day have come through our doors, coming to the party we so lovingly planned for them.

The level of gratitude I feel is turning the lights back up in the family house that lived without its husband and dad for months.

Now we keep pushing, keep improving and keep dreaming.

It’s a privilege to be busy doing something you once dreamed.

Ant x

22/04/2026

“Damn you’re raking it in!”

That was the well-intentioned comment from a customer yesterday as our coffee queue ran out the door and around the corner.

This week we’re serving £1 coffee to introduce ourselves to our new coffee shop community - it’s been unreal.

But serving £1 specialty coffee comes at a financial cost few can see.

Before we get to that. In coffee shops there’s something way more valuable than early revenue. It’s awareness and community building.

Serving £1 coffee during opening week is a BIG investment, but one that hopefully sets us up for success.

Seeing queues out the door all week might lead you to believe we’re making great money, albeit less money due to reduced prices.

Sadly not. We’re actually LOSING money (about £250 loss per day). BUT we’re investing in the location by doing it, that’s the decision.

Part of our location strategy is bringing great coffee to under-served coffee communities, sometimes in tucked-away locations

We need to drive awareness, so it’s all about early footfall and community engagement. Losing money while been SOOOO busy feels counterintuitive but it’s a strategic investment.

Hopefully our lovely new customers will still see value in coming when prices return to normal ☺️

Thanks for the unreal support of Dear Coco @ The Draper, we adore you for it.

£1 coffee continues until Friday.

Ant x

32 Aerodrome Road, London NW9 5LW

19/04/2026

£1 COFFEE WEEK!

Tomorrow’s the day! Our Grand Opening Week kicks off ☕️

Swing by for brews, bakes and good vibes. We sell toasted focaccias too.

Dear Coco @ The Draper
32 Aerodrome Road, London NW9 5LW
7:30AM - 4:30PM

18/04/2026

HEY! ☕️ Our 5th location is NOW OPEN in Colindale, Northwest London.

Here’s the kicker, from Monday 20th April we’re doing £1 coffee all week ☕️

Dear Coco @ The Draper
32 Aerodrome Road, London NW9 5LW

🎬 .films

17/04/2026

WAIT FOR THIS ☕️ Our 5th location is NOW OPEN in Colindale, Northwest London.

And here’s the kicker. From Monday 20th April, we’re doing £1 coffee all week

Dear Coco @ The Draper
32 Aerodrome Road, London NW9 5LW

🎬 .films

16/04/2026

A new chapter begins at Apo Kew Bridge.

We now have sit-in furniture so you sip your brew inside, versus purely grab n go.

Happy dayz ☕️

Dear Coco @ Apo Kew Bridge
Open 7 days
2 Lionel Road South, Brentford TW8 0RZ

14/04/2026

Pick your player ☕️

WE’RE OPEN! Let’s get to know each other a bit.

Grand Opening, 20th April - £1 coffee all week.

Dear Coco @ The Draper
32 Aerodrome Road, London NW9 5LW

beaufortpark

Address

Opposite 85 Strand On The Green
London
W4 3NN

Option 1: Public Transport
Take the Tube to Notting Hill Gate Station. Take the exit towards Portobello Road, and walk straight until you reach Westbourne Grove. Turn left and continue until you see the coffee shop.

Option 2: Driving/Parking
From Central London, head west on A40 towards Paddington. Turn right onto Westbourne Bridge Road, then take a slight left onto Chepstow Villas. At the roundabout, take the second exit onto Pembridge Villas. Continue straight to Pembridge Road and turn left onto Kensington Park Road. The coffee shop is on your right-hand side. Parking options are limited, so consider using a nearby car park or street parking may be available for a fee during off-peak hours.

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 3pm
Wednesday	8am - 3pm
Thursday	8am - 3pm
Friday	8am - 3pm
Saturday	8am - 3pm
Sunday	8am - 3pm

Website

http://www.dearcoco.com/

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What people say

Dear Coco Street Coffee is a specialty coffee shop located along the River Thames in London. They offer a wide variety of delicious bakes and little sweet treats that are perfect for pairing with their exceptional coffee. The storytelling aspect of this coffee shop adds to the overall experience, making it more than just a place to grab a quick cup of joe.

What sets Dear Coco Street Coffee apart from other coffee shops is their commitment to serving only the highest quality specialty coffee. They take pride in sourcing beans that have been graded out of 100 and have low defects in sweetness, acidity, balance, and mouthfeel. This dedication to quality is evident in every sip of their delicious coffee.

The leadership style at Dear Coco Street Coffee is also worth mentioning. The owner, Anthony Duckworth, believes in leading with autonomy and hiring the best humans possible to set them up for success. This approach creates a positive work environment that translates into excellent customer service.

Overall, Dear Coco Street Coffee is an exceptional coffee shop that offers high-quality specialty coffee and delicious treats in a beautiful location along the River Thames. If you're looking for an unforgettable coffee experience in London, be sure to visit Dear Coco Street Coffee!

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