How is the UK coffee culture doing?

There was an interesting article in the British Baker recently, which looked at the coffee shop market in the United Kingdom and prepared a nice little summary of how it is doing.

Compared to the position a decade ago or so, it’s clear that there are more coffee shops around, but how are they doing?

How successful is the business in the harsh economic climate that we have been struggling with recently?

Fortunately, it seems to be good news!

The British coffee shop market increased by 7.5% this year.

To put this in perspective, this is growth which is seven times faster than the national economy.

What is the turnover?

A cool  5.8 billion no less.

This information was collected in a nationwide survey of 25,000 consumers.

A spectrum of coffee outlets was included in the assessment   the chains, independents and non-specialists.

In total, these outlets now amount to some 15,723, which is an increase of 4% over the year.

Those who will find things hardest are the lower quality indies or the weaker, mid-sized chains.

However, the good artisan independent coffee shops are doing particularly well.