2i’s Coffee Bar

Did you know that our Soho restaurant at 59 Old Compton Street was once the renowned 2i’s Coffee Bar, a coffeehouse that was the birthplace of British rock & roll during the late 1950s. The 2i’s Coffee Bar was a vibrant hub for Soho’s hip crowd. Upstairs, it served coffee and sandwiches, while its basement was home to a small stage with space for an audience of around 80 people. This was where talent scouts came to seek out emerging and gifted artists. It was at the 2i’s that notable talents like Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard were first discovered changing the landscape of rock & roll in Britain forever! Today we like to think the place is still dedicated to ensuring people have a good time and we’ve kept plenty of nods to its rich musical history with a 2i’s neon sign in the style of its original logo, vintage records, musical instruments and photographs of rock & roll legends lining the walls. We also saved a piece of the original wall painted by songwriter and musical composer Lionel Bart when he was a waiter there – see if you can spot it next time you visit.