Regency Café
The mid-20th-century “caff” diner, once a staple of London life, is rapidly being swept into Formica heaven by trendy bistros. Among the few holdouts still doling out one of London’s best English breakfasts all day is the 1940s Regency, a discount-Deco requiem to a lost age in yellowed white tiles and bolted-down plastic chairs. This isn’t a gustatory treasure (the fryer is in heavy use, white bread heaped high, sausage a food group); it’s an anthropological one. Big-value food including £7 full breakfasts, £4 burgers, or homemade meat pie is prepared with lightning speed, and your order is jarringly bellowed so that you can come fetch it. London adores this place, and it was sold in 2025 to a new owner who told the press he aims to treat it like the city treasure it is. For another marvelous “caff,” see E. Pellicci.
The mid-20th-century “caff” diner, once a staple of London life, is rapidly being swept into Formica heaven by trendy bistros. Among the few holdouts still doling out one of London’s best English breakfasts all day is the 1940s Regency, a discount-Deco requiem to a lost age in yellowed white tiles and bolted-down plastic chairs. This isn’t a gustatory treasure (the fryer is in heavy use, white bread heaped high, sausage a food group); it’s an anthropological one. Big-value food including £7 full breakfasts, £4 burgers, or homemade meat pie is prepared with lightning speed, and your order is jarringly bellowed so that you can come fetch it. London adores this place, and it was sold in 2025 to a new owner who told the press he aims to treat it like the city treasure it is. For another marvelous “caff,” see E. Pellicci.
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