Starting from 3rd June 2009 our monthly social meetings are now held at a new location, the Somers Town Coffeehouse, which is located almost directly between Kings Cross and Euston stations. We think we have found a very special venue to host our socials and we hope you agree!

The building housing the Somers Town Coffeehouse has a long and proud history of serving high-quality coffee for at least 200 years! The building’s current owners are two sisters, Vanessa & Sabine, who have refurbished this grade II listed building to a pleasant bistro/bar that has garnered some serious praise from newspapers and magazines.

So why move?

Those of you who have been to one of our socials before June 2009 will know that our previous venue was erratic, to say the least, in reserving tables, chairs or any space for us to gather in. Being a fairly easy-going bunch, we stoically tolerated this month after month and often treated it as a bit of a running joke. As time went on we came to realise that not only was it proving difficult to get seating but that people were actually turning up at the venue and not finding us. Hence the decision to move.

Moving a regularly held social event attended by up to 50 people was not a decision to be taken lightly, and it took us a while to work up to it. Then in January 2009 one of the organisers, Gerard Earley, proposed exploring other areas. Alan Palmer, our Chair, agreed to help scout for a new potential new home for our group.

Gerard initially suggested the area between Kings Cross Station and Euston stations as well as the general area around Kings Cross. With almost a third of the capital’s commuters going through these two stations alone, this seemed like a good starting-point. On their first evening excursion, Alan and Gerard found no shortage of venues willing to host a regular event. But picking a pub for 30-50 people is very different from going out for a quick drink with a few friends. They sampled places that were friendly but too small, or attractive but inaccessible. Then they found a pub that was having problems with its sewage system. While this certainly added ‘character’, they decided against it on general health grounds. Phew.

It was with considerable relief, therefore, that at last they came upon the Somers Town Coffeehouse. The search had taken all evening, and a number of fortifying drinks, but here at last was somewhere that seemed to tick every box - roomy, pleasant, accessible, with a good choice of food and drink, and friendly staff who really seemed to be prepared to help us out. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it, and our intrepid explorers felt entitled to a final celebratory glass. We hope you will agree that their labours were not in vain.