Last weekend saw me in South West London, where I visited three speciality coffee shops, all of which opened during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Two of these, Lockdown Bakehouse (2020) and Another Brother (June this year) are in Wandsworth, but today’s Coffee Spot, MONIES, is a hop, skip and jump away in Putney.

MONIES, which opened in May this year, is a Cornish-inspired spot, located on Upper Richmond Road between Putney train station and East Putney tube station. It’s a sizeable place, with a generous outdoor terrace at the front, allowing the shop to be set back from the busy road. Inside, the front is largely the preserve of the counter, but there’s plenty of seating at the back.

There’s a seasonal single-origin espresso from Cornwall’s Yallah Coffee, with another single-origin from a guest roaster on pour-over via the V60. There’s Cornish tea (Tregothnan), wine, cocktails, beer and cider, both to drink in and takeaway, plus retail bags of Yallah Coffee, joined by local roaster, Curious Roo. If you’re hungry, there’s Cornish ice cream (from the Monies family farm, no less), plus pre-made sandwiches, cakes and pastries from The Bread Factory, and brownies from The Post Box Bakery.

You can read more of my thoughts after the gallery.

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MONIES was a chance discovery as I wandered along Upper Richmond Road. These days I have a fairly well-tuned speciality coffee sense and it looked the part from the off. On the north side of the street, on the corner with Oxford Road, it’s slightly closer to East Putney tube station than to Putney train station, but there’s not much in it.

Set back from the street, there’s a large outdoor seating area at the front, with 10 two/three-person tables, five on each side. This starts with a single table on each side at the front, followed by two rows of two. Being south-facing, MONIES catches the sun for most of the day, so the large black and white striped awning which, extends from the front of the shop, provides some welcome shade to the rear-most row.

MONIES has floor-to-ceiling windows which stretch the full width of the store, access provided by a central glass door. Inside, the front is dominated by the counter on the right, with the Victoria Arduino Black Eagle espresso machine and Mythos One grinder strategically placed in the window. Meanwhile, on the left-hand side, an L-shaped window bar runs across the front from the door, before extending an equal distance down the left-hand wall, after which comes a large chiller cabinet, retail shelves to either side.

MONIES occupies what I take to the ground floor of an old house, the front and back rooms knocked through, leaving a small stub of wall on the right, just beyond the end of the counter. The bulk of the seating starts at this point, extending into the back room, which is slightly narrower than the front, ending with a single large window in middle of back wall. Coupled with the windows at the front, this makes for a very bright, welcoming space.

There’s a four-person table on left, opposite the stub of the old party wall, where you’ll find a three-person square table. The remaining seating is in the back room itself, with a four-person table on the left, perpendicular to the wall, and a second four-person table, this time parallel with the wall, beyond that. There’s a final four-person table parallel with the right-hand wall, seating provided by a mix of stools and benches, including a padded bench which runs down the right-hand wall and all the way across the back wall.

If you’re wondering about the Cornish connection, by the way, the owner, Rob, is from Cornwall. MONIES is something of a work-in-progress, with Rob planning to expand the food offering to include toasties and simple egg dishes, as well as potentially extending the opening hours into the evenings.

Rob is serious about his coffee, having also invested in an UberMilk (along with all the espresso kit) to improve the workflow. Yallah Coffee provides a seasonal single-origin on espresso (currently the Las Cotorras from Mexico), although I went for the pour-over option, another single-origin, this time from Brew Coffee Plus. This is an indigenous heirloom varietal from the Worka Chelchelie washing station in Ethiopia, a naturally-processed coffee with an initial fermentation stage, to which yeast is added (sometimes known as the “natural yeast” process). Prepared using the V60 and served in a glass cup, this turned out to be a really rich, juicy coffee which nicely rounded off my day.

December 2021: MONIES was a runner-up for the 2021 Best Coffee Spot near a Railway Station Award.

Liked this? Then take a look at the rest of London’s speciality coffee scene with the Coffee Spot Guide to London.

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