In unexpected E3 gentrification news, Bromley-by-Bow station now has a coffee kiosk.
It opened just after Christmas in the tiny retail unit just before the gateline. It's called Dream Bean and appears to be linked to the kiosk of the same name at Plaistow station. It sells all the usual types of hot and frothy coffee, as well as tea and speciality teas for those who enjoy teabags dunked in boiling water prematurely sloshed in milk. I have not sampled their wares because I enjoy none of these things. I am reassured that they give their prices in normal money, not poncey numbers to one decimal place.
Espresso £1.60/£2.00
Americano £1.70/£2.10
Cappuccino/Latte/Mocha £2.20/£2.50
Flat White £2.50
They also have a glass cabinet of pastry things for people unable or unwilling to make breakfast at home, plus three shelves of crisps, chocolate bars, protein bars, digestive biscuits, extra strong mints and cough sweets. It's fairly standard stuff for many a tube station but quite revolutionary here at Bromley-by-Bow.
There used to be a tiny newsagents kiosk in the same location overseen by a cheerless bloke with a "no change given" sign but that closed ten years ago. Once people stopped buying newspapers of a morning there wasn't much point in staying open just to sell snacks and sweets, not in an area that was half low-income estates and half warehouses, so he shut up shop.
Ten years later many of those warehouses have been demolished and replaced with dense thrusting flats populated by young professionals who like a latte in the morning, hence the arrival of Dream Bean. No other chain coffee shops exist within a fifteen minute walk of Bromley-by-Bow station, it's still not that kind of place, but another rung on the gentrification ladder has now been achieved. Feel free to pop down - the ticket gates are always open.
