Coffee roasters in Lancashire

Lancashire has 9 independent coffee roasters spread across the county, anchored in the north by Lancaster (Atkinsons since 1837, one of the oldest in the UK) and Carnforth (Carringtons), reaching south through the Ribble Valley (Exchange Coffee in Clitheroe), Pendle (Wild Pen), Whitworth (Clumsy Goat) and Lytham. The county punches well above its weight on age depth: two of its roasters predate 1900.

Atkinsons Coffee Roasters was founded in Lancaster in 1837 as The Grasshopper Tea Warehouse, making it one of the oldest specialty coffee roasters and tea merchants in the country; the current owners took it over in 2004 and have grown the business from three staff to forty two across four Lancaster locations, with the roastery running a Loring Smartroast on renewable energy. Roberts & Co. has been in the tea and coffee trade since 1891 and operates from Cedar Farm in Mawdesley, with both an espresso bar (seating fifty) and a farm shop cafe known for its food. Wild Pen Coffee Roasters takes the opposite end of the scale: Pendle based, Costa Rican only, sourcing exclusively from Aquiares Farm in the Turrialba Volcano region after the founders travelled there to stay at the hacienda and tour the processing plant.

Lancaster is the easiest visitor stop, with Atkinsons' four locations clustered in the city. The Ribble Valley (Exchange Coffee in Clitheroe, with sites also in Skipton and Todmorden) and the Mawdesley side (Roberts & Co at Cedar Farm) reward a country drive.