Unpackaged

Coffee Shop at Unpackaged, 197 Richmond Road

8 / 10 from 1 review

Address
Unpackaged
197 Richmond Road
Hackney
London
E8 3NJ

Map

History

Telephone
020 8986 7933

Region
Hackney

Nearest Station
London Fields
0.19 miles

Category
Cafes & Coffee Shops

Website
http://beunpackaged.com

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Welcome to Unpackaged – we are an organic refill grocery, café & bar.

We believe that a lot of packaging is unnecessary so we’ve removed it; just bring your own containers and reuse them each time you shop.

Unpackaged was founded in 2006 by Catherine Conway in the belief that there was a better way to sell products without unnecessary packaging. The dream was to set up a beautiful shop that made it really easy for customers to come & refill all their daily essentials.

The Islington shop opened in November 2007 and, after 5 successful years, the new Unpackaged shop, café & bar in Hackney opened its doors in December 2012.

Alongside our daily activities, we also offer consultancy to large & small businesses, to help them go ‘Unpackaged’.

Unpackaged Picture Gallery

Unpackaged

All In London Review

Eat well and save the world!!

Who wants to see landfills replace cities in the near future? Tragically, if we continue the way we’re going that’s what’s likely to happen. We’ll be forced to build houses in rubbish. You think you live in a dump now? In fifty years time you literally might! Which is where Unpackaged comes in. Established in 2007 with the idea of providing people with a different way to buy their groceries, a way that ditched the packaging, the original Islington shop was a huge success. On the back of that success, Unpackaged moved into its current premises in Hackney and added a café and bar to its solution for ethical commerce.

Located in a short parade of appealing businesses – it has Lardo two-doors down – in Hackney Central, the shop utilises a large space big enough for both sides of its business. Down the left you’ll find fruit, vegetables, grains, herbs, spices, cereals, chocolate, wine and even detergent. All these products come loose. Simply fill up with your reusable vessel, pay and come again. The simplicity of it is great.

The other half of the building is given over to the café and bar. A chic, functional space is home to a long bar that serves the produce from the other half of Unpackaged. This is even better, if you’re here to eat and drink, you don’t even need your own container - just use your stomach. We would recommend the root vegetable bubble and squeak with poached eggs and chilli jam for breakfast every time. Alternatively, it has to be the ‘Unpackaged bacon and eggs’, which is a collection of streaky and maple back bacon, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs with toast. Unpackaged also serves a prix fixe lunchtime menu of 2 courses with wine for £12.50 and hosts regular foodie events in the bar in the evenings.

Whether you care about the idea of landfills on your doorstep and chemical factories spewing waste through your window, the absence of packaging can only be a good thing. And filling your own Tupperware with Belgian truffles and consuming plates of bacon and eggs in a charming, industrial café is a pretty neat way of helping out the environment.

Reviewed by T.A.O
Published on Oct 18, 2013

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Unpackaged sells organic food and beauty products, but rather than use plastic bags and packaging customers are encouraged to bring their own tupperware and carrier bags. As well as keeping costs down this means reducing harm to the environment by producing less waste that would end up on a rubbish tip.