1841

David Thomson started roasting coffee in Glasgow in 1841 and also manufactured Naperian vacuum coffee pots, a Scottish invention he shipped worldwide.

Why go

The name is the founding date of Thomson's Coffee Roasters, and the company is still going, three families deep. Thomson died in 1892 and William Addison took the business on, the Addisons retired in 2005, and the Jenkins family bought it in 2011 (The Scotsman). The roastery they built on the Southside in 1960 is still where the beans are done. 1841 is the retail face of all that, opened in 2020 on Vinicombe Street just off Byres Road as a collaboration with Grant Dick, a Thomson's alumnus, so it runs as an independent business rather than a company shop (Thomson's locations). In April 2025 Jelly Hill closed on Hyndland Road after 22 years, and 1841 took the site, opening it that August as a cafe bar with a drinks license (Scotsman Food and Drink). Dick came off bar management before he ran the Vinicombe Street cafe, which is why the second room was built to carry the day into the evening (Thomson's journal).

Order this / avoid

• Order: a flat white and the sourdough toastie at Vinicombe Street, the one item Thomson's own site calls "their much renowned" ref. Take a bag of the Blue Mountain blend from the shelf, since it is the coffee the company has sold through every owner. At Hyndland Road after five, move on to the wine and beer list.
• Avoid: walking to Vinicombe Street for an evening drink. That room shuts at 5pm and has no bar. Also do not expect a Thomson's loyalty card, gift voucher or online order to be honored at either 1841, because Thomson's says plainly that its schemes do not apply at an independently run partner.

What locals & experts say

• Rosalind Erskine, Food and Drink Editor of The Scotsman (September 2024): "My absolute favourite coffee shop is 1841 on Vinicombe Street in the west end. A cosy space, the coffee is unbelievably good - the type where you can actually taste some of the notes they put on the bags of beans for sale." ref
• Rosalind Erskine again (April 2025), reporting the Jelly Hill handover: 1841 "opened nearby in Vinicombe Street in 2020 and is a busy and popular spot for excellent coffee." ref
• 1841's own announcement, quoted by GlasgowWorld (April 2025), on what the second room would be: "This won't just be a copy-and-paste of 1841 on Vinicombe Street; instead, it will be a cafe/bar offering all the treats and high-quality coffee you're used to with the added bonus of delicious beers, wines, and nibbles." ref
• Russell Jenkins, Thomson's Managing Director (April 2025), on the brief for Hyndland Road: "a warm Mediterranean edge, and a seamless shift from daytime cafe to relaxed wine and cocktail bar in the evening." ref
• Local rec: Jeff's save, his note below. REAL.

Good to know

• Two rooms, different jobs: 14 Vinicombe Street G12 8BG is the original cafe, 8am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and from 9am on Sunday. 195 Hyndland Road G12 9HT is the cafe bar, 8am to 5pm Monday and Tuesday, to 8pm Wednesday, and to 10pm Thursday through Saturday, with Sunday back to 5pm.
• Booking: walk-in at both.
• The bakery supply: Mapleleaf provides baked goods at both rooms, and Vinicombe Street also carries Kitty's Donuts.
• Retail: both sell Thomson's coffee to take home, though the loyalty and online schemes are Thomson's own and stop at the door.
• Hygiene: the Food Hygiene Information Scheme rates 14 Vinicombe Street a Pass, inspected 20 July 2022. ref The Hyndland Road room has no register entry yet.
• Category note: this is a cafe and a cafe bar, correcting an earlier reading of the row as a pub.

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: "Save; details unresolved"

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — The coffee here traces to a Glasgow roaster that started in 1841 and still runs the Southside roastery it built in 1960. The Scotsman's food and drink editor calls the Vinicombe Street room her favourite coffee shop in the city, and the tell in her line is that you can taste the tasting notes printed on the bag, which is the whole point of buying coffee this way. Two rooms now: the original off Byres Road for coffee, sourdough toasties and Mapleleaf pastry until 5pm, and the Hyndland Road cafe bar since August 2025 that carries the same coffee through to wine, beer and cocktails at 10pm. It is a collaboration with a Thomson's alumnus, not a chain outlet, which is why it feels like a neighborhood business.