Tim Almond

Another thing to add about Starbucks.

I had a little discussion with Andrew Collins on his blog, but the only real reason I see there is "American Cultural Imperialism", which I think isn’t right.

As I said in an earlier post, I don’t like Starbucks coffee. I also don’t much like the music they play or their prices.

However, I am glad they came to the UK. Before Starbucks, getting a decent cup of coffee outside of London was difficult. In Swindon, I’m struggling to think of anywhere. There was Carwardine’s in Bristol, but that’s about all.

Now, you can get espresso, lattes and americanos everywhere. The other major coffee chains didn’t arrive on the scene until Starbucks had paved the way and started to make coffee cool, and my guess is that it made getting the finance to set up such a business easier than before.

I think it’s also developed independents and specialist retailers. I’ll have to ask The Bean Shop for their opinion.

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Tags: Coffee //