Tucked down Bow Arts Lane off Bow Road, Nunnery Café is what happens when a neighbourhood art gallery decides it also wants to be the best coffee spot on the block. Run by Bow Arts and attached to the Nunnery Gallery, it's affectionately dubbed "Bow's living room" — a cosy, creative social space where AllPress espresso, locally-made cakes, and serious toasties come with a side of contemporary art. The decor is simple and charming, the vibe is warm and unhurried, and you'll find as many locals with laptops as gallery-goers between exhibitions.
A cosy café-gallery hybrid down a quiet lane in Bow, serving AllPress coffee and locally-made cakes to a loyal neighbourhood crowd.
They close at 3pm sharp and don't open Mondays — go mid-morning on a weekday for the calmest vibe and first pick of the pastries.
Bow's cosy living room with AllPress coffee and local cakes
If you live anywhere near Bow, Nunnery Café is the kind of place that quietly becomes your regular. It's the café wing of the Nunnery Gallery, run by Bow Arts, and it wears its arts-world credentials lightly — no pretension, just a warm room with simple, charming decor and a steady stream of locals who clearly treat it as a second living room. The AllPress coffee is reliably good, and the food offering is smarter than it needs to be: Rinkoffs pastries, cakes from local bakers, proper toasties, and daily soups. Nothing fancy, everything done right.
What makes it special is the atmosphere. Reviewers consistently call it warm and pleasant, a place to escape the cold or just slow down for an hour. It's not trying to be a destination café — it's trying to be your neighbourhood café, and it succeeds. The gallery connection means there's always something interesting on the walls, and the crowd is a mix of creatives, parents with prams, and people who just wandered in from Bow Road. Opening hours are modest (they close at 3), so this is a breakfast-and-lunch spot, not an evening hang. Go for a flat white and a slice of cake, stay for the calm.