The Common E2

The Common E2 Independent cafe offering high quality coffee and healthy food mixed within an architecture and design studio, located 10min walk from Bethnal Green Station.

The Common is a brand new cafe and architecture studio in East London, situated 10 min walk from Bethnal Green station, at number 53 Old Bethnal Green Road. As this area has seen a growing number of young professional practices and studios set up in the last few years, we feel that The Common will fit into its surroundings and cater for its existing and emerging local neighbourhood. The Common officially opened to the public on Monday the 26th of January 2015. The Common is defined by 2 characteristics :

- An independent cafe with a local attitude, a place of gathering, offering excellent quality coffee and healthy food as well as comfort and relaxation, a place where people will be familiar and feel at home.

- An architecture and design studio mixed within a public cafe and social meeting place, which offers a common working environment for anyone who wishes to collaborate with other designers, conduct their days business, or to simply have meetings or group workshops. The main vision for The Common is to create a friendly, welcoming environment for working, sharing ideas, meeting and socialising. We are passionate about great coffee, food, customer service, architecture, art and design. We are a young, ambitious new cafe who will boast a team of like-minded, outgoing and hospitable baristas and staff. The Common hosts two architecture and design studios:

Common Ground Workshop: www.commongroundworkshop.co.uk

Collective Works: www.collectiveworks.net

The Common offers a long 20 seater table which runs diagonally through the space with in-floor power and hi-speed fibre optic broadband which can be used by anyone and free of charge. Later in the year we will also open up part of the basement to hire for private meetings. The Common Menu will be seasonal and begins with a winter offer of:

Coffee range including:

Espresso
Cappuccino
Latte
Flat White
Piccolo
Long Black
Mocha

Other hot drinks include:

Hot chocolate
Organic and herbal teas

Cold drinks:

Freshly squeezed orange juice
Independent range of soft drinks
Locally pressed juices

Breakfast range:

Porridge
Ham & cheese croissant
Granola yoghurt
Toasts (range of different breads) with selection of spreads - help yourself from the side counter
Breakfast pastries and loaf cakes
Home made waffles
Boiled eggs and ham, smashed avocado and parma ham over sourdough (on weekends)

Lunch range:

Selection of soups - rotated weekly
Selection of toasted jaffles (enclosed toasted sandwich)
Selection of salads
Selection of quiches - rotated weekly


The Common is open 7 days. Week days from 8am - 5pm and weekends from 9:30am - 5pm. The Common will open until 11pm twice monthly to hold design exhibitions and talks.

Weekend menu things!! How many have you tried ? Sausage & egg breakfast bap, with a homemade herby sausage patty, a frie...
04/10/2026

Weekend menu things!!

How many have you tried ?

Sausage & egg breakfast bap, with a homemade herby sausage patty, a fried egg, and fresh salad in a homemade soft bread roll



Breakfast burrito flatbread with smashed avocado, herb scrambled egg, chorizo, pickled cabbage, Frank’s hot sauce, and coriander layered on a fresh flatbread

Homemade soft vegan friendly cinnamon rolls

Avocado on sourdough with Asian miso slaw and toasted sesame seeds

Our weekend signature breakfast burrito flatbread, made gluten free!

Shakshuka: our signature six-hour slow cooker spiced red pepper and tomato sauce with crumbled feta, poached eggs, sumac, and almond dukkah, served with sourdough toast

Swipe to read some of the wonderful reviews we’ve received in recent months. Kind words like these are always appreciate...
28/09/2026

Swipe to read some of the wonderful reviews we’ve received in recent months. Kind words like these are always appreciated and help small businesses more than you know!

And just like that, our last full week with the most stunnin’, funky, vibey barista Bethnal Green has ever seen comes to...
27/09/2026

And just like that, our last full week with the most stunnin’, funky, vibey barista Bethnal Green has ever seen comes to a close.

Sam has been with us for over two years, and for every day of those his humour, kindness, and truly selfless nature have made him a joy for all of us work alongside. Put simply, we’ll miss him!

If you’d like to wish him goodbye and good luck before he embarks on the next stage of his career, you’ll find him in the Common today, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Thank you, Sam Plumbe !! 🔥

The beginning of every one of our breakfast baps: soft bread rolls made from scratch, always!🥖
26/09/2026

The beginning of every one of our breakfast baps: soft bread rolls made from scratch, always!🥖

📣 Shakshuka is back on the menu !!
13/09/2026

📣 Shakshuka is back on the menu !!

That’s right, Derrick! Mr holiday himself is back in Bethnal Green! We are as shocked as you are 😱😱😱   #😎
11/09/2026

That’s right, Derrick! Mr holiday himself is back in Bethnal Green! We are as shocked as you are 😱😱😱

#😎

just some Friday reading!
11/09/2026

just some Friday reading!

TOMORROW: AN OPEN INVITATION TO OUR LOCAL BUSINESS COMMUNITY 📣📣📣On Friday 4th September at 3pm, The Common E2 will be ho...
03/09/2026

TOMORROW: AN OPEN INVITATION TO OUR LOCAL BUSINESS COMMUNITY 📣📣📣
On Friday 4th September at 3pm, The Common E2 will be hosting a meeting with our local MP Rushanara Ali, and we would love as many of you as possible to join.
The agenda is simple: the cost of running an independent hospitality business in the UK has never been more punishing.

We pay 20% VAT on hospitality, one of the highest rates in Europe. France charges 10%. Italy charges 10%. Spain charges 10%. The UK stands almost alone in applying the full rate to the businesses that feed, gather, and sustain our communities. Add to this the relentless rise in the cost of materials, increases in employer National Insurance, a necessity to uphold London Living Wage, and business rates that just keep on climbing: then, the outlook for small independent businesses is increasingly bleak.

This is an opportunity to have our voice heard at a parliamentary level, to humanise the statistics. For us to ask our MP, directly, to put our concerns to the Prime Minister and push for a reduction in the hospitality VAT rate from 20% to 10%.

If you run a café, restaurant, bar, deli, market stall, or any food and beverage business in Bethnal Green & Bow, please attend this meeting.

Friday 4th September, 3pm
The Common E2
53 Old Bethnal Green Road, London E2 6QA
Please come. Bring a colleague. Share this with your neighbours. The more voices in that room, the louder the message.

See you there ♥️

It’s getting gloomy out there! Luckily, we’re working on keeping our full backspace open as much as possible in Septembe...
02/09/2026

It’s getting gloomy out there! Luckily, we’re working on keeping our full backspace open as much as possible in September and into the autumn. So, we have plenty of refuge from the rain ☔️

🌅 don’t we look lovely this morning ? ;)
23/08/2026

🌅 don’t we look lovely this morning ? ;)

Address

53 Old Bethnal Green Rd, London E26QA, United Kingdom
London
E2 6QA

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday 9:30am - 5pm
Sunday 9:30am - 5pm

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