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Cafe and roastery open in 19th century church crypt
A cafe has opened within a coffee roastery hidden away in a 19th century church crypt.
Lost Horizon Coffee can be found underneath City Road Baptist Church in St Paul’s, with their own space accessed via Upper York Street just off Stokes Croft.
It is where Kit Nisbet currently roasts coffee before heading out on his bike twice a week, looking after both subscribers and wholesale customers including nearby Farro bakery.
is needed now More than ever
The pandemic put pay to a previous plan to open a cafe next door with Basement Beer, with Kit now collaborating with Peter Blacow who runs the new cafe while Kit focuses on the roastery.
“To finally open the doors in earnest to the public, welcome in everyone and share a final product (brewed coffee rather than beans and ground coffee) is really exciting,” said Kit.
“We have found local suppliers for all aspects of our offering in the new coffee shop and it feels great to connect with other small businesses focussing on such quality.”
Lost Horizon’s courtyard will be hosting events in 2025 – photo: Martin Booth
In 2016, the crypt opened as Door & Rivet and has since been used by youth organisation Babbasa., with Kit roasting in the space for a year.
All of the coffee served here will be from Lost Horizon, with regular roasting days taking place while the cafe remains open to customers.
The current guest espresso in the new cafe comes from Agua Sarca in Nicaragua while there are also two choices of filter coffee with beans from Colombia.
Peter used to live in Nicaragua where he ran an eco-tourism project and owned a coffee farm in the mountains above Matagalpa.
“I wanted to get back into the coffee world and together, we’re quite an interesting team,” said Peter.
In the warmer months, Peter is planning to develop the outside courtyard of the cafe as an events space with “a festival vibe”.
“This is so unique,” he said. “It’s a space where people can explore flavours… and we’re trying to do it in a way that’s not pretentious.”
Lost Horizon Coffee can be found underneath City Road Baptist Church in St Paul’s, with their own space accessed via Upper York Street – photo: Martin Booth
Main photo: Martin Booth
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