Terry's Cafe

The Guardian - 'Everything we love in the world of food right now'.

TimeOut London - 'London's Best Full English Breakfast'.

Evening Standard - 'The Best Greasy Spoon in London'.

TERRY’S CAFE - A GREAT BRITISH INSTITUTION

Terry came from a modest family of cooks. His Dad was a chef in the Army and his Mum a pastry cook, so naturally he grew up around food. Terry was born and raised in South London and all his family were from Borough, where bomb sites were the playground of his childhood. Like most working class London families at the time, Summer holidays were spent working on the hop farms around Kent collecting hops for the local breweries.

During the war Terry was evacuated to Folkstone, where he lived with an Army major and his wife. After the bombs stopped falling, Terry was reunited with the major on a trip down memory Lane which resulted in his ownership of 2 pigs. This quickly turned into a small holding with 2000 pigs. At age 17, Terry got a job at Smithfield meat market, where he learnt the trade of butchery. After a long career in the market, he decided it was time for a change of direction in order he could spend time with his young family.

In 1982 he opened what is now known as Terry’s café. With his extensive product knowledge, cooking and butchering skills he produced wonderful home-cooked food using produce from the nearby Smithfield and Borough markets. During his life, Terry was an Ambassador for the local community. He passed on his values and experience to his son, Austin, who was named after Austin’s of Peckham, a former antiques shop located on Rye Lane. Austin has worked at Terry’s since becoming a Saturday boy at the age of 14. Now in his thirties, he plans to move forward with his Dad’s winning formula and continue to promote traditional values and British culture in a positive fashion.