Back in 2005, a brother and sister-in-law team opened a little yellow café in Soho called The Breakfast Club.
Its theme?
Breakfast The 80s.
Filled with junk from their childhood bedrooms, it was a love letter to pop culture’s most exuberant decade, with polaroids plastered on the walls, strings of fairy-lights and the occasional coloured quiff of a troll doll dotted around the place. They didn’t even serve eggs because, duh, The Breakfast Club was a film reference, and besides, brunch hadn’t been invented yet.
15 years later and The Breakfast Club has embraced its nominative determinism, serving some of the best fry-ups in town with an all-day breakfast menu (served till 10pm), BYOB, giant mugs of tea and a banging old-school soundtrack. Whatever your poison, be it pancakes with berries, bacon, or bacon and berries; shakshuka benedict with harissa hollandaise; breakfast burritos and huevos rancheros; eggs; waffles or a classic Full English, you can get it all, at every branch, until closing time (accompanied by a supporting cast of burgers and comfort food for the lunch/dinner crowd).
Unsurprisingly, this combination has proved unbelievably successful, and The Breakfast Club have since brought their morning glory to all corners of London…
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The Breakfast Club’s second edition, and very much sporting a café feel. Tucked down the cobbled alleyways of Camden Passage, it’s a cosy spot with retro lighting, a skylit dining room at the back, and at least 82% more polaroids than the original. It’s a dog-friendly restaurant, and thanks to its dinky size you can even hire out the whole venue for your very own breakfast party.
Address: 31 Camden Passage, N1 8EA | Dog-friendly
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Kitsch 50s kitchen meets 80s launderette. Wait – why is there a launderette in here? And what’s behind those shutters…?
Forget we said anything. It’s definitely not a secret bar serving bottomless brunch on weekends or anything like that.
Address: 5-9 Battersea Rise, SW11 1HG | Dog-friendly
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Ready to embrace high-flying financial types who have pulled an all-nighter (either at their desks, or at All Bar One) with open, breakfast burrito-laden arms, is The Breakfast Club’s capacious Canary Wharf spot. Head downstairs below a glittering custom-made disco ball and into a vast cellar dedicated to all things breakfast, and inspired by the interiors of a 1970s casino in Wigan. Ready for your next all-nighter? Start it at the Breakfast Pub, a wood-panelled tavern-meets-old aristocratic pile with fried chicken french toast and disco fries; bottomless drinks from Thursday – Saturday; and one of the most appealing happy hours in this part of town.
Address: Unit CR30, Level Zero, 1 Crossrail Place, E14 5AR
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An industrial mash-up of 60s vibes with salvaged furnishings, decorative breeze-blocks and a healthy peppering of old-school kitsch. The Breakfast Club’s style formula ain’t broke, and neither is its menu, which features here in all its glory. In short: salted caramel pancakes and bacon hash brown butties overlooking the Hackney riviera.
Address: 29 East Bay Lane, Canalside, Here East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, E15 2GW
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An elegant, horseshoe-shaped East London brunch den with cosy pink vinyl booths, reclaimed school chairs and chequered floors, plus toilets papered with He-Man cartoons. No gimmicks or secret bars here; just straight-up hangover-busting brunches served until 10.30pm, at which point you can start crafting yourself a new hangover.
Address: 2-4 Rufus Street, N1 6PE
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Bubblegum pink ceilings marry with luminous pineapples and old pie & mash shop seating for this bustling South London edition of The Breakfast Club (with bottomless dinners). Of course, that’s not even the most attention-grabbing space, because hidden underneath you’ll find Call Me Mr. Lucky: a tequila-soaked subterranean dive bar festooned with colourful lanterns, graffiti, and a wheel of fortune that just occasionally will win free shots for everyone in the bar.
Address: 11 Southwark Street, SE1 1RQ
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Back where it all started: The Breakfast Club’s original yolk-yellow café still gets lines out the door every weekend. The polaroid wall is the only thing that changes about this place, as new mugshots of smiling brunch punters and late-night revellers are pinned up. And they’re in good company – The Breakfast Club Soho’s served everyone from Hugh Grant to Primal Scream.
Address: 33 D’Arblay Street, W1F 8EU
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Their most recent addition has brought The Breakfast Club back to where it started, with a new caf round the corner from the original. While serving the same, all killer, no filler menu, this one is fully licensed, so you’ll find beers, fizz and wine on there too.
Address: 11 Berwick Street, W1F 0PL
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Sex, drugs and bacon rolls: The Breakfast Club Spitalfields is a sizeable space filled with industrial caged booths; clapboard siding; exposed brick and a healthy dose of neon – plus a range of Breakfast Club t-shirts for sale, should you want to spread the good word (not too much; the queues are already long enough).
The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town: See that Smeg fridge in the corner? That’s no regular chiller. Tell staff you’re here to see the mayor, and they’ll promptly usher you inside it, where you’ll find a stairway to a secret subterranean speakeasy serving killer cocktails in cosy, candlelit surrounds. Obviously.
Address: 12-16 Artillery Lane, E1 7LS
NOTE: You can find out more about all The Breakfast Club cafés in London, and book a table, HERE.
Wanna join the breakfast club? Check out the best places for breakfast in London