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Soho’s Golden Age – Gaggia and the Birth of British Espresso Culture
In 2025, Gaggia marks 75 years in the United Kingdom — a milestone that celebrates not only coffee, but culture, artistry, and everyday theatre. To understand how this journey began, we step back into the smoky, vibrant streets of 1950s Soho.
A City Ready for Change
Post-war Britain was still emerging from rationing. Tea was the nation’s comfort drink, and “coffee” usually meant instant granules. Londoners, though, were hungry for something new — flavours, fashions, and experiences that promised escape from austerity.
Into this climate came Soho, the heart of London’s cultural underground. Its streets teemed with jazz clubs, artists, and young dreamers. And in the middle of it all, a new sound was heard: the hiss of steam and the clatter of porcelain cups from Italian espresso machines.
1953 – The Arrival of Gaggia
That year, London’s first Italian coffee bar — the now-legendary Moka on Frith Street — opened its doors. Behind the counter stood a gleaming Gaggia espresso machine, introducing the British public to something they had rarely seen before: espresso crowned with a golden layer of crema.
Here was coffee as performance — dramatic, aromatic, and unmistakably continental.
Coffee Bars as Cultural Stages
These weren’t ordinary cafés. They were stages, alive with character. The décor was bright, modern, and a world away from smoky pubs. Jukeboxes pumped out the latest hits, waiters served with flair, and the espresso machine hissed like a spotlight cue.
Students, actors, and musicians flocked to these bars. Just as the West End entertained with performance and storytelling, the Soho coffee bar offered its own artistry: the barista as performer, the machine as instrument, and the espresso as applause.
The Espresso Explosion
By the late 1950s, London boasted hundreds of coffee bars, with Gaggia machines at the heart of many of them. From basement music haunts to bright Frith Street counters, the espresso bar became a symbol of freedom and modernity — coffee as culture, as lifestyle.
A Lasting Legacy
Today, as Gaggia celebrates 75 years in the UK, that legacy is still alive. We may now enjoy our espressos at home, but the essence remains: coffee as theatre, coffee as community, coffee as culture. The story of Soho in the 1950s is more than nostalgia — it’s the opening act of a journey that continues every time a Gaggia machine hisses to life.
Gaggia at 75 — Heritage Offer
SOHO75