Algerian immigrant Mr Hassan opened the shop on Old Compton Street in 1887. It passed to a Belgian, Boerman, in 1928, then to a Mr Jones in 1946, and Paul Crocetta, Mr Jones's Italian son-in-law, now runs it with his daughters. Coffee is roasted twice weekly, and house blends are hand-mixed in the cellar to decades-old recipes.
The shop is a single long, narrow room in Soho, with white shelving up both walls to the ceiling, filled with jars of coffee and tea. A red counter runs along one side near the back.