Nine Taylor St. Baristas Cafes to re-brand to Black Sheep Coffee

The Department of Coffee and Social Affairs still plans to revive Taylor St. Baristas.

London coffee chain Taylor Street Baristas will convert its nine London stores into Black Sheep Coffee cafes as part of its administration, as the brand, roastery and customer base has now been acquired by the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs (DCSA).

The conversion of Taylor St.’s shops will begin as early as next week, with the ‘Shed’ in Shoreditch and the Monument cafe first to be revamped as Black Sheep outlets. DCSA says they plan to open a new Taylor St. Baristas cafe in London later this year.

“In accordance with our wishes, Black Sheep Coffee which recently acquired the legacy store estate, have begun to de-brand the sites from Taylor St. This will be completed soon,” DCSA chief executive Toby Smith said.

Black Sheep Coffee has acquired an operating license for eight Taylor cafes in July. After this acquisition, Taylor St. Baristas entered administration, citing “too much debt”. Taylor St. also took out a loan from Black Sheep’s parent company Conilon.

Eater reports that Taylor St.’s roasting division is close to being bought out of administration by DCSA. According to the report, Taylor Street’s coffee will be roasted and sold by somebody before DCSA can “take over”.

At present, there are still other parties bidding for ownership of both the roastery and the brand.

Also read: Taylor St. Baristas enters administration