THE prophet Isaiah saw that those who waited for the Lord would renew their strength, “walk and not faint”, but clergy in need of a further earthly boost may direct their footsteps to St Anne’s, Soho, in London, where the coffee shop is offering a discount to clergy in the post-Christmas slump.
Sacred Grounds, which opened in January 2024 next to the entrance to St Anne’s on Dean Street in Soho, is offering clergy 20 per cent of all hot drinks throughout January. Valid forms of ID listed on the flyer include a clerical collar, “lingering aroma of incense”, and “scratch marks from parishioners”.
The Rector of St Anne’s, the Revd Simon Buckley, said this week: “I know from personal experience how wonderful, but also exhausting Christmas can be for clergy. The idea of the ‘priestly-pick-up’ came out of a recognition of that, and that clergy from different denominations are regular customers of Sacred Grounds. We hope this is a way to offer them a bit of light-hearted TLC in the New Year.”
Sacred Grounds, advertised as the only coffee shop in central London with its own garden, offers (in addition to food and drink) a weekly sign-language club and monthly knitting club. The clergy of St Anne’s also hold regular Bible studies, and hosted “Carol-aoke” for the first time last month. In the past year, more than 2000 Bible verses have been taken away by customers from a jar at the entrance.
Funded principally by St Anne’s, the café has also secured a grant and loan from the diocese of London. Its branding, undertaken as a pro-bono project, won a local design and media company, Wonderhood, a national design award from Creative Review.
