Atkinsons CoffeeRoasters

J. Atkinson & Co began in 1837 as the Grasshopper Tea Warehouse and has traded from China Street since 1901, which makes it one of the oldest coffee names in the country still roasting under its own sign. Ian and Sue Steel took the firm on in 2004 and kept it deliberately in the family — their sons Maitland and Caspar are directors, Sue's sister minds the finances — while modernising the roasting to speciality grade and adding The Hall and sister cafés around Lancaster, disclosed here as the firm's small local family. The company is a certified B Corporation, and the shop still smells the way a coffee merchant's should, which no certification measures.