Coffee importers are worried about post-Brexit shipping bottlenecks, as the UK coffee shop market value shrinks by 37.5%

Coffee importers are worried about post-Brexit shipping bottlenecks, as the UK coffee shop market value shrinks by 37.5%

Social distancing outside Climpson & Sons coffee shop in East London in June.







Simon Newman/Reuters













As UK coffee shops and importers look to a rosier post-pandemic future, their view is being clouded by uncertainty over whether new tariffs will add to their costs. 

The value of the coffee market in the UK is expected to fall 37.5% this year, and won't get back to pre-pandemic levels until 2025, says Paul Rooke, executive director of the British Coffee Association.

With a no-deal Brexit, the cost of importing roasted coffee beans to the UK would increase about 7%, according to the BCA. 

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At Pact Coffee, a London-based subscription company, the pandemic has been mostly good for business, which partly relies on customers staying home to brew their own coffee, but now the uncertainty of Brexit looms on the horizon. 

Pact subscribers hit 60,000 this month, up from just 40,000 in March, said Paul Turton, chief executive, on Friday. It had taken years to hit 40,000. 

But as the UK prepares to leave the European Union at the end of the year, Pact