challenging an old favourite: waterstones 'coffee+anxiety' review

The journey of a thousand coffees always begins with the first step. 

(It helps if the first step is a comfortable and familiar one though).

Luckily, Waterstones is comfortable and familiar to most - myself included. It’s kind of weird to think of it as a chain, as I’m sure you could convince people easily it’s an independent business with some franchising along the way. It's warm, it's cozy, and it's just got that indie feeling. (Although it has been in some hot water for trying to blend in as an independent business before). Waterstones is also versatile - popular amongst the retired crowd, Doc™ wearing university students (not a dig - I’m one myself!), and families clearly collapsed from Christmas shopping if our visit could suggest anything. 

My slight snobbiness towards chains aside, I know I wanted to start with Waterstones on my coffee+anxiety journey since I knew I liked the coffee, I could easily grab myself a book from the shop on the bottom floor (as a treat to myself for being so brave) and it would still be somewhat a challenge to my anxiety as Waterstones has a limited number of seating that can fill up fast due to its popularity. So, armed with the safety blanket of my partner (it’s still the first step after all) we made the trip to Waterstones.

Located on the busy retail street of Coney Street, if you're particularly triggered by crowds this is something to keep in mind. It's bound to be densley populated, as the street sports retail locations such as LUSH, HMV as well as a Starbucks which draws in locals and tourists alike especially this Christmas season. Once you're in Waterstones, well...

The Anxious Stuff

Off the bat, Waterstones was busy for us. It is holiday season aka Hospitality Hell so the scourges of people holiday shopping can be intimidating. However, the shop floor is a large space that allows freedom of movement. The cafe itself (and the subject of our review) was fairly spaced, and a plus for any folks with anxiety is plenty of seating that lines the walls. Sitting in an open space being a nightmare is a sentiment shared by a fair few people I know with anxiety. We managed to nab a corner seat ourselves and even when there was a rush it didn't contribute any extra anxiety. It's worth noting if you sat at the non-wall seats next to the counter you could end up anxious due to the queue lining up next to you (is it only me that gets nervous around a queue?). On the flip side, if you hate the idea of strangers sitting next to you and/or small spaces then the small booths around the corner from the main crowded area is a great bet for you. The booths are barely big enough for three people, so you don't have to worry about sharing space.

The atmosphere of Waterstones Cafe, no matter the time you go, is pretty great! Some places can have harsh headache inducing lighting or be so dim to be trendy (More on that soon enough) that there’s not really a chance of reading. However, the lighting in Waterstones is warm and cozy; my

partner able to enjoy his dream emporium book and I able to enjoy a Southern Housewife's rendezvous with a potential vampire. Being somehow able to avoid the rush ensured us these seats but you can always peruse the bookshelves upstairs and downstairs until a space frees up. Similarly to the lighting, the sound was a good level. Sometimes too quiet a space can cause nerves as any sound can draw attention to yourself - I know I've repressed a panic attack trying to find a seat I booked in a silent libary. But too loud and it's a sensory nightmare. Despite each seat being full, the noise level never distracted or overwhelemed either me or my partner which is always a positive. Plus, people tended to stick to themselves so it never actually felt as full as it was.

An oat milk flat white will set you back about £2.90 (no extra charge for oat milk though!) which is fairly standard. The coffee was objectively good but nothing to write home about. A light roast coffee, it's a perfectly run of the mill and a great starting point for this review series. Complimenting our visit was a £2.50 raspberry doughnut (unfortunately no vegan treats available so a vegetarian one had to do) which I personally enjoyed but my partner felt was on par with any supermarket doughnut so make of that what you will - I thought the dough was fluffy and the icing not too sweet if it's any consolation. Although I didn't have a chance to sample them, there was a wide selection of fruit teas on offer (a red berry was particularly tempting) whilst the other coffee option were standard - matcha standing out the most. Worth noting that if you're a fan of a sugar or two (let's normalise adding sugar to our coffees without feeling like an imposter) there's a seperate sugar stand for those particularly anxious with interaction.

Overall, Waterstones is a pretty good pick for those who want a coffee that doesn't cost a panic. Whilst not the most innovative or cheap, there's no denying the cozy vibes found in the coffee shop and the booksellers are lovely to chat to. My anxiety was pretty low throughout the visit - although I will mention we managed to be seated in time to avoid the rush so before 13:30 is a great time to try and cop a seat. I'd give it an anxiety rating (as in, good for anxiety, it's a misleading statement) of 4/5. I can see it as especially a good option if you're experiencing decision paralysis. For coffee & cake I'm giving it a 3 since it's not bad but nothing special and not the cheapest despite being so. That's a coffee+anxiety score of 3.5/5 overall.

I hope you enjoyed this review and it helped in some way or may help some day! Any recommendations on where I should test my anxiety next? Let me know!

This blog is in no way affiliated with Waterstones or any of its partners and makes no profit from anything on this page. Everyone has different experiences with their anxiety and as such nothing in this review should be taken as gospel.