Camberwell food and drink sector confronts headwinds this year

Several new food and drink businesses have opened in Camberwell since spring 2024, with The Kerfield Arms pub, Lala Books bookshop and café, and Hol JoJo bakery and restaurant among the additions recorded on southlondonguide.co.uk. Gladwell’s upmarket grocery and deli reopened at 2 Camberwell Church St in spring 2024 inside a Grade II listed former bank building. HENGE Coffee began trading at the end of July 2024 at 348 Camberwell New Road.

Local openings on record

The Peckham Cellars team is preparing Little Cellars wine bar and the adjacent Cellar Next Door bottle shop on Camberwell Church Street, with renovation work already under way for an early 2026 launch according to codehospitality.co.uk. Turner & George installed a new butcher counter inside Gladwell’s as part of that spring 2024 reopening. These projects sit alongside the earlier HENGE Coffee launch, which extended the Dash the Henge music store on Camberwell New Road.

Operators report that each new site required substantial fit-out investment at a time when supply-chain costs and energy bills remain elevated. The staggered timeline of openings, from Gladwell’s in spring 2024 through the 2025 additions and the 2026 wine-bar project, shows that some investors are still willing to commit capital despite those pressures.

Evidence of sustained activity

Dates listed on southlondonguide.co.uk, southwarknews.co.uk and gemmabellandcompany.substack.com confirm at least five distinct openings or expansions between spring 2024 and the planned early-2026 launch. Southwark Council’s £1.5 million Good Growth Fund allocation for Camberwell Station Road improvements, completed in summer 2024, provided new drainage, trees and cycle infrastructure that directly serves the Church Street and New Road corridors where these businesses are located.

Businesses opening in this window have had to absorb higher fit-out and staffing costs without guaranteed footfall growth. The pattern of incremental openings suggests that proprietors are testing smaller formats or leveraging existing premises, such as the music-store extension for HENGE Coffee, rather than committing to large standalone sites.

Owners planning further launches will continue to monitor trading patterns through the remainder of 2026 while weighing the same cost pressures that shaped the 2024 and 2025 projects.

This article is general information only and is not personal financial or investment advice. Consider your own circumstances and seek licensed professional advice before making financial decisions.