Our story
Glasgow's original coffee roaster. One standard, since 1841.
An independent Scottish family business, roasting in Glasgow for 185 years.
David Thomson set the standard: quality and integrity in every cup. We still roast by it, now on modern roasters, with coffees we can trace to the farm.
Founded in Glasgow
The first shop
David Thomson, a 24-year-old tea and coffee merchant from Edinburgh, moves to Glasgow with his young family and opens his first shop in the city. The American Civil War is still two decades away, and the telephone and the electric light bulb are yet to be invented.
Ahead of its time
Thomson's quickly becomes part of Glasgow's social and business life, supplying freshly ground coffee to the city's busy coffee houses. David Thomson also makes the Naperian vacuum coffee pot, invented by fellow Scot James Napier. It ships around the world and is the forerunner of today's syphon brewers.
Burnt out, back in business
In January 1847 a fire burns out Burton & Thomson's shop at 80 Queen Street. Within days they are trading again from 104 St Vincent Street, and friends in Edinburgh send scales, utensils and fresh stock west so they can start again.
Fresh, never packaged
In 1848 the shop moves to 93 St Vincent Street, on the corner of Renfield Street. Our 1850 coffee circular promises coffee far fresher than packaged, bottled or concentrated coffee, which it calls old before it is sold. It also claims the largest stock of coffee in Scotland.
Coffee for the engineers
At the first Glasgow meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, David Thomson serves the guests coffee from the Napier pot. The committee thanks him with an engraved silver tray.
Going it alone
The Burton & Thomson partnership ends, and David Thomson trades under his own name at 1 Union Corner, Gordon Street.
Fresh every morning
In 1864 David Thomson moves to 69 Buchanan Street, and by 1865 to 132 Buchanan Street, opposite the Western Club. There he sells Mocha, Jamaica, Nilgiri and Java coffees, fresh every morning, whole or ground, as sole proprietor of Napier's patent glass coffee apparatus.
Renfield Street
By 1880 Thomson's has moved to 35 Renfield Street, its home for more than 50 years.
Glasgow's roaster
Keeping the standard
David Thomson dies in 1892, aged 75. In 1901 William Addison, who had managed the shop for the Thomson family, takes the business on. Under William and later his descendants, Thomson's moves premises several times, but the standard of quality in every cup stays the same.
St Vincent Street
By June 1931 the shop is at 102 St Vincent Street. The coffee grinder in its window is still on display at our roastery today.
Our Southside roastery
To keep up with growing demand, Thomson's builds a purpose-designed roastery in Thornliebank, on Glasgow's Southside, where we still roast today. Shops follow in Ayr, Edinburgh and Troon, taking Thomson's coffee beyond the city.
Coffee Thomson's
Glaswegians know the Renfield Street shop as Coffee Thomson's, where regulars have their own house blend made up. From our roastery, coffee is sent out by mail order across Scotland and to our shops in Glasgow and Ayr.
End of an era
In April 2005 the shop at 79 Renfield Street closes and the Addison brothers retire, closing more than a century of the Addison family at Thomson's. Roasting carries on at our roastery.
Speciality coffee
A new chapter
The Jenkins family takes over in 2011, only the third family to own Thomson's since 1841. Fresh investment in the roastery, the coffee and the team starts our speciality coffee era.
Smaller batches
Scotland's first Loring Kestrel S35 roaster joins our vintage Whitmee. Roasting in smaller, more precise batches lets us launch our Core and LAB ranges, from everyday favourites to single-estate micro-lots.
Back in the city
We open a pop-up café in the first arch of the Glasgow Arches, our first shop in the city centre since Renfield Street closed. It is a short run, but it sets the stage for the shops that follow.
1841, West End
With longtime friend and former team member Grant Dick, we open 1841 in the middle of lockdown. A neighbourhood café in the West End, it still serves our coffee today.
Thomson's Giffnock
Growth at the roastery and the arrival of our own Burnfield Bakery lead to Thomson's Giffnock, a short walk from the roastery. Downstairs is our flagship espresso bar and shop. Upstairs are our offices and the showroom where we train wholesale customers.
Thomson's Gallowgate
We take over an existing café in the East End, next to the Barrowland, from our wholesale customers and good friends at USVTHEM Coffee. It is now a spacious Thomson's café, with rotating filter coffees alongside pastries, cakes and toasties.
Best Roaster UK
In April, the Glasgow Coffee Festival names Thomson's Best Roaster UK, after blind cupping by fellow roasters, and festival-goers vote us their Public's Choice too. The winning coffees were roasted by our head roaster, Jonathan Martinez.
Thomson's Candleriggs
In September, our newest café opens in the Merchant City, bringing Thomson's back to the heart of Glasgow. Rotating filter and guest coffees are served with pastries and cakes from Wheatberry and Company.
Thomson's today
Our team mixes people who have been here for decades with new talent, and we train every one of them on the same standard. We keep investing in better tools and in coffees we can trace to the farm, but our people are still our greatest asset, behind the counter and at the roaster.