Through the House, Glasgow

There might be a global coffee shortage (OK, OK, there definitely is a global coffee shortage), but for now, there’s no shortage of cafes making great coffee. Across Scotland you can find excellent espresso, great beans sourced from around the world, and latte art starring the most majestic swans you can imagine.

And yet there is a prevailing coffee shop style that, with some notable exceptions, dominates our imagination. Bet you can picture it – the white walls, the concrete, the thick fonts, the pine, so much pine. It’s a crisp, clean look that can verge on the clinical, and can also seem to whisper ‘lovely to see you, we do only have nine seats in here so please drink your coffee then get out.’

Through the House, opposite the Tron Theatre in the shadow of the Tolbooth Steeple, feels like an attempt to redress that balance. It’s a very welcoming, warm space, with mauve walls, just-above-eye-level posters and a slightly incongruous disco ball hanging from the centre of the ceiling.

It’s roomy, with a hefty sideboard housing some vinyl turntables and stacks of records; plans are afoot for an ‘open decks’ on those turntables each Sunday. Meanwhile the furniture is a mixture of clean lines, brown wood and the occasional big bit of glass or silver. It’s cosy, like an extremely well kitted-out living room or more accurately, three or four living rooms which have, in a very controlled way, crashed into one another. And it’s buzzing, full of folk catching up on a Saturday morning while some impressively bassy tunes quietly hum away in the background.

So we order our coffee, pop ourselves down in the corner on one of a pair of lovely mid-century armchairs with its side table and a lamp, and, as we say in the biz, relax into the space. Have a little read, wait for our coffee, do a bit more reading… wonder where this coffee’s gone… a touch more reading… 

Through the House. Image: Kate Johnston.

We can hear you now – "alright, they forgot your coffee big man, let it go" – but to that we say three things. One: vibes aside, it’s a cafe, the making-the-coffee’s the actual point. Two: it took them ten minutes to *not* realise, before we had to go and tell them. Three: they also lost track of the folk two tables over. They were very nice and apologetic about it, but to be fair if you invited some folk into your living room then forgot they were there, you’d be sheepish too.

The good news is when the coffee does arrive, it’s great. In honour of the chill, hang-out-for-a-bit vibe, we go for a piccolo split (£3.50). That’s your standard two-shot coffee split in half, served as one shot of espresso and a one-shot piccolo. It’s two coffees in one, and it’s ideal for situations where you want to hang about for a while.

The espresso itself is lively, citric and chocolatey, not too sharp or too sour. The piccolo is very nicely put together, creamy and light and served in an extremely chunky hexagonal glass. It’s a bit like getting a slap in the face immediately followed by a big hug, and the massive glassware combined with the lovely furniture will make you feel a little bit like a Roger Moore-era Bond villain (or a 1960s update of that ‘pondering my orb’ meme).

Through the House almost feels more like a coffee pub – maybe it’s the layout or the music or just the very comfortable furniture, but it feels like the kind of place you could spend a few hours. If nothing else, it’s a great addition to the pantheon of excellent Scottish cafes; there’ll (hopefully) always be a place for a quick espresso, but when you’re looking to slow things down, Through the House is a good place to start.

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15 High St, Glasgow, G1 1LX
Mon & Thu-Sat, 8am-5pm; Sun, 9am-5pm
@through.the.house on Instagram