The Coffee Racer Culture

Texts: Willy Hierro Allen

This story began in a cafeteria that is on the edge of the northern ring road of London, back in 1938. It is called Ace Café and is now eighty years old. During World War II, it was bombed, but in 1949 it reopened its doors. The coffee racer culture was born there, and had (has) detractors and supporters. And what is the coffee racer culture?

With an unmistakable aesthetics, the Ace Café started to be visited by groups of young people on motorcycles who listened to music and chatted about mechanics and motorcycle competitions. They wore jeans, black leather jackets with logo labels and boots. Their motorcycles were not new and had some adaptations.

Today the coffee racer culture spreads throughout the world and Ace Café exists in the United States, China, Germany, Spain, Japan and Finland. They are not franchises nor are they managed from London: they are only licensed to use the name, logo with the purpose of perpetuating the coffee racer culture.