Desperate for Coffee? Canary Wharf Traders Get Starbucks Relief

(Bloomberg) --

One important sign of life has returned to Canary Wharf after two months of lockdown: coffee.

Several traders were queuing Thursday at a branch of Starbucks Corp., which has just reopened a few steps from the offices of banks such as Barclays Plc and Citigroup Inc.

Since the U.K. curbed unnecessary travel in March, essential staff still working in east London’s financial center were left with just a handful of supermarkets to stock up on supplies. Normally the district throngs with 125,000 workers and hundreds of stores, bars and restaurants.

As the nationwide lockdown eases, some banks have reopened their cafeterias with limited services and the owner of Canary Wharf is preparing for drastic changes to working life after the pandemic. Social distancing measures still have to be respected and the coffee, for now, is takeaway only.

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