Advertise on podcast: Gaggia UK

I went to Soho to see where it all started. Gaggia arrived in Soho in 1950 and opened its Showroom and service centre at 10 Dean Street. The building still stands and is now home to Pizza Expree restaurant on the ground floor and the world-renowned Pizza Express Jazz Club in the basement. listen to my reflections about the birthplace of espresso in the UK and how the story continues after 75 years.

When a barista, or a home coffee lover, begins the ritual of making espresso. That’s what connects Gaggia to the spirit of theatre. Both are arts of precision and passion — each movement purposeful, each result deeply satisfying.

Gaggia at 75. The coffee bar era - Soho's Espresso Revolution. Episode 2, narrated by Raj Beadle, brand guardian and MD of Gaggia in the UK.

Seventy-five years ago, in the heart of London’s Soho, something remarkable happened. A machine — gleaming in chrome and alive with steam — began to change how Britain experienced coffee. That machine was a Gaggia. Join me in this series — “Gaggia at 75: From Soho to Your Home Stage.” Together, we’ll relive the moments, the machines, and the people who made coffee an art form.

Raj Beadle talks about the use of water filters on coffee machines.