Hard Lines, a Welsh coffee roastery and café, has grown from a tiny pop-up stall to a global brand, with its distinctive red cups now seen across south Wales, London, Dublin, Japan, and Australia. Founded a decade ago by two Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama graduates, the company now operates a café in Canton, a roastery in Gwaelod-y-Garth, and a spot in Cardiff Central Market, employing 35 people.
From Pop-Up to Global Brand
Matt Jones from Aberdare and Sophie Smith from Newport started the business in 2016 as a pop-up coffee and vinyl bar called Outpost, taking it "anywhere that would have them." After working in production and sound production, they decided to build something closer to home. "We wanted to control our own destiny a bit and build something. And get something into Cardiff that we know we would have liked to have seen," said Matt.
The pop-up evolved into a permanent coffee operation, first at the Castle Emporium on Womanby Street, then in a former police station. The Canton café opened in 2019, just before the pandemic, and pivoted to become a roastery, offering breakfast burritos and fresh coffee to locals.
Overcoming Challenges
The company faced setbacks, including a cease and desist letter from another Outpost brand, leading to the name change to Hard Lines. They also crowdfunded for their first roaster, but the building they intended to use was condemned. Despite these hurdles, the Cowbridge Road East venue became a destination for locals and tourists.
Hard Lines has become a community hub, hosting a running club, sponsoring a local kids' football team, and donating £10,000 to a Cardiff food bank. The café's diner-inspired menu and unique atmosphere, featuring creamy-brown booths and a cake cabinet, draw queues out the door on weekends.
Commitment to Accessibility
Matt emphasized the mission to make coffee accessible: "We want to be that gateway, that accessibility into coffee. Coffee at points, and certainly actually when we started 10 years ago, could be quite snobby, quite elitist in places." The company's flagship coffee, House Party, comes from Sitio Cachoeira farm in Brazil, which sells 10% of its crop to Hard Lines. The roastery also sources from farms in Colombia, Rwanda, Mexico, and Peru.
Hard Lines has subscribers worldwide, with many receiving a new bag of coffee monthly. Reflecting on the journey, Matt credited the team: "The team is so important, and a lot of the time, the team are far better at doing that job than you are!" While more locations are teased for the future, no definite plans are set, but the ethos will continue in Canton, the Market, and Gwaelod. "We just love to collaborate, I guess, and to share.. with no pretence or snobbery, we just want to work with people, in the community," Matt concluded.
