Apsley Cafe

hemel hempstead has a quietly growing specialty coffee scene, and most of it sits off the beaten track rather than clustering around the old town centre. apsley cafe, on london road in the apsley end of town, is one of those places that locals tend to treat as their own. you'll find it on a stretch of road that moves at a working pace, which might be exactly why the cafe has landed the way it has, filling a gap that a high street chain would never bother with. the reputation here has been built steadily, not loudly, and that tends to mean more. worth timing a visit around a slow weekday morning on london road, when the neighbourhood is at its least hurried.