Who owns every big UK coffee chain: the lookup list, with the source for each
Costa is owned by Coca-Cola. Starbucks is owned by Starbucks Corporation. Caffè Nero is still controlled by Gerry Ford, the founder who bought it in 1997 — and his Nero Group also owns Harris + Hoole, Coffee #1 and 200 Degrees, three chains that do not look like Nero. Pret belongs to the Reimann family’s JAB, and Joe & The Juice to the private equity firm General Atlantic. The full list of fifteen is below, each with the filing or announcement it comes from. Checked 13 September 2026.
The list
| Chain | Owned by | What kind of owner | Since | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costa Coffee | The Coca-Cola Company | Listed US multinational | 2019 | Our Costa ownership article |
| Starbucks | Starbucks Corporation | Listed US multinational | — | Companies House, Starbucks Coffee Company (UK) Limited |
| Caffè Nero | Gerry Ford, founder, through the Nero Group holding companies | Founder-controlled, private | 1997; private again since 2007 | Our Caffè Nero ownership article |
| Harris + Hoole | The Nero Group (Caffè Nero) | Owned by another chain | June 2016, bought from Tesco | Restaurant Online, 23 June 2016 |
| Coffee #1 | The Nero Group (Caffè Nero) | Owned by another chain | 70% in January 2019, all of it in February 2022, bought from SA Brain | Caffè Nero press release |
| 200 Degrees | The Nero Group (Caffè Nero) | Owned by another chain | October 2024 | Caffè Nero press release |
| Pret A Manger | JAB Holding, the Reimann family's investment company | Family investment company, Luxembourg | 2018 | Our Pret ownership article |
| Black Sheep Coffee | Conilon Ltd, whose shares are spread across founders and investors | Founder-led, investor-backed, UK | Founded 2013 | Companies House, Conilon Ltd |
| Joe & The Juice | General Atlantic | US private equity | Majority stake 2023, bought from Valedo Partners | General Atlantic announcement |
| Blank Street | Its founders, Vinay Menda and Issam Freiha, with venture investors including General Catalyst | US venture-backed start-up | Founded 2020 in New York | Axios, 24 August 2026 |
| Esquires Coffee | Cooks Global Foods Limited, part of the Cooks Coffee Company group | Listed New Zealand company; UK shops franchised | Worldwide rights 2013 | Companies House, Esquires Coffee (UK) Limited |
| SOHO Coffee Co. | BTC Hospitality, part of Business Trading Company of Qatar | Overseas investment company | Majority stake July 2015 | BTC's own site |
| Tim Hortons | Brand: Restaurant Brands International. UK shops: Tim Hortons UK & Ireland, the master franchisee | Listed multinational brand, run by a UK master franchisee | Master franchise extended to 2045 | Insider Media |
| Muffin Break | Foodco UK Franchising Limited, part of Australia's Foodco Group | Overseas franchisor; shops franchised | August 2020, after a pre-pack administration | Insider Media |
| Boston Tea Party | The Boston Tea Party Group Limited; Charles Giles Clarke is registered as holding 25–50% | Privately owned, UK | Chief executive Sam Roberts since 2005 | Companies House, The Boston Tea Party Group Limited |
What the table does not fit
Costa Coffee. Coca-Cola explored selling Costa through 2025 and ended the process in January 2026 without a sale.
Starbucks. The UK company is controlled by Starbucks Coffee Holdings (UK) Limited. Some UK shops are run by licensed franchise partners rather than Starbucks itself, so the person behind a particular counter may work for a franchisee.
Pret A Manger. JAB has been openly exploring a sale or stock market listing since 2025.
Black Sheep Coffee. Conilon holds more than 75% of the trading company. Until 22 May 2026 the founders, Eirik Holth and Gabriel Shohet, were each registered as holding 25–50% of the votes; since that date the company has stated there is no registrable controller, meaning nobody holds more than 25%.
Joe & The Juice. A US stock market listing was reported as under consideration in 2025; we found no evidence it had happened by September 2026.
Blank Street. Raised $105 million in August 2026.
Esquires Coffee. Cooks Global Foods holds more than 75% of the UK company. The shops themselves are run by franchisees.
Boston Tea Party. No single person holds a majority on the register. The company describes itself as a family of 22 cafés.
Four names, one owner
The single most useful thing on this page is that four of the fifteen brands belong to the same group. Caffè Nero, Harris + Hoole, Coffee #1 and 200 Degrees are all owned by the Nero Group. Nero kept the other three brands running under their own names after buying them, so a high street with a Caffè Nero, a Coffee #1 and a 200 Degrees can look like three competitors when the money from all three ends up in one place.
Two changes in the last few months
Black Sheep Coffee’s founders stopped being registered as controlling shareholders of its group company on 22 May 2026, and the company now says no one holds more than a quarter of it. The register records the change but not the reason, so we do not guess at one. And in August 2026 Blank Street raised $105 million, which makes it one of the best-funded new coffee chains on UK streets.
Big sellers of coffee that are not coffee chains
Two of the busiest places to buy a coffee on a UK high street are bakeries, and we have traced both. Greggs is a stock-market-listed company with no controlling shareholder — who owns Greggs. Gail’s is majority owned by Bain Capital Credit — who owns Gail’s.
What is missing, and why
Two chains are left out because we could not give a clean, sourced answer. AMT Coffee was bought out of administration by SSP Group in November 2022, but a separate AMT Franchising Ltd formed in 2024 is registered to an individual, and we could not establish how the two relate. Department of Coffee and Social Affairs is reported to sit under a US company, DOCASA, Inc., and we could not confirm that from a primary source. Both will be added when they can be.
“Every” means every coffee-first chain we could verify that trades under one brand in several UK locations. If you think a chain is missing, tell us which and we will trace it.
How this was checked
Every row was checked on 13 September 2026. Where a UK company exists, the owner comes from its persons-with-significant-control entry at Companies House, followed up a level where the controller is itself a company. Where it does not, it comes from the owner’s or the company’s own announcement, or a named news report of it. Three rows are answered by Highstreett’s own “who owns” articles, linked in the table, so this page and those articles give the same answer. Ownership changes often in this sector; the date above is the one to trust.
If what you want is a coffee from someone who owns the café they’re standing in, our Lincoln flat white guide names the owner and the roaster behind each one.