An evening visit to Café in the Crypt beneath St Martin-in-the-Fields, from the Roberts London film first published on 31 October 2014.
St Martin-in-the-Fields after dark
Our Café in the Crypt 2014 film starts outside St Martin-in-the-Fields, beside Trafalgar Square. The church’s illuminated columns stand against the night sky while people pass along the pavement. From here, the camera takes us to a very different space below street level.
This is a short visual visit, originally published on 31 October 2014. Music and captions carry the film rather than a spoken introduction. Its appeal lies in following the route from a familiar London landmark into a café that is easy to overlook from outside.
Finding the entrance to the Crypt
The entrance is part of the story. The camera approaches the modern glass structure beside the church, then moves inside for the descent. It is a clear change from the stone frontage to a contemporary entrance serving the space beneath it.
The original description highlights the glass pavilion and its accessible entrance. In the footage, the lift and doors receive almost as much attention as the first café views. That small journey makes the arrival feel like discovering another layer of London.
Past the gallery shop
Below ground, a brightly lit shop appears along the route. Displays, shelves and the modern entrance area provide a transition before the historic brick interior comes into view. The camera keeps moving, showing how the different parts of the visit fit together.
It is a modest detail, but it helps explain the setting. This is not simply a room reached through a church doorway: the film takes us through a series of spaces before arriving at the café tables.
Small details on the way in
Along the way, the lens catches a colourful display box against the brickwork, with a sign above it. These brief views sit between the entrance and the serving counter. They preserve something of the everyday appearance of the place during the 2014 visit.
The film does not stop to explain every object. Instead, it lets the route unfold visually, from glass and bright shop lighting to the warmer tones of the brick arches. The change in materials and light is one of its most noticeable features.
The café counter in 2014
The serving counter runs beneath the arches, with food on display and visitors nearby. The original description presents the café as somewhere for a drink or a meal during a day in central London. Here, the footage gives us a brief look at the practical side of that offer.
There is no detailed meal review in this edit. The counter is shown as part of the wider room, and the emphasis soon returns to the setting. The film records the café as it was, with its ordinary activity continuing beneath an extraordinary ceiling.
Looking up at the brick vaults
Once inside, the camera tilts upwards to the curved brickwork. Lights placed around the columns pick out the vaults, making the structure a central subject of the film. The arches repeat across the room and give even a short camera movement plenty to reveal.
The original captions call attention to the architecture and to the historic tombstones underfoot. Later shots look down at the memorial stones as well as up at the ceiling. That combination gives the café its particular atmosphere: a place for a coffee within a much older interior.
A pause beneath Trafalgar Square
The wider view shows people seated at tables beneath the arches. Chairs, cups and conversation belong to an everyday café scene, but the brick vaults remain visible above it all. This is the contrast the film returns to after the journey down from the street.
For me, the setting is the reason to remember the visit. The original captions suggest a quick stop or an informal meeting in town. Watching the room for a moment makes that idea easy to understand, without needing a grand occasion or a long meal.
Coffee in the Crypt
A white cup and saucer on a wooden table bring the visit to its simplest detail. After the entrance, counter and ceiling, a coffee is enough to complete the picture. The camera then returns to more views of the room before the film’s closing cards.
Watch the original 2014 film below for the full sequence. For a separate return visit, see our Café in the Crypt film from 2016. The two films capture the same distinctive London venue on different occasions.
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