The Silk Roads

It all began one night crossing the North Sea, on a boat from Harwich to Rotterdam and then onwards overland all the way to Central Asia. Via ferries, buses, trains and cargo ships, I made my way to Kyrgyzstan, where I ended up spending a couple of years teaching in the capital city of Bishkek.

Whilst living in Kyrgyzstan, I started learning Russian. Even after two years my level never really got much beyond basic conversations and I really wanted to continue practicing when I got back home to the UK. Instead of lessons in a classroom, I was looking for a relaxed, social setting to speak my broken Russian.

Bookshop Meets Language School

I've always loved reading and bookshops are my favourite places in the world, a true sanctuary where I can spend hours browsing titles and talking to the booksellers. After I got back home from Kyrgyzstan, I read Chyngyz Aitmatov's Jamilia, a novel set in the Kyrgyz steppe during the Second World War written by the country's most famous author.

It was such a powerful reading experience for me that it inspired me to try and incorporate a bookshop into our language school. Bringing together literature and language learning, through a curated selection of translated works from all over the world to compliment our conversation classes, really excited me.

Bendico x Arthur's Coffee House

The next task was to find a space to bring this vision to life. I wanted to do it back in my hometown of London, preferably where I grew up in West London. I spent almost a year building up the business, braving wet and windy days at a market in Richmond throughout the winter months, until I found the right place.

My best mate's girlfriend recommended Arthur's Coffee House in Ravenscourt Park. I was immediately drawn to the name; Bendico is named after the Great Dane in Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's classic novel The Leopard, whilst Arthur is the cafe owner's cocker spaniel. Beyond just both being named after dogs, the cafe has the homely atmosphere I was looking for.

Our bookshop is now open inside Arthur's Coffee House, with conversation classes for French, Italian, Japanese and Spanish taking place on Monday and Wednesday evenings. We also have our book club which explores the world of translated literature, meeting on the last Tuesday of every month at the cafe.

Hope to see you at Arthur's soon. To stay in touch, join our WhatsApp community and sign up to our newsletter in the footer of our website.

Tim, founder