Call it a caffeine rush, but the growth of coffee shops shows no sign of being dragged down by the recessionary gloom on the UK’s high streets. Openings are up and prices are kept high.

Allegra Strategies, which is holding a coffee industry summit next week, estimates that there are now 3,712 branded coffee outlets across the country, an increase of 3.7 per cent on last October and 6.4 per cent on the year.