The stars come back to fight out the UKBC - Boughton's Coffee House

The coffee house as a ‘safer place’The concept of the coffee house as 'a safe place' has become part of thebusiness plan of Oslar Coffee in Wokingham, which has also begun to introducesome rather unusual coffees to its espresso drinks."I wanted to bring artisan coffee to asmall town that has generally not seencoffee other than over-extracted chaindrinks," Jason Oslar tells us."I now offer four different choices, allroasted by London Coffee Roasters,the customer can choose any varia -tion, and we'll explain how the drinkwill come out – the Yirgacheffe in a flatwhite with Guernsey milk brings outsuch a jammy taste, people now askfor 'a jammy flat white'."We also brew a MonsoonedMalabar as espresso, and that isabsolutely fantastic in a flat white –you get some chocolate hints comingthrough, and it absolutely shines!"Oslar has recently been involved inan admirable charity project, JosephSwims."This was to do with a local sevenyear-oldwho decided to swim theequivalent of 21 miles in a local pool,in aid of Syrian refugees, because hewas so upset to read about them. Wedesigned a milkshake with Zumachocolate, whipped cream and pop -Langan's Tea Rooms of Burton,which has won an award in theSouthern Stafford RegenerationAwards, turns out to be an unusualbusiness - it is a business run by alocal addiction centre, and is staffedby recovering drug and alcoholusers. The chairman of the judges'panel said the award was won for anoutstanding contribution to work inthe field of recovery.Langan's is owned by the O'ConnorGateway Charitable Trust and run as asocial enterprise. All revenue is putback into community services to pro -vide education, training and employ -ment for persons who have undergonerehabilitation. The tea rooms providework experience, training and qualifi -cations, and doubles as a safe andping candy, sold it for £2.95, and gavea quarter of that to the cause… weraised about £300 with it."We believe in local support. Theword 'independent' means a lot roundhere, and if you're seen to be doingthings for local people, they love it. Wehave disabled and baby-changingfacilities, and when we are asked forbreastfeeding facilities we can do that."We take part in the Local Looscheme, and we are a designatedSafer Place – this means we have asticker in the window, and any vulnerableadult or child who feels distressedor in trouble, and who needs to justcome in and sit down, is welcome inhere without having to buy anything."neutral social outlet for people inrecovery.The chief executive of the BurtonAddiction Centre, said: "I'm reallyproud - in just over a year, we havedone what we set out to achieve, tohave a positive impact on our community.It shows what can be achieved bypeople who are turning their livesaround."Everone knows how much we loveimaginative external signs - this wassnapped by Elke Dawkins of theTalking Food agency in HartleyWintney. The message is a direct ref -erence, including the choice of colour,to the rather more familiar cafe brandwhich can be seen in the background!Doing that old briefcase squat...What does a coffee bar do to keep 'connected' with its customers when theyaren't actually standing at the counter? And what will get commuters talkingto each other about the coffee bar they have at their station?The Little Italy espresso bar, whichoperates at rail stations in Oxfordshire,has come up with an answer – it hasproduced its own commuter magazine."Three of our branches are all atLondon-Birmingham commuter sta -tions, and we see pretty much thesame people from Monday to Friday.The result is a fantastic relationshipbuild-up and many have becomefriends,” founder Simon Keeley told us."So when we had an idea for a 'brandawareness'exercise, we did it withoutstepping out of our own shoes andbecoming corporate bores!"We decided to produce a little mag -azine that included our own staff andour loyal customer base, as such anexciting cross-section of people passthrough here every day. We set aboutinterviewing some customers, and theresult is a true representation of us asa brand, and of the banter and greatfun we have serving these guys."The result, it can truly be said, is fullof character - one interviewee is aFlour Power turns to coffee shopsOne of the most notable artisan bakery companies is now moving into thecoffee-house sector - Flour Power, of London, which is the UK's largestorganic bakery, supplying food markets, delis, and some Michelin-starredrestaurants, will open its first café in Tunbridge Wells."We're excited about this!", manag -ing director Lisa Brook told CoffeeHouse. "My vision has always been toopen high quality, welcoming coffeeshops serving great sustainable coffeewith exceptional cakes and pastries.We have been in Tunbridge Wells fortwo years as a bakery and now wehave the opportunity to develop ourfirst Flour Power Café."The move is a direct result of meet -ing Mary Portas, the 'queen of shops'and the government's guru on mattersof high-street regeneration. Lisa Brookinherited three retail shops when shetook over Flour Power, and closed twodown - then she met Mary Portas,thought again, and decided to give thehigh street another go.We have seen several styles of bak -ery-café developing recently - theGreggs style, which was rather 'func -tional' until their new Moments design,and the Italian style, as used here byPatisserie Valerie, with rows of eyecatchingcakes and pastries, promi -barista, one is the first customer thebusiness ever had, and another isSuzanne Dando, the gymnast - astonishingly,it is 32 years since she was inthe Olympics, but she is pictured at aLittle Italy site with the torch she carriedin last year's pre-Olympic relay.There is, we hesitate to report, alsothe first public exposition of 'platform -ing', a series of keep-fit exercises forcommuters to do while waiting for theirtrain. These include the 'briefcase graband squat' and the 'briefcase plank'.The best advice that can be given is'don't try this at home', and we deeplyhope that they never catch on.As the customer demonstratorwrites, the advantage of being seendoing these exercises is that nobodydares sit next to him on the train, so hegets a very peaceful commute.Little Italy is at Haddenham & ThameParkway station, with another shop inHaddenham itself, at Bicester Northand Wendover, and will soon open atLeamington Spa.nently 'front and centre'. In smallertowns, we have many small shops withthe delightful atmosphere of flour allover the place and the chance of cof -fee at a corner table. What will FlourPower be?"Flour Power will be a relaxed artisancafé set within a bakery selling handcraftedpastries and organic breads –we are determined to become a dailynecessity for local coffee fans, a placeto dream in, and a comfortable place toread a book. At present TunbridgeWells is primarily a bakery shop, butwe aim to build the business to 50/50with coffee."14