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THERE was a time when you couldn't move
in Nantwich for antiques shops (today there are just a couple). But
nowadays the outlet of which we have a lot of is . . . coffee shops.
Of course, they all would appear to be surviving
which suggests that
there is a need for them. But it seems strange that a small town like
Nantwich - tourist magnet though it is - should need so many.
I mean, we are not
Chester, York, or any of the other tourist attractions, which - being much
bigger, of course - need a large number.
I can only conclude that
the local people - the tourists alone cannot possibly support so many
outlets - are the coffee equivalent of what my family called "tea bellies"
- someone with a great love of the beverage and who can never have enough
of it!
At one time there was the
odd place that served coffee - apart from restaurants. Then, shops set up for one type of commodity
would open up an unused floor and sell coffee, with all the extras, of
course.
Other shop owners, obviously having
done their market research, decided they could do the same and more and more premises followed suit.
There was a drive at one
time for upper floors to be used for accommodation - if the owners didn't
want to "live over the shop" there were plenty of people who did, it
was
argued.
I am not sure what became
of that. Clearly some people do live in flats in the centre of town,
although others are put off by the rowdies who invade the town at
weekends. For the record, this is being dealt with.
That is probably one
reason why some shop owners preferred to use the space upstairs for a
coffee shop.
The
fact that even with so many coffee outlets there are times when you cannot
get a table for love nor money proves the need for the service.
And it isn't a case of
there being one on every street. Some streets don't have any. Pillory
Street has three.
When the Chronicle closed
its Nantwich office in Mill Street recently, the premises were snapped up,
not for another office. For a coffee shop.
One place that sells
coffee is a shop in name only. The Church Shop - more correctly the
Visitors' Centre - in the porch of Nantwich Parish Church. And on
Saturdays, the Parish Hall across the way
is the venue for local
organisations to hold coffee mornings . . .
One "coffee shop" goes
under the different name of a Tea Shoppe! The proprietor, genial Bob Hope
(yes, that's his real name) tells me he is the only tea shop in the county. It
seems that to be able to use that description you have to sell at least 10
different teas as loose leaf. Those tea bags will not do.
I am not going to comment
on the coffee sold in the various shops - I'll leave that to others - nor are the
pictures on this page any indication of the quality of the drinks on sale. They were placed
randomly and the size is according to how I took them - upright or
landscape format.
The latest outlet (as at
July 2006) is the Costa Italian coffee shop which is part of Chatterton
House (formerly the Lamb Hotel in Hospital Street). A whole shop - and a substantial one at that - on the ground floor, not just a spare floor
at the top of the building. (See the update below).
I haven't included the
majority of Nantwich pubs which sell coffee in this Letter.
When I was researching the
coffee shop phenomenon I asked for a list of coffee shops in the town to
make sure I wasn't missing any out. The source - I won't name them for
obvious reasons - said no they didn't have a list. In any case, they
tended to come and go.
But I don't think that is
the case. Apart from one supermarket which closed down its coffee shop /
restaurant recently when it changed hands, I don't know of any coffee shop
that has gone. They all seem to be thriving. (I hope I am not tempting
fate when I say that!)
Now, if you will excuse me, all
this talk of coffee
has made me very thirsty. I am
off to enjoy one. Here, at home, of course.
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