Mums banking on coffee shop enterprise to spark high rates of interest

The Coffee Bank team, Sarah, Ellie and Holly with Louise, second from left (Image: Coffee Bank)
It’s called the Coffee Bank - named after its premises, the former Lloyds Bank, were transformed for the new venture - and this week it opened its doors for the first time to rave reviews.
Louise lives in the town and Katie lives in Awliscombe. Both are married and they both have two young children to look after as well as running their new hospitality enterprise in the centre of Ottery.
Louise used to work in the local pharmacy while Katie worked in a local family building business. They are both excited about their new venture.

Louise and Holly welcome customers to a new coffee shop in Ottery St Mary (Image: Coffee Bank)
The business partners, both aged in their early 30s, told the Herald: “We have plenty of seating areas to seat comfortably 30 people with upcycled furniture giving a warm, rustic feel.
“There is a small area for babies and a seperate area for toddlers to use their imagination and creativity.
“We have lots of plans for future events. Ottery is a great place with plenty going on.
“All our products are locally sourced in and around East Devon, and our cake maker is based in Ottery.”
They explained: “The idea came about after we found the premises were available and we both agreed that as mums we wanted somewhere to be able to take our little ones whilst enjoying a hot drink and a sweet treat or light lunch.
“We had both previously discussed that it would be amazing to run our own business and that it would be a dream job to run a coffee shop with locally sourced products, working within a wonderful community - that has shown so much support for us already - and to be able to help young people to learn the trade too, offering apprenticeships.
“So we thought we would give it a go.”
They added: “We felt that after coronavirus and the lockdowns it would be a good time to try something new. So we left our current employment and have turned what used to be the old Lloyds Bank building into a coffee shop.
“With lots of help from local businessmen and tradesmen we built it from scratch. It has been transformed and we were super excited to launch on May 22 for a few hours and then fully from Monday, May 24.”