Stylish social enterprise coffee shop selling wine, cocktails and charcuterie boards opens in Northampton town centre

A brand new sustainable coffee shop and social enterprise has opened in Northampton town centre and the owners are very excited to share the projects they have in store for the local community.

Saints Coffee opened their doors in St Giles Street last Thursday (August 5) and owners, Ben Francoise and his partner Nicola Butler were delighted to tell The Chronicle and Echo they considered their launch a huge success.

Ben, who grew up in Far Cotton and formerly worked in finance and management, said: “We sat there watching the door for about 45 minutes thinking ‘this isn’t going very well’ and then, after the first guys came in - they were very lovely, we had a photo with them - it went really well and then Saturday was great!

“Opening Monday, we weren’t sure because a lot of businesses close on Monday but we want to do seven days a week - that is really important to us - and Monday went really well so that was a really good sign.”

The new stylish coffee shop will be selling fresh brews, cakes, sandwiches, breakfast and lunch in the day but then - in the evening - will transition into selling wine, craft beer, cocktails, cheese and charcuterie boards, which is expected to be a huge selling point for the social enterprise.

The interior of Saints Coffee was heavily influenced by Ben and Nicola’s travels to various coffee shops around the world, including New Zealand and Australia, where they really admired their cafe culture.

Upon entering the coffee shop, visitors are greeted by a Palm Springs inspired area with lots of potted plants and vintage touches, including mirrors of various shapes and coloured retro vases.

Sustainability was a crucial factor in making decisions about the coffee shop’s look, particularly for Nicola, who manages a side business called Modern Vintage that curates vintage homewares.

She said: “I would say about 90 per cent of everything in the coffee shop is second hand - it doesn’t look it, you know! The chairs are second hand - I reupholstered them myself - the tables were already here but we decided to give them a facelift, paint them black and make them a bit more stylish.

“The mirrors are second hand and the cutlery is vintage as well but we didn’t want it to look old fashioned, we wanted it to be modern and fresh.”

The idea to set up a coffee shop came to Ben and Nicola after they met in Hong Kong in 2019. It was born from a desire to give back to the town as a business where people enjoy going but also putting a proportion of profits back into schools, mental health services and other community initiatives.

Ben, explaining the thought process behind Saints Coffee, said: “The idea really is that we wanted to do a social enterprise so we were thinking about different businesses that could help to drive that.

“When we thought about it, a coffee shop, a bar, a restaurant actually sits in the community and we couldn’t really get past that. We’re thinking actually if we want to have somewhere to be a hub for people to be together and then do community stuff, that was really the inspiration.”

Since August 2020, the coffee shop founders have been working with schools, inviting panels of speakers to come along and give talks on crucial social subjects such as intersectionality, discrimination and neurodiversity.

Ben explained: "We have three main areas we really wanted to focus on. One was social justice and anti discrimination, one was social mobility and that was born from my experience of growing up in Far Cotton and going to what was Mereway Upper School at the time and then going to Oxford University and seeing this disparity in resources for kids. So we feel really passionately about that."

Other community projects Saints Coffee have been involved in include ‘Coffee in the Community’, which Ben has been running with his old school friend, Callum Bentley, since December 2020. This saw them run sessions over Zoom to help people experiencing isolation and loneliness and, now that Covid restrictions have lifted, there are plans in place to bring Coffee in the Community into the shop.

Nicola has additionally been running fortnightly ‘Women’s Wellness Walks’ on Sundays in collaboration with local granola business owner, Salma Shah, and health blogger, Sonja Goff.

Talking about this initiative, Nicola said: “We just wanted it to be more about women and empowering women. It’s just something for them and we just walk and talk really, have some coffee, just very relaxed.

“It’s just a time out away from everyone else. It’s really popular too because it’s different from their normal friendship group or their normal family or their normal circles.

“The nice thing about it is that it has been all age groups. We have had 70-year-olds and women in their twenties; it has been really nice.”

Ben and Nicola have plans in the future to introduce a programme to help people in need back into employment by working with them on interview skills, interpersonal skills and building confidence before training them as baristas, bartenders and waiting staff.

They have already secured grants to help 20 people in the next 12 months and are looking to help people from homeless backgrounds, recovering addicts and social care leavers.

To find out more about Saints Coffee and to keep up to date with their community initiatives, visit their website https://www.saintscoffee.co.uk/ or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.