Last week, I had the absolute pleasure of being invited to the soft launch of the brand new ‘book-cafe’ opening downstairs in my local Waterstones. They’ve ripped out their old Costa concession and put in a beautiful, little indie cafe and honestly - I couldn’t be more excited about it. It’s going to be my new lunch-and-writing spot.
Sam and I arrived straight after work and there was already a large group, buzzing around the cafe. We were provided fancy, almond milk coffee and then glasses of wine, then a tour of the cafe - whilst it’s not a huge addition to the store in terms of size, the lower ground floor of Waterstones has completely changed - for the better.
Booths that you can nestle away feature all the way along the far wall, each table sporting it’s own framed book-cover and table name. I spotted the perfect looking sofa tucked away in the corner for melting into when the day feels extra long that I’m quickly going to ‘bagsy’ as my spot, as well as a booth picked out for me by the lovely Alex; the perfect distance away from the kids section (which whilst beautiful, is obviously full of over excited children) but not too far away to miss out on perusing the vast section of cakes and snacks on offer.
During the evening at the launch, Sam and I got to sample a bunch of different cakes all of which cater for some kind of dietary requirement, so if you’re vegan, gluten/dairy/other free, then this Waterstone’s cafe has got you covered, thanks to Nathan and the team for working to support local businesses by sourcing local ingredients and preparing most of the snacks in-house.
This is possibly one of my favourite things about the cafe; everything feels very ‘home-grown’. Nathan, the cafe manager, used to run their Costa concession so he knows exactly what he’s doing and it shows effortlessly in the way that the cafe is put together - far enough away from the monotonous Costa-way, whilst still professional enough to be business savvy and easily marketable.
This is possibly one of my favourite things about the cafe; everything feels very ‘home-grown’. Nathan, the cafe manager, used to run their Costa concession so he knows exactly what he’s doing and it shows effortlessly in the way that the cafe is put together - far enough away from the monotonous Costa-way, whilst still professional enough to be business savvy and easily marketable.
Plus, when you’re wandering around bookstore like hours for I am, surely all you need is a little sit down and some cake? Exactly.
I’ve snapped some pictures so you can check out the cafe and the menu - hopefully you’ll be as excited about it as I am!
books + coffee + good food + friends = Happy Lex :)
You can follow Waterstones West Quay on Twitter, Instagram, as well as Facebook so head over and show them some love.
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