New coffee shop opens in former Kenilworth bank
A Kenilworth coffee shop has opened a second "bigger and better" venue in the town centre having struggled to keep up with demand on the other side of town.
Morning Sunshine, which opened on Castle Hill in November 2022, opened the doors to its new location at The Square on Saturday 26 October, in the former HSBC bank.
The opening follows the launch of the new Edmonds jewellers next door the weekend before, after the empty unit was split into two and given a new lease of life.
Owner Ashley Davis has been on the lookout for another café in Kenilworth for Morning Sunshine for some time, and says he is looking forward to expanding the business' offering in the town centre.
"It is very similar to what we have at Castle Hill, but bigger and better really," Ashley told Nub News.
"The menu won't change too much but we will be adding to it, because we now have a bigger kitchen.
"Hopefully within a month we will be opening in the evenings, and we will be doing more kitchen takeover nights with the chefs now we have more space."
Having also previously run the café at Warwick Parkway station, the unit at The Square is the first time Ashley has created a coffee shop completely from scratch.
He said the last few months have been really enjoyable, seeing the new location come to life and getting the whole team involved.
As well as installing Morning Sunshine's vibrant décor, a new outdoor seating area has also been created, and two retro gaming machines installed, as the company looks to expand its already popular Pokémon mornings.
The kitchen from the Castle Hill site has also been moved to the new location.
"We really wanted an outdoor space," Ashley said.
"It is really quiet out here and we are also hoping to have evening events. We want to get some food vans to come down and do themed food nights while we do the drinks.
"We get asked for it all the time on Castle Hill, whether we have an outdoor space in the summer."
He added: "It has been the first one where we have done everything from scratch, meaning we could have it exactly how we wanted it.
"At the railway, Chiltern gave us the space almost ready done, and the other site in Kenilworth was already a café before we moved in, so we rebranded what was there.
"We have been given complete free reign here and have been able to do exactly what we wanted."
But it is the sign poking gentle fun at local Facebook group 'Kenilworth Vibes' installed above the café earlier this summer which has really caught the attention of locals.
"It [Kenilworth Vibes] is a fun place and we wanted to have a bit of fun with the fact people moan there are too many coffee shops in Kenilworth - and yet they are all always busy," Ashley explained.
"We are even moving because we need more seats and are too busy.
"It leaked out that we were looking for another site and someone commented 'Not another coffee shop, bloody madness' - so we thought we'd have a bit of fun and put the sign up there and spin it as a positive!
"We were a bit worried about the reaction when we put it up, but it has gone down really well!"
As with the Castle Hill café, the new location will also be serving the highest grade 'outstanding speciality' coffee from Union Hand-Roasted.
As well as providing a great cup of coffee, the London-based company has also launched 'direct trade' which ensures farmers are paid a fair price for their beans, making sure the industry is more sustainable from the growers through to the consumers.
Morning Sunshine will also be offering training to ex-offenders, the long-term unemployed and youngsters who struggle with mainstream education.
"The New Leaf initiative we have been partnered with before have expanded their scope," Ashley explained.
"They are now partnering with the Jobcentre to get more people onto the programme, and we are working with theKenilworthCentre to reach out to more people.
"We can train people to make coffee, cook food or serve, as part of our mainstream service and out of hours too.
"It opens it up to more people, which is great."
To find out more about Morning Sunshine, head to the website, Instagram and Facebook page.
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