Southampton Partners in Coffee to open café in Boorley Green

Swapping wheels for a more permanent foundation, business partners Suzanne Williams and Alec Smith are excited for the new venture.

Suzanne, 35, and Alec, 44, launched Partners in Coffee at the start of 2020, with the aim of bringing speciality coffee to Southampton.

Well known for setting up outside The White Building and travelling around in a tuk tuk, the business will be opening its café doors at Boorley Green Community Centre.

Suzanne Williams of Partners in Coffee (Image: Partners in Coffee) Alec said the project has been a “labour of love”.

He said: “The opportunity to open the café came up when Botley Parish Council put a post out about looking for a café to take over half of the community centre.

“The council loved our idea for the space, and it developed from there.

“We have been working on the space over the last few months.

“We moved our coffee truck from outside The White Building to the community centre about four months ago, and that has been great as all the residents already know us.

“They have told us they are really excited we are opening the café here."

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He added: “We have a lot of new baristas and staff members starting here too.

“We will have a basic menu of cakes and sandwiches to start with, but there is a commercial kitchen we can and want to use in the future.”

(Image: Partners in Coffee) For both Alec and Suzanne, the aim is to make the space more than a café, but a community hub too.

A large table in the centre of the room - “imagine a Wagamama’s set up,” said Alec - will foster that sense of community.

This will be surrounded by comfy sofas and chairs.

The café will officially be open to the public from 10am on Saturday, October 12, in a day that has been “a long time coming”.

(Image: Partners in Coffee)

Alec said: “Suzanne has been in the coffee business for 18 years, while I have been in it for four, but it has always been a passion of mine.

“We are both really, really excited to open.

“It is a new venture for both of us, and it is Suzanne’s first brick and mortar café she owns herself.

“We are opening something she can make her own.”