Independent Coffee Shop — Marmalade — Opening Soon in Wantage

“We’d love to contribute to a thriving town centre for all the right reasons”

While seeking and celebrating mindful moments, I was super chuffed to hear about the upcoming opening of a brand new indie coffee shop in Wantage, run by husband and wife team Imogen and Nick Bassett. They’d like nothing better than to create an environment that gives town folks an extra ten (or more) minutes of much needed peace or special chat-time with friends because the coffee is great, the children are sorted and there’s a lovely atmosphere.

Well there’s certainly been a buzz around town about Marmalade, so I caught up with Imogen to learn a bit more about why they were inspired to open their coffee shop in Wantage and, importantly, when we could expect Marmalade to open its doors.

Can you tell us a bit about what led you to this exciting venture?
We moved to Wantage about four years ago and felt an instant connection with the town. While we both worked in Oxford during this period, we knew that we wanted to make the most of country living by working locally too. So, with Nick’s background in managing pubs, it made sense to look into local hospitality opportunities. During the four years we explored other towns in the county and discovered some lovely independent coffee shops. Inspired by these indie haunts, we wanted to create something special and new in Wantage. So, when the location opened up at the old Oxfam shop we decided to take the plunge. We wanted to offer the community a warm and welcoming space that provides folks the chance to grab a delicious refreshment and snack, and have a chance to just…slow…down. 😊

Can you tell us a little bit about your plans for Marmalade?
In previous incarnations, our coffee shop-to-be space was an iron monger and more recently a charity shop. When we first looked round the shop felt very unloved with much of the character and natural light having been blocked off. We could see the potential and wanted to sympathetically decorate and restore the place and hopefully bring some extra footfall to such a picturesque part of the town.

Our focus will be to work with local suppliers and source as much as possible close by. All our breads will come from local bakeries and we’re busy working with a coffee supplier just down the road in Ardington.

What can mothers, dads, grandparents and carers with children visiting Marmalade expect?

Being a mum myself I’m very conscious of what does and doesn’t work for mums and carers. We’ll have high chairs and a baby change area. There’ll be a basket of books and mindful toys to keep the littlies occupied. I think parents prefer not to buy their children the usual large (and sometimes costly) cakes on offer. So we’re focusing on child-friendly portion sizes from fairy cakes to smaller drinks. The focus will be on fresh, healthy, high quality and locally sourced ingredients including gluten-free options. We’ll also offer smoothies (in child-size portions too) made with fresh ingredients.

How did the name Marmalade come up?
We both liked the name Marmalade but we also had lots of other ideas. We spent months trying to decide but in the end it was the only name we could agree on!

Most importantly, approximately when do you expect to open your doors? The plan is to launch Marmalade at the beginning of August 2017.

This all feels very mindful and I can’t wait to try it out.

Contact Marmalade on: marmaladecoffee@hotmail.com

Address: 30 Market Place, Wantage, OX12 8AJ

🌻 😊 🌻

Mindful in the Vale

Written by

Wantage mum Zoe on a mission to celebrate mindfulness in the Vale of White Horse district in Oxfordshire & beyond… #Wantage #Abingdon #Faringdon

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade