Coffee Cup marks its decade with a seafront party

The Coffee Cup, a family business, has been trading on Eastney Seafront for a decade and they hosted a party to mark the occasion.

Activities included free face painting, free bread pudding and the mascot Coffee Cup Colin who did a meet and greet with visitors.

Area manager Tommy Parsons said: ‘We feel it’s important to reward both our staff and customers by giving a little back to the community.

‘We’ve been very fortunate to have a loyal customer base helping us through the tough times.’

Since opening on the seafront in April 2007, the Coffee Cup has steadily grown as a business.

The Eastney site has developed from a branded trailer in 2007 to a permanent coffee house by March 2015.

In that time, they also opened a coffee shop in the family’s home town of Portchester and they were the first trading kiosk at Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square.

Tommy said: ‘Getting the coffee house in Eastney has been the highlight of the decade for me.

‘It was the biggest challenge we’ve had, but it was also the most rewarding.’

When asked if he had any tips for budding local businesses, Tommy said: ‘Make sure you have regular opening times. Never close for a bit of rain’.

The promise of being open whatever the weather was a founding principle of The Coffee Cup and helped them to gain a loyal following in the early days of the business.

Tommy said they hope to grow the business further.

He said: ‘Of course we’d love to continue expanding.

‘We’re a very ambitious company and the dream is to one day have a coffee house on every English seafront.’