It might be the quality of the coffee or the sandwiches. It might be the staff, the sounds, or the nature of the space. It could be the meeting place of people like you, or the vibe that says ‘seaside’, or ‘Hastings’ (or St Leonards, if you’re over that way). It could be so many things, but if you have faith in your community, there’s one thing it can’t be.

I was surprised when I saw an ad for an out-of-town Costa outlet in our local community newspaper. Surprised, because it’s hard to think of anything less community-friendly than a corporate outlet suggesting we go out of town for coffee, surprised because Costa belongs to Coca Cola, a BDS listed (ie, genocide tolerant) company.

I was surprised they want us to go out of town anyway. Costa already have outlets just about everywhere in town, including in supermarkets large and small, so actually spending money on ads to encourage people out of town really does add insult to injury. What can this be, other than a deliberate ploy to reduce the custom of indie cafes in town?

Then I saw an article in the local online newspaper, giving the opinions of some of the local cafe owners about the proliferation of Costas and their ‘take a detour’ campaign…

I’m going to make a suggestion. For the sake of our community, and our local businesses, let’s stick to having coffee breaks in town. Let’s face it, there are no less than four possible coffee-stops right bang in the town centre, but…

Two of them – Nero and Costa – are of the large-chain variety, that charge you plenty of money for your coffee, then whisk that money straight out of town, to add to the vast hordes of money corporations use to keep a stranglehold on our national economy — and they are exactly the same as every other Nero and Costa everywhere.

The other two, Rye Bakery and the Grumpy Cook, are part of our local business community. They earn money locally and spend it locally, and they are not like anything except themselves.

As well as those at the very centre, I thought, there must be quite a few more independents to choose from within a hundred yards or so but, when I went to look, there weren’t a few — there were dozens! I bet you haven’t tried them all — I certainly haven’t — do you recognise these? (that’s not all there are, just the ones I snapped as I was looking around)…

So here’s my suggestion. When you see a corporate outlet like Costa, walk on by and see what else is there. Let’s start trying the ones we haven’t been to yet. I bet there’s at least one in that set I snapped that’s just right for you, and maybe you haven’t been in and found out yet …

Some detours are worth it indeed — in particular, when you find yourself standing in a supermarket or garage with a Costa coffee machine right in front of you, look over your shoulder. I bet the company have placed it there to distract you from that indie cafe, just over the road, there! From now on, I’m going to walk straight round Costa, and try out more of those real, Hastings cafes!

 ********************

Dear Reader,

Times are hard, and so the articles on this site are freely available but if you are able to support my work by making a donation, I am very grateful.

You can make one-off or monthly payments by BACS to Mrs K Green, Sort: 07 01 16, Acct No: 43287058, Reference: blog

Or via Paypal…

Click here to donate via Paypal

Another great way to support this, and other independent blogs you read, is liking and sharing on social media, signing up for email updates, or by emailing a link to friends.

Cheers,

Kay

********************