Today’s lashing rain and wind, coupled with a shortened time-frame dictated a coffee shop with easy parking and little walking, so this week, David and I decided to head for deepest suburbia and found The Coffee Co on Broadway – not boring old New York- but bustling Higher Bebington!

The Coffee Co occupies a commanding corner shop at the end of a local arcade, on the approach to the famous Broadway roundabout.

It’s owned by a local husband – and- wife team and sports the motto “Drop in and get to know us!-We’ll do our best to make you feel at home”

We were met at the door by Harley (loves his motorbike and his giant dog?) who helped us in from the rain,  and found  a convenient table from which we could view the elegant pavement furniture sets being hammered by the unfolding hurricane.

This was a busy coffee shop with a very local community-based feel. There were lots of people munching sanwhiches, slurping coffee and talking animatedly. One young chap (in my book; anyone under 50 is just out of their teens) peeled away from his table and grabbed David by the hand; reminding us that he had grown up as part of a youth group that David had run in the early eighties, and regailing us with a tale of disastrous night hikes around Lake Bala.

At this point we thought it best to order some coffee so D had his usual latte whilst I tried a flat white from the the extensive drinks menu – encompassing every imaginable variant which can be extracted from bean and leaf.

We were not disappointed and enjoyed a bit of nostalgia as David informed me of his approaching 40th Wedding Anniversary and recounted his first encounter with Jill at St Aldates in Oxford, where they were both working.

Whilst fascinated by tales of David’s amourous encounters my eyes strayed to the back wall of the shop which was fitted out with crammed book-shelves and displayed the message:- Need a book: Take a book: Read a book: Leave a book. This was accompanied by a charity collection bucket and turned out to be The Coffee Co way of raising  funds for our local children’s charity – Claire House…Well done to them!

We had to finish our coffees fairly swiftly as I was on a deadline to deliver the old T&S to her chum’s house for onward transport to a “Girl’s” week-end conference in Preston.

All in all we found The Coffee Co to be an honest-to- goodness, friendly enterprise, serving the local community with good coffee and good humour.

Toodle-ooo

See you next week.

(visit:-  www.thecoffeeco-bebington.co.uk)