Costa Coffee opens in Thatcham

The new cafe opened this morning (Tuesday), although permission is still needed to keep it open

THATCHAM'S first Costa Coffee shop officially opened in the town centre this morning (Tuesday).

The cafe, which has opened up in the Kingsland Centre, is a franchise owned by Steve Fall.

Mr Fall said that the opening had gone well and that they had had a busy first morning trading.

He said that he had looked at opening in Thatcham about two-and-a-half years ago, however, he decided against it then as there were about 21 empty units at the time.

He added: "I've only been looking at Thatcham recently when the footfall has increased slightly.

"I've been keeping an eye on it and it seems more viable now.

"The town is getting a bit more footfall and the units all became available - it was ideal."

He said that statistics showed that having a coffee shop in a shopping centre increased footfall by 15 per cent for all the shops.

Mr Fall has applied to West Berkshire Council for mixed use retrospective planning permission to keep the shop open.