Dream come true for couple to open their own coffee shop and café in Banbury

Callum Smith holds a loaf of homemade bread behind the counter at the Pavement Coffee Co. café, which he runs with his wife, Jane Marker, in the town centre of Banbury

It was a dream come true for Callum Smith and his wife Jane Marker to open their café the Pavement Coffee Co.

If you visited the People’s Park in the last 18 months you will have no doubt seen Pavement Coffee serving their coffee, homemade cakes and sandwiches.

In October last year, after the closure of Tom’s Diner, the opportunity came about to expand their business into the canalside café space on the ground floor of Banbury Museum & Gallery.

Callum Smith stands in front of the Pavement Coffee Co. café in the town centre of Banbury

Callum said: “It was a dream come true. It’s a large space with a unique position right on the canal. We loved being in the park, and know that people miss us being there, but this was something we just had to do. We’re really excited to be able take Pavement Coffee to the next stage."

Jane added: “It’s very exciting. We have lots of ideas for the future, perhaps opening in the evenings or hosting events, but for now we’re focussed on offering high-quality, environmentally sourced, healthy food in a family friendly café environment."

To celebrate veganuary and help banish the January blues Pavement Coffee Co. created a series of special weekly menus, inspired by Middle East, Indian, Mexican and Asian cuisines, which will run alongside their usual fully plant-based brunch menu.

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Outdoor seating along the canal at the Pavement Coffee Co. café in the town centre of Banbury

To end the month they will serve a Mexican burrito bowl, featuring a meze of black bean chilli, Mexican yellow rice, pico de gallo (tomato salsa), guacamole and a punchy lime and mint Mexican red cabbage slaw.

Jane and Callum are keen to disprove a common misconception of the term ‘plant based,' which is that it just consists of raw vegetables and salad leaves through the food they make.

Calum said: "Some of our customer's favourites are probably the coconut yoghurt and berry topped banana pancakes. The garlic mushrooms on our homemade sourdough bread have been really popular too, as well as the Jack Fruit wraps and rice bowls."

Jack fruit once roasted and seasoned with Callum’s own Jerk spice mix takes on a texture not dissimilar to pulled pork, and offering customers something different.

To reduce their impact on the environment the café uses eco-friendly cleaning products and although they offer non-vegan dairy milk they do offer alternative milks at no extra charge.

Callum said: "We used to eat meat as a treat and we were pescatarian for a little while and then we became vegetarian and eventually we decided to give veganuary a go and we never looked back."

Jane said: "We adopted a plant based diet two years ago. Our main motivator was health. We were genuinely curious about whether we would feel different. I wanted more energy and Callum wanted to shift a little weight.

"We feel more at ease referring to ourselves as plant based eaters rather than vegan. This is simply because we eat a 100 per cent plant based diet."

The Pavement Coffee Co. café is open six days a week 9am to 4pm Tuesday to Saturday and 10am to 3pm on Sunday.

To find out more information about the café see their website here: pavementcoffeeco.com or their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pavementcoffeeco