Luxury cafe to open in Colchester

12:59pm Thursday 10th January 2013 in News

A LUXURY cafe is opening in Colchester next week.

Patisserie Valerie has taken over a former travel shop in Sir Isaac's Walk.

It has created around 25 jobs.

The new cafe will open on Tuesday.

 

See Friday's Gazette for the full story and reaction.

Comments(15)

hughie-s says...
1:18pm Thu 10 Jan 13

Now don't go thinking this is a nice cosy local start-up, it's a chain owned by Risk Capital Partners.

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JCoe1980 says...
1:23pm Thu 10 Jan 13

hughie-s - who ares who it is owned by?! We need to decent shops, cafes etc in Colchester..just go with it my dear!

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Scoot says...
1:46pm Thu 10 Jan 13

who cares, another place for the pretentious prigs of Colchester to hang out. Can just hear it now in Waitrose "Oh guess what I've just discovered, Patisserie Valerie..lets meet for a latte" mwah mwah....

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Dazza2009 says...
3:21pm Thu 10 Jan 13

Another one...!!!

Is Colchester town centre going to be just 1 big food outlet...!! Isn't there enough in the town centre already??

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suzywright says...
5:08pm Thu 10 Jan 13

I agree JCoe1980 - it should make no difference. RCP invests money into business and helps with start-up capital.

I'm sure most small start-ups are funded through a variety of institutions.

Coffee shops like these bring people together, unfortunately retail shops in the area are failing due to high rates and cheaper opportunities on the internet. These types of operators and services are the ones that will survive on the high street and keep it thriving. It's unfortunate I know, but not a lot we can do, unless we start shopping on the high street instead of the cheaper online alternative....

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angryman!!! says...
5:30pm Thu 10 Jan 13

Exactly better occupied as cafe than empty, or another chavy barber shop. This is investment into the town so only a good thing, if people come in to town then their likely to go and do some shopping. Most of culver sq are chain places so not really out of place.

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Pmiller007 says...
5:38pm Thu 10 Jan 13

They are owned by a company called Druckers based in Birmingham, nice cafe, a few can be found in London mainly

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romantic says...
6:39pm Thu 10 Jan 13

Not sure how people can have a problem with a place before it has even opened! Give them a chance!

If it´s part of a small chain and got some backing, it should mean that they´ve checked out a business plan and are confident they can run it well.

We´d all love to see truly independent one-off shops, but ultimately we get what we use. The first few months of any new venture can be tough, and having a bit of back-up will give them a better chance of staying around long enough to build a reputation.

Probably not my sort of thing personally, but I expect Mrs Romantic will love it!

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jim_bo says...
7:05pm Thu 10 Jan 13

I go to Valerie's across London and their cakes are devine!

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rhetoric says...
10:35pm Thu 10 Jan 13

Have to agree, Valerie's is one my all time favourites in London.
.
They have changed a bit recently, but still in late November I enjoyed a fantastic, leisurely afternoon tea in their Brompton Road branch. Service was impeccable, tea and cakes were perfect, only snag was the queue for tables, but that's to be expected with such a popular place.
.
Colchester needs quality, let's keep fingers crossed that Valerie's is part of an upward trend.

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co4 says...
2:11am Fri 11 Jan 13

Good news. At least it isn't another Subway/Costa/Pound shop. It's given 25 local people jobs so happy days. Being owned/backed by venture capitalists and other financial institutions is nothing out of the ordinary. Trace the owners of most chain retail and leisure outlets and you'll end up in the Square Mile somehwere.

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angryman!!! says...
9:08am Fri 11 Jan 13

Haha the good thing about this is that the people that started the comments moaning have now already got people talking about it.
And for those that moan about it not being independent use one of the many very good cafes down the road and there's even a nice new one open, every bodies happy

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TheCaptain says...
9:51am Fri 11 Jan 13

rhetoric wrote:
Have to agree, Valerie's is one my all time favourites in London.
.
They have changed a bit recently, but still in late November I enjoyed a fantastic, leisurely afternoon tea in their Brompton Road branch. Service was impeccable, tea and cakes were perfect, only snag was the queue for tables, but that's to be expected with such a popular place.
.
Colchester needs quality, let's keep fingers crossed that Valerie's is part of an upward trend.
It does indeed and with the Tiptree cafe next year thats another one.

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rhetoric says...
4:37pm Fri 11 Jan 13

Does anyone remember Neal and Robart's? That tearoom was always crowded out, and I would guess it only closed because the partners were wanting to retire. Nobody else could have run such a great venue in the same style.
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Tearoom Society is certainly going to be preferable to Wine Bar and Fast Food Society!
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For starters, we're not going to get wrappers all over the street, although Valerie's do, admittedly, sell cakes to go!

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wellnow says...
5:38pm Fri 11 Jan 13

24 jobs? Don't be silly.

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