New jewellery shop and restaurant

A NEW jewellery shop has opened in Henley and a restaurant is soon to follow suit.

Jewellery Works has taken over the former Henley Scan unit in Reading Road, which had been closed since August when Graham and Eva Rickett moved the business to their home in King’s Road.

The business is run by goldsmith Jaco Jordaan with his wife Natasha and daughter Damia.

Mr Jordaan, who is originally from South Africa, has worked locally as a goldsmith for the last decade and has been in the industry for 30 years.

The shop is the family’s first shop in the UK but they previously owned one in South Africa.

Mr Jordaan said they were enjoying meeting customers face to face after working by appointment only since 2019. He said: “We’ve had a positive response. We have already had new customers walk in and ask for things.

“It’s lovely to see people and we love the work we do.”

Damia, who works as a videographer for the business’s YouTube channel, said: “People have come in and asked what we do. It feels a bit like a meet and greet at the moment.

“Before we were missing that first part of the conversation and that’s the best part.”

The shop is equipped to offer a range of specialist services such as stone setting, hand-engraving, the creation of hinged and mechanised rings and handcrafted jewellery. Meanwhile, a new Nepalese restaurant is to open in Reading Road.

Raj Thapa, from Oxford, has launched Pokhara Delight with his wife, Riju Thakuri.

They have taken over the former premises of Bombay Dining and will open after refurbishment.

The restaurant will offer lunch, dinner and takeaway food.

Mr Thapa, who moved to the UK from Nepal in 2008, said: “We used to have a restaurant in Oxford, also Nepalese, which we closed.

“I have been in hospitality a long time and this restaurant was on the market and I thought: ‘Why not? I’ll give it a try’. There are no Nepalese restaurants in town.

“I started working in restaurants when I was 20. Cooking is my passion. We have a lot of paperwork and a lot of planning to do. Lots of things need to be installed in the kitchen and there’s cleaning and renovating.

“We have heard many good things about Henley.”

Meanwhile, the manager of Bagatelle Toys has celebrated a year of business since relocating.

The toy shop was sold by former owners Maryam Clifford-Turner and Victoria Wingfield Digby to Marlow Toys in April last year and moved from its former location in Bell Street to the other side of the street, closer to the town centre.

Manager Andy Tipping said he felt the new location was better as it received more footfall and he had been meeting town centre manager Paul Carey to talk about communciation between retailers.

Marlow Toys has been in Marlow since 1975.