Former mayor marks 18 years in business running independent coffee shop

A COFFEE House in Henley has celebrated its 18th birthday.

Staff at Hot Gossip in Reading Road decorated the premises with a banner to mark the occasion and received a birthday balloon from their neighbour Henley Mini Market.

They were congratulated by customers, some of who dropped off birthday cards, and staff member Olga Yanush gave owner Lorraine Hillier a box of chocolates and flowers.

Miss Hillier started the business in Friday Street in 2007 and moved to the current site, a former art gallery, in January 2020. She said: “The people who work with me have been an absolute godsend. Debbie Morgan has been here for 12 years and the others have been here for nearly three years.

“On our birthday we had a lot of regulars in and they were reminiscing from when we were based down the road. We’re not just serving coffee anonymously, we’re actually involved in it. We’re at the heart of the community.”

Miss Hillier said running the coffee shop in the current economic climate has been challenging.

She said: “There were only three of us in town when I started out and now there are a lot in Henley. Even the pubs do coffee now so it’s quite hard but it’s lovely because you know you’ve got a very supportive customer base in town.

“The tourism is the icing on the cake but we have a lot of regular, loyal customers.”

Over the years, the café has been visited by the late Jon Lord, of Deep Purple, Nick Heyward, of Haircut One Hundred, and actor Orlando Bloom, who had popped in to use the toilet.

Miss Hillier recalled the moment of excitement she felt when Robert Plant, the lead singer of Led Zeppelin, visited.

She said: “I was so excited because I’m a big fan of Led Zeppelin. He was really nice man.”