Costa has confirmed that it is considering the possibility of opening a coffee shop in Brixham. The news has had mixed reactions in the town which already has a large number of coffee shops.
A spokesman for Costa said: “As one of the success stories on the UK high street, we work closely with planning departments across the country to open new stores for the benefit of their local communities, creating new jobs and providing attractive and popular social meeting places. We are currently evaluating opportunities in this area, but have no firm plans in place at this stage.”
John Ingram, who owns three coffee shops in Brixham — Bay Coffee Company on The Quay, Bay Coffee and Cake on Bolton Street, and Bay Ice Cream Company on Brixham Marina — said he would welcome Costa to the town. He said: “All competition is good competition. It makes people pick up their game. There’s plenty of scope for more companies to come to Brixham. There’s demand for good quality products. Costa is a UK company that pays taxes and it has as much right as anyone else to open a coffee outlet in Brixham. If it wasn’t Costa it would be someone else. Hopefully Costa would employ local people and if Costa comes to Brixham other companies would follow, increasing footfall in the town which would benefit everyone.”
Brixham Chamber of Commerce vice chairman Keith Williams said: “We have plenty of coffee shops in the town already and I think Brixham would welcome a greater diversity of businesses, but if Costa comes it would be better than having an empty unit.”
One Brixham resident said in a letter to the Herald Express: “We have at least 10 independent coffee shops and then there are all the restaurants and pubs as well. I am sure there will be other Brixham residents who would have signed a petition against it as done in Totnes. I for one will not use Costa and I sincerely hope that other residents will also continue to support the shops which we already have.”