Islanders wake up and smell the Starbucks coffee at last

IN the two decades since the US coffee chain crossed the Atlantic it has become ubiquitous on British high streets.

Not that you would know it in the Western Isles – which remained a Starbucks-free zone even as branches opened in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

But now the Outer Hebrides has woken up and smelled the chain’s coffee. Starbucks drinks are being sold in the new cafe in the restored Lews Castle in Stornoway on Lewis following a partnership deal with operator Natural Retreats.

Business was brisk yesterday as locals flocked to taste what they had been missing all these years. By mid-afternoon there was a queue of some 20 people at the counter.

While Starbucks branches in big cities are often only a few streets apart, the nearest outlet to Stornoway is a two-and-a-half hour ferry crossing and 60-mile road journey away in Inverness.

Yesterday a Starbucks spokesman said: ‘As part of the restoration of Lews Castle, we are proud to offer our coffee to the Outer Hebrides for the first time.’

Starbucks has grown dramatically since it was founded in the US in 1971 with a single store in Seattle. In 1987, the first cafes outside the city began to spring up – first in Canada and Chicago.

In May 1998, Starbucks entered the European market by acquiring 65 Seattle Coffee Company stores in the UK.

The chain opened its first stores in South America in 2003 and Russia in 2007. Today it is even a familiar name in Vietnam.

Now it has arrived in the Gaelic heartland of the Outer Hebrides. Natural Retreats set up the deal with Starbucks through its Storehouse eateries.

Despite the new arrival in Stornoway, the islands of the Outer Hebrides are still free of other food chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC.