Wake up and smell the coffee as city’s first roastery brews up
A mum-of-four has been a busy bee in lockdown creating the city’s first coffee shop which houses its own roastery.
Dawn Hamblett, from Fatfield, has breathed new life into the former Coffea Caban unit in Blandford Street to open Hatty’s.
The bee-themed coffee shop is named after Dawn’s youngest daughter Hatty, three, and features its own roastery for roasting and processing its own coffee from Fairtrade beans.
Dawn has teamed up with the Durham Wildlife Trust, the Rainton Meadows-based charity who help conserve nature in Sunderland and Durham, and will be donating 5p from every cup of coffee sold and 10p from every bag of coffee sold to the cause.
The coffee shop opened its doors from May 17, and Dawn says the response so far has been positive.
“Coffea Caban was really popular and one of the longest-running independent coffee shops in the city, and a lot of those customers have come back,” said Dawn. “They seem to love what we’ve done with the space and say it’s a lot lighter.
"Trade can be difficult in
Blandford Street, but it’s got some great regulars and we’ve noticed more and more footfall as people’s confidence returns after lockdown.”
Speaking about the collaboration with the Durham Wildlife Trust, the businesswoman said: “The work the trust does is fantastic and I really wanted to do my bit to help.”
Dawn’s parents ran the popular coffee shop at Lambton Garden Centre and it’s long been a dream of hers to run her own coffee shop one day.
"I’ve grown up around coffee shops so it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and when this unit became available it seemed perfect,” she said.
“We actually got the keys before lockdown, but I was home schooling in lockdown so my husband did all the renovations to the site.
"I didn’t want to open for takeaway because I wanted to open properly when sit-in was permitted. We’re table service only for now, but we’ve had some great reviews from people saying how Covid-secure we are.”
As well as teas, coffees, cakes and light bites, the coffee shop sells candles and wax melts made by Dawn’s eldest daughter, Hanna.
*Hatty’s is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to late afternoon.