Uckfield coffee shop plans changes

Plans are being made to refurbish the Courtyard Coffee Shop at 75 High Street, Uckfield.

Amanda Quick and Carole Martin, who have run the coffee shop for eight years, have applied for planning permission to provide more hot food on the premises, which are set back from the High Street, behind the Post Office, as they move towards embracing an increasingly popular cafe culture.

Documents submitted with their application say they would like to concentrate on show-casing local produce and suppliers.

Drawings show the coffee shop would be re-named Flavour with the tag-line '...our favourite ingredient'.

A small retail section would offer local oils, chutneys and flour and, when seasonal and available, produce such as local rhubarb, asparagus, apples and strawberries.

Two microwave ovens and a grill machine are currently used to prepare some hot food at the coffee shop including breakfasts, jacket potatoes and light lunches but the proposed change would involve installation of a bake-off oven so that pastries, baguettes and homemade quiches could be prepared on the premises.

The documents say: "We would also like to install a jacket potato oven and a Panini machine. This equipment would enable us to improve the quality and range of the products offered. Additionally we make a range of our own quality cakes and slices.

"Our aim is to provide a fresh modern menu with as much food produced on the premises as possible. We are sure this would be a unique concept for Uckfield and would fit with the mix currently on the High Street."