Australian vibe coffee shop opens

Father and daughter business partners Sukhi and Harry Gill are the new owners of Australian coffee shop Urban Baristas that has opened in the former Brook House Interiors shop on the Reading Road last week.

Sukhi a former solicitor and her father a former retail business owner decided to partner together for their first business and have purchased the franchise.

Sukhi from Woodley said, “I was a Law graduate and went on to work as a solicitor. I decided to give up my legal profession because the work/life balance wasn’t for me with too many hours and long nights. When I was at university I used to work as a barista for a bit and my passion grew from that. I always wanted to be an independent business owner. I chose Henley as the location as I thought it is a lovely area and we always used to come here for walks and to look around the town. The town is vibrant and charming. This was the first retail unit I looked at in Henley and it was the perfect location. The fit out went well and we were told we were one of the quickest Urban Baristas to open.”

Urban Baristas is an Australian brand has 20 franchise outlets in the UK. Sukhi said, “We chose Urban because I liked the Australian vibe and aesthetic edge. The difference to other coffee shops is that is we are offering a speciality coffee that goes through a rigorous quality testing process from the bean all the way to be roasting.”

Since opening the coffee shop has seen a good number of customers. Sukhi added, “We have had such a great response when we opened and have had a steady trickle of people through the door since. People were inquisitive to see what we were going to be all about before we opened.”
The coffee shop offers all the normal range of coffees plus matchas and smoothies. Sukhi commented, “Lots of people have commented about how good the coffee is and the young people love the matchas. We also offer cakes, pastries and burritos.”

Harry said, “Working together has gone really well. It’s really nice to be working with Sukhi.” Sukhi added, “It is quite special we have done this together. It’s good to have my Dad in the business as he is an experience business owner and I have someone senior to ask.

Plans for the future include DJ sets in the shop during the day.