Maldon Nub News aims to be supportive to EVERY element of the community from business and shops to people and charities and clubs and sports organisations.

Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and wants life to get back to normal.

We will be profiling some of these local businesses and groups regularly over coming weeks in a feature called UP CLOSE IN MALDON in the hope that we can be a supportive springboard for your full return to business as usual.

This week we talk to Sarah and Martin Buckley, owners of the Maldon Coffee Company in High Street, Maldon. During an in-depth Q and A session Sarah reveals why they set up business in Maldon as well as what they love about the town's community and their gratitude for its support during the current crisis.

THE couple who created the Maldon Coffee Company were both born and bred in Maldon and its surrounding villages and have remained here all their lives.

Sarah and Martin Buckley originally started out with their own book-selling business at Essex markets and a shop in Heybridge, but when a neighbouring coffee trader decided to quit and sell on some of her stock, the enterprising couple jumped at the chance to take it.

As time went by and book selling became more difficult in the age of the internet and IT, they moved to a selling operation based on half books, half coffee. Eventually, the coffee won the day and when a friend told them a shop had become free in the town centre shopping arcade she owns, the Maldon Coffee Company was born.

Crowds in a town in carnival mood bustled outside on the day the shop opened

The coffee shop at the High Street end of St Edward's Walk arcade was opened on the day of the Maldon Carnival in August, 2018. The town was bubbling and alive, with crowds thronging the street outside. It would have been impossible then to even begin to imagine how things would change in 2020.

The thriving business, which sells more than 50 flavoured and other coffees to drink in, take away or have ground as desired to enjoy at home, moved to take away only before full lockdown as the inside of the shop is cosy and small.

When the pandemic situation worsened and all the shops were shut, Sarah and Martin quickly moved to online sales of their coffee beans, with deliveries to homes across the town.

Sarah said: "We saw one day that another shop in the High Street was selling from the door and take-aways were allowed, so we decided to give it a go. We started in mid-May, not really thinking that we would get many customers – but people were willing to queue patiently outside. We were really well supported and we would just like to thank all our customers because they've been amazing.

"I think that the council and the community in Maldon really support the local shops. We've got everything in our High Street so you don't really need to go anywhere else."

Friends and family are crucial to the business

Throughout their time running the shop - and before – close family friend Kim Ford, who owns St Edward's Walk arcade with her husband, has always been on hand to help. Sarah believes she has been crucial to their success and calls Kim her "organiser".

The Buckley teenagers – Tom, 18, Alexandra, 16, and Charlotte, 14, all help out with the family business. Through working in the shop, Tom has made many contacts in the businesses nearby and will soon be starting work himself at one of them.

Until just three weeks ago Sarah was still also running a stall selling coffee at Chelmsford Market, but has given that up to focus more on the family's new business venture at The Mitre in The Street, Wickham Bishops. The project has been a little delayed by the pandemic, but the coffee garden is expected to open this month (September) and the bar later on.

Being adaptable is key in a challenging situation

Back at the Maldon Coffee Company, the indoor area is now open for a limited number of customers, but there are also tables under the cover of the arcade and even across the road in the beautiful tree-shaded churchyard area to the front of All Saints. Father Graham at the church has enjoyed the opportunity to chat to some of the people sipping their coffee there, reaching out to the community after the dark days of the pandemic.

Sarah, ever bubbly, thinks the hard work of her market stall days has prepared her well for uncertain times. She is hoping to open the upstairs area of the coffee shop before the winter sets in, but thinks people will carry on enjoying the new outdoor lifestyle they have discovered, talking to others in a way they didn't before and keeping warm in the company of a new community companionship.

"It's all about being adaptable," she said, "that's something I've had to learn to be over the years. Things are fluid. I think it helps me now."