My very first Beeston Cafes map lost and found, and how it's progressed

Until yesterday I thought I had lost this map. It was my very first attempt at a Beeston Cafes Map, prompted by the fact that a few members of the Beeston WEA Writing Class I then attended had got in the habit of having coffee and a sandwich together after the Thursday morning class.

As we increased in number, so we needed to move cafes and it was this which led to map, inspired by my love of bus maps and the fact that growing up in Wembley, the first map I learned to read was the London Transport Underground map.

It quickly morphed into a class flyer...

I left the class at the end of 2013 because Susan and I had decided them time had come for us to downsize from our large Victorian-semi in Lenton to something smaller in Chilwell or Beeston. I then changed the orientation of the map for another leaflet.

I then created an extended version of the map...

...and another.

There was no master plan or vision. I just kept tweeking the map. The next extension was the inclusion of Chilwell's Creative Corner at the High Road's junction with Cator Lane after I met Gary and Gail, the owners.

By now I was on a 9th version of the map and wanted to pull Beeston Lock onto the map so I could draw attention to the Beeston Canalside Heritage Centre project (which, at this point, still had to receive 2nd stage Lottery funding). Matt Turpin of The Beestonian also spoke about pulling the University into Beeston and Judy Sleath, the Chairman of Beeston Civic Society asked me if I could include blue plaque locations, so another, large version of the map came into being. It went from A4 to A3 and Judy funded the printing of 500 copies.

A 2015 Heritage Open Days version followed with Judy printing another 500 a month before the HODs.

A number of versions of this layout have subsequently been produced, but I always had in my head to create a vertical version because it would be easier to read and adapt, which is how a few months ago I arrived at this...

It hasn't taken me long to adapt this version, so that I could extend the map in the top left-hand corner...

As anyone who looks at this blog regularly will know I have created three versions of this map: the 'master' aimed at students, a 'heritage' version and a 'Beeston Nights' version, all of which can be found in the right-hand column. It has taken me three-and-a-half years to get this far and I have enjoyed creating the maps. Looking back, it is something I have been doing all my life, with my first map being published in 1976. Somewhere I have a copy.

All the maps have reverse text sides, the A3 ones with a Beeston Bus Map showing all the places you can reach by bus from Beeston (over a hundred). Again, you can find the latest version of the bus map in the right-hand column.

Anyway, that's it for now, all prompted by finding my very first Beeston Underground style map (which I had filed away on my computer in a directory labelled Beeston Writers).

A new extended Beeston Pubs & Cafés Map with added extras and a bus note

I have been working on this new version of my Beeston map since mid-May and at some point I have to share it with the wider world as a way of ironing out its imperfections.

Like my other map, it has been created so that it can be printed in mono with no loss of detail. The background colour in the text boxes will disappear. I know that some of the Beeston Blue Plaque locations need tweaking, but they are all on the right streets, if not quite in the right locations (ie. Humber Road; Nether Street, West End).

I have also extended the map south to include Beeston Lock and Marina, as much so that I can show the new Canalside Heritage Centre. I know it's a work in progress, but Beestonians, a bit like Lentonians, seem to forget the canal and the Trent.

The Nottingham Coach bus route 17 no longer serves Beeston. As from 1 July it is doing a Long Eaton - Toton - Stapleford - Sandiacre - Long Eaton loop every 30 minutes Monday - Friday c9am - 3pm.

Also, from 12 July the new Beeston Interchange will take over from Beeston Bus Station (which will close at the same time) and the YourBus Y36 will return to the same route as Nottingham City Transport's 36 bus route. YourBus will be running the S1 Shopper along Park Street and Broughton Street from c9am - 4pm Monday - Saturday. Let's hope the service is used.

The 'war' between the tram and buses has yet to start (see my March blog), but changes are afoot. I remain confident that the buses will survive, between Beeston and Nottingham and Long Eaton, probably Stapleford too.

Now, back to the new map. I have created the map A3 size, but it scales down to A4 and looks perfectly OK, albeit the text is a little smaller.

As with my original Underground style Beeston map, it is there for others to use and can be easily adapted. All I ask in return is that my Beeston Week box in the left-hand corner remains.

I hope you find the new map of interest. Any comments will be welcome.

To see the map in more detail simply click on the image and it should enlarge. It can be printed A4 or A3 landscape.

Café delight and yet another one

On Thursday I finally got to have a coffee in L'Oliva and I have to admit it was a delight — a treat in fact. 

You can see why. A lovely cup of viscous coffee full of flavour for £2 and two 'Scilian treats'. The larger one £1.20 with a coffee filling and the smaller one, 95p, filled with hazelnut chocolate, both delicious.

For a while there was just Susan and me. It was very quiet, then another customer came in. As the photographs below show, the owner has kept the old butcher's interior and used it to good advantage:

The ceiling has been lined with pages from newspapers and periodicals. The café has a spacious feel despite being quite small. With so many cafés in Beeston I am sure you have to be original to prosper and L'Oliva manages that.

You can find L'Oliva on my Beeston Pubs & Cafés Map (see right-hand column). It currently shows 20 cafés and 12 pubs, all of which serve coffee and a good few cake as well!

Talking of competition, yet another one is in the process of being fitted out.

I have no idea when the 'Greenwood Coffee House' will open (next door to Thirnton's chocolate shop) or what its USP (unique selling point) is going to be. I am sure I will find out soon enough.

At the moment The Local not global deli run by Jo on Chilwell Road, opposite its junction with Imperial Road, remains my favourite for light lunches and apple pie, everything in fact, closely followed by Mason & Mason for good cake and the best Mocha I have had in Beeston. I like Costa's Mocha and had one in Waterstone's in the city centre today, but the Beeston Costa plays loud music and that is a real no no with me.

Of the chains, Caffe Nero is the best. The staff are unfailingly cheerful. 

I could go on, because a good few others are a pleasure too, especially the Fusion Café by Cator Lane and is part of Chilwell Creative Corner. A good black Americano and another place for good cake.

Since 2013, when I created the first version of my Underground style diagrammatic map, I have believed Beeston's cafés and pubs should be at the centre of campaigns to pull visitors and shoppers in the town. I am currently working of a new 'spider' version of my map which I plan to launch once the Tram has a start date. I am also planning a 'Beeston Nights' page.

As you can see, Beeston's café scene is alive and well, and continues to grow. I am sure an enterprising post-graduate student could write a thesis about Beeston's cafés, their number, USPs, customer profiles and if there is tipping point and, if so, what is the number — 25, 30?

Cafés in the news: L'Oliva, Edwards and Fusion, plus a word about the White Lion and Sergio

Beeston High Road's newest café, L'Oliva, got its first mention in the Nottingham Post back in February 2015 when the news report said it 'was a few weeks away'. It finally arrived last week and I will sample its coffee in the next day or two. I wish the new owners well, but the shopfront continues to look a little tired, with the old 'Virtual Deli' facia still in place and missing mosaic tiles on the frontage. I hope these things to not deter customers. Walking past today it looked busy.

With so many cafés and bistro type places to choose from, there is plenty of competition. I have updated my Beeston Pubs & Café map (see entry in right-hand column) to include L'Oliva.

Also, My Place café on Wollaton Road became Edwards last week, with a new owner.

Edwards is on the northern approach to Beeston town centre down Wollaton Road from The Nurseryman pub and Derby Road, and is the first café visitors see. There is parking outside. I wish the new owner well. Edwards is within a few minutes of my front door, so it does not figure on my radar, but I would encourage any shop browser to explore Wollaton Road and to have a welcome break at Edwards before returning to the shops in Beeston Town Centre.

Talking of Wollaton Road, the next time you walk down it towards the High Road think about what you would use the great white wall above the card shop to promote. I'm presently using it to promote this blog. 

How about the Beeston Express?

I will end where I started. This time with Fusion Café, which is part of Chilwell Art Corner at the western end of Beeston town centre. I blogged about Creative Corner in January (http://beestonweek.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/see-creative-corner-and-you-have-arrived.html) and said then that AJ, who runs Fusion Café, made the best coffee in Beeston and I stand by what I said then.

AJ has applied for a license at Fusion to sell alcohol every day from 10am–10pm. There is a large notice in the latest issue of the Beeston Express.

From the front, Fusion looks quite small and is located on the left-hand side of the Mish Mash Gallery. It is, in fact, bigger than it looks, wrapping as it does around the back of the gallery. I hope AJ's application is successful.

He often has private parties who book Fusion and this is clearly an important part of the café's business, so I am sure being able to sell alcohol will make Fusion an even more attractive venue than it already is.

Between March and May this year I facilitated a writing group which met at Fusion thanks to the generosity of AJ. It is a friendly venue and on the few occasions I have been there at weekends, there have always been families inside and mums outside with their buggies and children.

Fusion is the perfect place to start a visit to Beeston town centre if arriving by bus or tram. From here it is a leisurely walk into town and then down the High Road to Humber Road and Broadgate Park, from where you catch the same buses and trams.

I suspect that if I had a mind to this blog could become exclusively about Beeston pubs and cafés. In truth I do not visit them often enough because I never have the time. In my ideal world I would have cake at Fusion and Mason & Mason at least once a week and lunch at the Local Not Global Deli and the White Lion once a week as well. I like large custard tarts from Birds and Home Bakery too.

It is the first Beeston Food and Drink Festival this coming weekend (12–13 June). Unfortunately it clashes with a planned walk and Sunday clashes with the Beeston & Chilwell Garden Trail weekend. I just hope that in the midst of all this activity I will find the time to sample some of the delights on offer.

If you read this and are coming to Beeston this weekend, I urge you to visit the White Lion and the Local Not Global Deli. the folk who run these places are here every week of the year. As far as I am concerned, they make living, eating and drinking in Beeston like having a food festival an all-year event. I will end with a pic I have used before. I think of it as one of my best:

A happy Sergio at the White Lion bringing me and friends cake (real yummy cake)! He does a fantastic fish stew and lots of other good food too, drawing on his Portuguese–Brazilian heritage. If any person should be the face of Beeston food it is Sergio. He has a long letter in the latest edition of the Beeston Express (5 June 2015) about his fight to keep the White Lion open. It is worth reading.

Picked up by the Post

The Nottingham Post kindly picked up on my Beeston Pubs & Cafés map today, and has published the map. On their website they have included this photograph of me they took yesterday outside the Local not global Deli.

The headline in the paper is awful and does not bear repeating. It is what the story omits to say which prompts this quick post. The Post story has no link to beestonweek.blogspot, but anyone looking at the map closely will find this web address on the map. I describe my map as 'diagrammatic'. It is others who describe it as a (London) Underground style map and I can understand why — for that was my starting point when I created the first version in 2013.

I also told the reporter who spoke to me that there is a blank template 'master' version which I will happily pass onto any local voluntary group free-of-charge and to any small business in return for a £10 donation to Beeston WEA Branch.

When you talk to the press you have to accept that they will write what they want, so I have no complaints about the story as written.

If anyone coming new to the map sees any omissions or has any suggestions about how I might improve the map, then I would welcome their comments. There is another version of the map which includes Beeston Marina and the University of Nottingham main campus (see entry in the top section of the right-hand column).

For the record, the text beneath the map in the above photograph reads:

Beeston is the destination of choice for those in the know. Start with exquisite coffee at the Fusion Café in Chilwell’s Creative Corner, home to three contemporary art & craft galleries, then walk towards Beeston, past more art and gift shops and stop at the Local not Global Deli, just in time for an early light lunch. The few tables fill quickly, so don’t be late!

I could have mentioned Relish or the Flying Goose. Perhaps next time. Weatherspoon’s Last Post is a popular haunt, right by The Square, within sight of the new tram & bus interchange. To the south are three good pubs. Fish stew and Tapas make the White Lion a favourite of mine. 

Along the High Road and into Hallams for a fishy treat to take home. Past Belle & Jerome where you can return for afternoon tea. ‘The best I’ve ever had’ I heard a lady say last week and when it comes to sausages, Barnsdale butchers, can’t be beat. A little further on, more galleries and gift shops await your attention. I like to end with tea and cake in Mason & Mason. 

Hop on a bus and come tomorrow. Don’t wait for The Tram!