SHOPPERS can now enjoy a coffee pitstop at a plush new café in the heart of Victoria Shopping Centre in Southend.
Esquires opened for business on Tuesday May 16, with work going on since April.
Gurender Gill is the director of the Esquires franchise in Southend and he is thrilled that the café is open for business.
“Our 'unique selling point' is the coffee we serve. It’s organic and high quality and it’s what our customers love about Esquires,” said Gurender.
“My family are from Sheffield and we run a family business in retail. When the opportunity came up for this location we went for it.”
The family have another Esquires which they run in Islington, London. The lease for the café was originally obtained in December but delays put the opening back until early May.
Now the café is open for business and is in a prime spot in the Victoria Shopping Centre.
“There is lots of footfall here, it’s a great location. Shoppers head to us for a break, when they see our food and smell the coffee they can’t resist,” he said.
“I am getting my staff up to speed at the moment and so they are ready when it gets really busy during the holiday. All the staff live within a couple of miles of the café and so it has been great to get the team together and train them.”
Esquires is located on the ground floor of the Victoria Shopping Centre in Southend.
Victoria Shopping Centre
The signs of Victoria Shopping Centres regeneration are becoming clear.
Back in 2020 the council bought the shopping centre at the top of the High Street for £10 million in with a view to earning rent from shops there.
The plan was to invest £2million in revamping the centre in order to “enhance the city centre”.
Bosses insisted they were getting ready to welcome a raft of new tenants into the centre, such as Esquires.
The council set aside £805,000 set aside for 2022/23 to develop the centre but proposed a new budget of £2,050,000 for refurbishment work to repair the atrium roof and the Queensway roof.
The building’s façade will also be refurbished and a new goods lift will be installed.
And the existing multi-storey carpark will also be improved with the installation of a new ANPR car parking payment system.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel