'You get job satisfaction every day': Wigan's The Allotment, a coffee shop with a difference

“We had a complete change of tact: my wife was a mental health nurse for 30 years and I was the MD of an innovation consultancy,” explained Martin Andrews. “A close family member passed away and it made me rethink what was actually important; we’d talked about opening a coffee shop when we retired and this property came up for sale within a few weeks, so it was just a case of ‘let’s do it’.”

That ‘let’s do it’ soon blossomed into The Allotment, a warm, friendly coffee shop co-owned and run by Martin and his wife Bernie. Opened in May 2017, the cafe - which has eight employees - serves high-quality, locally-sourced food, plenty of which is grown on-site or on local allotments: their salads and their Lancastrian milk and cheese are all 100% organic.

“It’s been fantastic, we’ve met loads of great people and we’ve been learning loads,” said Martin, 50, from Wigan. “You get job satisfaction every single day. In the past, I’ve worked on multi-million pound environmental projects and you only get professional satisfaction when they’re finished but, with this, you make nice food and nice coffee, serve it to people, and try to put smiles on faces.

Situated in what Martin calls an 'ideal location' next to the hospital and opposite Haigh Country Park, The Allotment sources their bread from All You Knead in Haigh Woodland Park and is a frequent home to a local walking group. Bernie also bakes fresh cakes every evening - the Bakewell tart and carrot cake have been singled out for particular praise - and the shop caters for vegans.

The Allotment is more than just a cafe, according to Martin. Also available to host events from birthday parties to baby showers, it’s a community hub.

“When we opened, we wanted to be sensibly-priced with high-quality food and also have a strong community role,” said Martin, who studied at Manchester University. “We support everybody and there’s a lot of pride in the work; it’s only when you actually think about it that you realise how much you can contribute to a community.

“A big part of the decision to open the shop was about quality of life,” he added. “It’s a great job.”