Naomi's Café Bar
On a bright sunny Saturday morning I met with Naomi Perkins, founder and owner of Naomi’s Café Bar on Bridge Street. Situated on the corner of the street, adjoining Concord Avenue, it is surprising to walk out from the noise, hustle, and bustle of such a busy crossroads, and find yourself in a little corner of tranquillity. Cheerfully chintzy décor, hand scrawled signs, board game stacked shelving, and a cosy kitchen area all add up to a sense of homeliness sadly missing from many franchised businesses.
Arriving before Naomi I was greeted with a friendly smile by the young chap behind the counter. He looked somewhat familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. I had been here before, to interview Tanya Collins and for Visit Banbury meetings, so I assumed he had been there on at least one of those occasions.
Opting to wait for Naomi with a large pot of cranberry apple riot tea, I sat on the sunlit table at the front and watched the world go by. Time became somewhat immaterial, as I relaxed, sending a few messages and looking online for dinner recipes using the free Wi-Fi. Before I knew it Naomi scurried into the shop apologetically. As it turns out the café was open until 4am the night before due to one of the many events they hold, in this case an open mic night, and Naomi had needed a little lie in to recover!
Naomi is a local Banburyshire resident, her father was brought up in Mixbury, and her family has longstanding ties with the community. She has a lifetime of memories to cherish from the place she calls home, and as many others have mentioned there is a strong community spirit. However, she added, her wish for the area, which she said can also be stubborn, is that a greater degree of cohesion is worked out between the many people who love the town and work hard to promote Banburyshire. I could only agree wholeheartedly, as someone who grew up in Banbury and had to learn to love it all over again, and now see so many people voluntarily taking great effort to make it a better, happier place, it is heading in a wonderful direction, but all need to work as one to truly make it something special. Perhaps Naomi’s Café Bar can act as the neutral zone, a central base for all to converge upon, because, as will become clear, it has quickly established itself as a hub of the community.
With a cup of coffee in Naomi’s hand, we were ready for the business at hand. How, I started, would she describe Naomi’s Café Bar? The answer, I feel, sums up Naomi and her outlook very well. Rather than a business-like overview of a café I got a stream of adjectives; different, dynamic, fun, energising, and not afraid of taking risks. She explained that she wakes up in the morning and she loves the fact that she runs this café. Each day is different, and sometimes it’s tough, but that’s part of what she finds so rewarding.
The café bar is now coming up to its first year of operation, though it took six months from the start of the lease to get from idea to open. It was, as Naomi put it, started on a vision. At its inception, by her own admission, Naomi was struggling with life, and in particular what it really was she wanted to do. There was this idea that kept gnawing at her persistently and refused to leave her mind. Eventually, the premise was put into plan, and at this stage, things actually got tougher. Naomi describes these as rough times that in many ways took her to her lowest ebb. Yet in some ways, at this stage now she views this negative period as the necessary precursor to the eventual rise in spirit from the success in launching the café bar, and finding inner peace. In her words, she came out whole, and more in tune with herself. She mentioned being true to her body clock, saying “the more I do, the more I achieve, the more I’m able to let go”. There was a definite sense of contentment and satisfaction in her voice and mannerisms. She explained that whatever happens, she feel more security, and in her core stronger than ever, even though she doesn’t know what the future looks like. It’s rare to be with someone who truly seems at peace with the uncertainty of the future, but that’s what came across clear as day from our conversation.
Before we could continue, a large group of friendly customers entered the café, all of whom immediately wanted a chat with Naomi. It quickly became evident that most were participants of the previous nights’ open mic night and were now all arriving for a late breakfast. The quiet serenity of the empty café was replaced with good natured joviality, with couples and families all taking seats, chatting, and ordering food and drink. It was lovely to watch the café operate as it is intended, as a community hub.
This led neatly to my next question, which was to ask who uses the café. As expected, they do have customers who come in from the street, but they also arrange local network meetings, private party bookings, and numerous special events. I knew the Café Bar specialised in these regular events, one was obviously the Open Mic Night, so I asked Naomi to list what else is currently on offer. First off was The Road Test on the third Friday of the month, Honest Comedy on the first Friday of the month, African Drumming workshops every two weeks on a Tuesday evening, Arts & Crafts once a month on a Thursday, Love Sunday’s with holistic healing, and the other week they even held a PAT Testing workshop so people could get qualifications as PAT Testers. These frequent and one off events are publicised on their Facebook page, and judging by the variety on offer, there seems to be something for everyone. I know in the past they have also held board games evenings, where you simply turn up, pick a board game and play with whoever else has turned up. It’s these fun quirks, mixed with genuinely useful events that bring to life the words Naomi used at the start of our conversation; different, dynamic, fun, energising. How very true.
Different, let’s focus on that word briefly, there is something about Naomi’s Café Bar that I have yet to explain. There is no pricing structure. The menu does not tell you how much a croissant is, or how much for a pot of tea. Instead Naomi uses a ‘donation system’, whereby you pay what you think the food or drink you had was worth. It’s a simple concept that runs 100% on trust. What I really wanted to know was where did this idea stem from, why not have prices, why go with something that could be inherently risky? Naomi explained she has had an uneasy relationship with money, and is not someone who craves it, solely for the sake of money. That’s not to say she wouldn’t want a large lump sum, because, as she put it, that would equal freedom in this current society, but it’s not something that acts as a core driver. The café came out of a place where she had no money, and she was asking for it, and that eventually came from what she coined as a place of love. Once the café was becoming reality the thought of the pricing and what to charge reared its head. Naomi had, via her personal travels heard of these systems elsewhere and it seemed to fit her ethos perfectly. Eleven months down the line, and she’s still open, and in many ways, though I don’t think it was planned for such a reason, the donation system has provided a wealth of promotion via the BBC, ITV and many others. Of course none hold quite the prestige of Banbury Pulse, but we all have to start somewhere!
At this point another customer arrived and took a seat nearby. With amazing speed the young man behind the counter emerged with an English Breakfast for the man, who also expressed amazement at the speed of delivery. It was immediately clear he was a regular and the timing and order were a familiar routine. I’ve never seen such attention in other establishments, and was another string in the café’s bow. At last I also discovered why the young man seemed so familiar, he is Naomi’s brother! Clearly the café is something of a family affair.
Planning, opening, and running the café has clearly been a steep learning curve, but also a reflective, almost spiritually enlightening one for Naomi, and the future, with all its unknowns is wide open for conjecture. There are plans, for one the old mural that has adorned the side of the building for many years is to be reinvented, new events are in the pipeline, and much more, but the lease is also up in a year and a half, and ultimately she doesn’t truly know what that means. Interestingly, that particular unknown holds no fear for Naomi, who views the looming of a potential end as positive. Personally I think the ideas and concepts that Naomi has put in place are too powerful to be swept away, and the café has swiftly become a hub of community spirit and good times, without the commercialisation so prolific elsewhere. No better is this summed up than the Banbury Community Action Group garden that is situated behind the café. Naomi explained the idea of converting the space behind into a garden had always been a defined goal. Yet, without even having to lift a finger, the local CAG came knocking and asked if they do could exactly what she had wanted. Once you start something, its worth can be proven by synergy of thought, and this is exactly why there is now an edible community garden in Banbury.
To conclude the interview I asked her to promote the business in one sentence. Often this concept strikes fear in the eyes of those I interview, but Naomi simply said “come and see it”.
That is better than reading what I have to say, better than seeing it on Facebook, or hearing about someone else going, because there is something indefinable about Naomi’s Café Bar, perhaps the more holistic, bohemian attitude to business, but whatever it may be, it is something that is better experienced personally. So do as Naomi suggests; go and see for yourself!
