Independent Coffee Scene

The local independent coffee scene is something we at Butler’s are immensely proud to be a part of, it’s a thought that occurred as we took our team around Nottingham Coffee Festival last weekend.

It is these like minded independent small businesses that share a passion for bringing unique coffee shop vibes, great coffee, brunch, lunch and cake to your neighbourhood, it’s an inspiration, a community that has driven us from the start of our journey back in 2017 and continues to inspire us today. And the best part? Every major city in the UK has their own unique pockets of indies doing their thing. It really is something that should be widely acknowledged, celebrated and cherished 👏

So here’s a shout out to just a few of our fellow local Notts independents who we think 100% deserve your love and support, rest assured the people behind each one are true passionate coffee professionals -

Outpost Coffee Roasters, Kigali, Ginger & Blue, Yolk, Cartwheel Coffee, Okende, Cafe Velo Verde, Good Honest Bakery, Effy, Punch Coffee, Stewart’s of Trent Bridge, Forum Speciality, Greenhood Coffee and many, many more…

Go discover your local coffee scene and show them some love and support ☕️ ❤️

Sustainability

Going green, ESG (environmental, social and governance), carbon footprint, reduce, reuse, recycle, climate change… so many terms and talk around the subject of sustainability and the environment but it can be baffling to get your head around it all when bombarded daily through seemingly every media channel.

But as the saying goes, there is no victory without action, which is why it’s so important that we all understand our impact in terms of our own carbon footprint and play our part to reduce it where possible. The cumulative effect of our often small combined efforts can make a real difference both as individuals and as a company, so here is what it all means to us with real measures being pro-actively taken every day at Butler’s Coffee House to help reduce our impact on the planet -

1. Ethically and sustainably sourced coffee traceable to the farm level roasted locally in Radford by the experts at Outpost Coffee Roasters

2. Electricity from renewable sources and reputable suppliers only, low energy LEDs throughout all sites

3. Paper takeaway cups, cup holders, packaging manufactured from sustainable forest sources all BRC certified

4. Reusable coffee cups available to buy in every store and double stamps on your loyalty card for every coffee purchased

5. Discounts for customers of the local Green Rewards Scheme - https://notts.greenrewards.co.uk

6. Locally sourced fruit, vegetables and meat produce from like minded small businesses reducing our carbon footprint and keeping more money in the local economy

7. Paperless invoicing / digital accounting with all of our major suppliers

8. Waste management solutions separating all recyclable materials on each site

9. Waste coffee grounds reused as organic garden fertiliser

There is of course always more that can be done, and we are constantly assessing our practices to ensure we continue to operate responsibly and sustainably. Think global act local… 🌍💚🌱

If you’d like to better understand your own carbon footprint you can calculate it here - WWF calculator

Butler’s Radcliffe is 6 months old!

Wow! Where has that time gone? And what amazing support we’ve received from the fine folks of Radcliffe-on-Trent and the surrounding area. Having sold well in excess of 16,000 coffees so far it’s been a joy seeing so many of you enjoying our second site on the main road, creating a buzzing atmosphere and building the unique culture only speciality coffee brings…

But what do you think? We love to hear your feedback, reading and responding to every Google review, email or social media messages and comments. It’s the people that make the place and we simply wouldn’t be here without you!

In the last year we have created and launched Butler’s Radcliffe, redesigned our website, launched our online shop, hired 6x new team members and grown our retail offering, but we won’t be standing still!

Watch this space for exciting new announcements, products and services as we stride firmly forward into our second 6 months and toward Butler’s Radcliffe’s first birthday (with the inevitable paaaaaarrrrrrty 🥳)

Remember your roots

2017 is where our coffee adventure all began approaching 5 years ago! 🕰

Isn’t it funny how life presents certain opportunities? Hospitality has always been in our blood but never did we think 5 years on we’d have renovated 2x sites creating the Butler’s Coffee House brand and building such an amazing customer base in the process.

Our original Bingham site was born from a chance conversation with David (landlord and odd job gardener) back in the summer of 2017 who had been having issues with multiple tenants not paying rent and leaving the place in a sorry state. We were quite dismissive at first but when we saw the grade 2 listed interior and the potential for the space we just had to act and our coffee house concept was born!

Fast forward to the beginning of 2022 just coming out of the last round of government covid lockdowns in what has been a truly tough time for small business, the opportunity arose on Main Road Radcliffe-on-Trent. Life (and indeed business) is never without risk… would covid return? war in Ukraine, cost of living and inflation going through the roof, supply chain issues etc. But sometimes you have to grit your teeth and follow that passion and vision believing in what you’re setting out to achieve.

There are so many people and fellow businesses we owe a big thank you to who have helped us on our journey so far (you know who you are). And of course the BIGGEST THANK YOU 🙏 to you our loyal customers and friends who share our passion for unique coffee shop vibes, speciality coffee and supporting the local business economy ☕️👌

And just like that, Butler’s #2 Is open…

Well what a few months it’s been. Anyone who’s been following us on social media will have seen the journey we’ve been on to transform the old fabric shop on Main Road in Radcliffe-on-Trent into our second Butler’s Coffee House location. And we have to say we are thrilled with how it’s turned out and been blown away with just how many of you have popped in to enjoy the speciality coffee, brunch dishes and sweet treats in our first week of opening soaking up the unique contemporary atmosphere.

The place has been buzzing every day and the feedback we’ve received unanimously positive, so a BIG thank you! for all the love and support you’ve shown so far.

As this is being typed we’ve just put our feet up after the team have finished sorting out a few minor things on our ‘snag list’ so a BIG thank you! too goes to Sam, Phil, Josh, Neil, Sarah and Ben for putting in the hard graft and helping turn our vision for Butler’s #2 into reality.

Finally kudos goes to team Butler’s at both Bingham and Radcliffe who’ve adapted superbly to working cross sites and helping keep the day to day operational cogs turning. They’ve worked tirelessly to bring you the best in speciality coffee, brunch and cake and epitomise everything we are about as a company and are a credit to themselves as true coffee shop professionals.

Coming soon… Butler’s #2

It’s hard to believe it’s approaching 5 years since we created the first Butler’s site in Bingham back in 2017! The world was certainly a much different place back then and I don’t think anyone would have predicted that in that relatively short space of time we’d have lived through a global pandemic, completed Brexit leaving the EU single market and be living in a country with circa 10% inflation!

Yet here we stand, as committed as ever to bring you the joys of speciality coffee and chilled cafe vibes and we could not have done so without the continued love and support of our friends and loyal customers. So let’s do it again! Are you mad I hear you cry? Well maybe but we are now deeply in the midst of executing our plan to create Butler’s #2 in the lovely village of Radcliffe-on-Trent. Another place we know very well and is close to our hearts, we absolutely can’t wait to share the journey so stay tuned to our social media channels to see how the site is evolving.

We love to use fellow local businesses and trades people so this time a big shout out goes to Boyes Design based in Colwick who are helping us with the refit and Outpost Coffee Roasters once again providing their top class support in terms of kit and speciality grade ethically sourced coffee.

We’re aiming for a September launch but if you’ve never visited us before and simply cannot wait, then be sure to pop into our Bingham site to get a feel for what we are all about or alternatively visit our online shop - https://butlerscoffeehouse.co.uk/shop and get brewing at home.

The new noRmal

Ok let’s take a breath and take stock… the threat of COVID while still very real seems to have weakened in terms of severity. Most of us now being double jabbed giving that all important protection from the most severe symptoms and cases. We continue to be vigilant here at Butler’s as we welcome so many new and familiar faces through our doors and keep our fingers crossed that a fourth wave of the virus is kept at bay as we head into Autumn.

It’s been a real pleasure being able to see smiling customer faces again sat down at tables enjoying a chat, coffee and maybe a cake or two. And god knows we all deserve to indulge and treat ourselves having come through the other side of the worst pandemic in living memory!

As the kids return to school and workers return to the office the “new normal” is starting to really become apparent and it seems a new perspective on work / life balance and flexibility is here to stay (one positive to come out of this!)

Let’s take a moment though to remember those we have lost. You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn’t been directly or indirectly affected by the virus and lost a loved one, but we will endure, hold on to the good times and look forward to rebuilding the future while cherishing what we still have and what’s important… each other!

a Spring in our step

What a crazy 12 months it’s been! 3 lockdowns, numerous levels of government restrictions, eat-out-to-help-out, Christmas virtually cancelled, work from home, home schooling, takeaway treats etc. This past year will certainly stick in the memory of us all, however despite all that it really is amazing to be opening back up! While it has been a testing time both professionally and personally wondering what the future will hold it finally feels like things are returning to some sort of normality and as the flowers start to bloom and the sun warms us up we have a real spring in our step hopeful for what 2021 will bring.

Every time we’ve reopened our doors we’ve been blown away by the love and support our loyal friends and customers have shown, and it is only thanks to you that we are still here able to offer with pleasure the best in speciality coffee, fresh cakes and brunch dishes.

We are so proud of our little team too who’s ideas, focus and dedication have enabled us to operate with success during the most challenging of conditions.

So welcome back one and all, let’s do this!