A couple who previously ran a British café in Spain have now opened what they believe to be a village’s first coffee shop.

Joanne and Mick Beal opened The Village Coffee Shop in Goudhurst Road, Horsmonden, last month and finally completed the transformation to the outdoor seating area this week.

The business owners are no strangers to the hospitality industry, having opened Joanne’s British Café in Alicante, Spain, back in 2019.

When the couple returned to the UK in 2022 an opportunity came up to take over the premises after the previous lease expired and they thought “why not give it a go”.

Mick, a retired London firefighter, said: “We’re used to working for ourselves and that gave us confidence that we could get it off the ground.

“It’s taken two hard months of work to get it up to scratch, the actual shop had to be gutted completely so we’ve made it fit for our specific use which took a bit of time.

“Compared to running a business in Spain, it’s been quite an easy thing to do.”

Since opening Joanne and Mick say the coffee shop has been busy with lots of local groups paying a visit.

Joanne, 41, said: “The local community has really got behind us.

“We knew there wasn’t much in the village, so we decided to open a coffee shop.

“We think this is the village’s first coffee shop.”

But while the pair are feeling positive about what’s to come, Mick says it involved a busy two months to get everything ready for opening.

The 58-year-old said: “It was fairly intense at times trying to work to a deadline to get it done as quickly as possible.

“Now we’re feeling positive about what’s to come - we’ve been really looking forward to doing it although it has been a bit stressful, opening any business is.

“Hopefully it will reward us and everybody that passes through.”

Now they hope to give something back to the community and would like to get involved with raising donations for their village’s new defibrillator.

Talking of the future, Joanne said: “We want to start to do afternoon teas and pie and mash.

“We just need to encourage the walkers and cyclists to come.”

But, the husband-and-wife’s message to the community is: “Carry on supporting us please.”

The coffee shop is currently open seven days a week from 8.30am-4.30pm Monday to Friday, and 10am-4pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Mick added: “Hopefully it will benefit a lot of people, the locals and anybody passing through that wants to have a sit down and a nice cup of coffee.”