Woman who runs Britain’s first year-round Christmas cafe says she never gets tired of it
Watch: 'I run a Christmas cafe all year round - I never get tired of mince pies'
A woman who loves Christmas has opened up "Britain's first all-year-round festive café".
No matter the season, Kim Warren, 40, sells mince pies, Christmas pudding, fruit cakes and turkey and cranberry sandwiches with all the trimmings.
The self-confessed Christmas-lover opened the Yuletide café as an extension to the Little Christmas Shop which she also runs.
Ironically, the only day of the year Warren shuts up shop is December 25 when she puts her feet up with her family at home in Ironbridge, Shropshire.
Despite having festive tunes playing all day long she says she and her staff never tire of them and says her favourite is Mariah Carey's classic hit All I want for Christmas is You.
The café also offers a Christmas themed afternoon tea filled with turkey, brie and cranberry sandwiches with Christmas cake for £24.99.
Explaining why she decided to set up the cafe, Warren says: "Everyone loves Christmas, so why not have it all year? I spotted a gap in the market and it worked.
"I had a smaller shop and I felt like I needed to expand so I moved to a bigger shop," she continues.
"I do festive food all year round and believe it's the first shop to do Christmas food and decorations to do so.
"We serve turkey, mince pies, and Christmas cake made by our bakers who do it from scratch."
The new premises has now been open for seven weeks and Warren says her and the workers aren't yet fed up with the Christmas tunes.
"We don’t really take notice of the music because we’re so busy," she explains. "It’s like white noise. We have our favourites, but we are always on our feet and busy."
Warren says a lot of her customers are tourists and that her business is booming after an emerging trend which sees holiday-makers buying souvenir Christmas presents.
"It's very popular, we’ve got a local following so we see repeat tourists," she explains.
"Back in the day people used to collect magnets and spoons, but now people buy Christmas decorations.
"We opened the original shop three years ago and people said we wouldn't last five minutes.
"But they love us. There is a trend to get a Christmas present from wherever you go, so we have the tourists who come to Ironbridge and locals who visit regularly, too.
"I really did not think I would grow out of the old shop but we did," she adds.
"People seem to love it here, they come in and film the place for their social media."
Warren's secret for keeping her pigs in blankets fully stocked all year round is to think ahead and order all her stock in January.
"You have to be very organised," she explains. "Everything gets ordered in January and we really try to support small independents."
The shop's biggest seller is a wooden tree that’s made from local wood.
"It’s handmade by a local man called Mike," she says.
But when it comes to the food, customers love a bit of tradition.
"In the festive tea room our best seller is our festive afternoon tea," she adds.
Additional reporting SWNS.
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