July 12, 2018

Clacton Pier is looking to up its environmentally-friendly credentials as part of its new £4million development.

The company has chosen new coffee and tea suppliers for the site which will include the Galley family restaurant and Captain’s Table coffee shop as part of Discovery Bay section of the scheme.

The initiative has given the Pier the opportunity to reassess its green and ethical values.

Billy Ball, Managing Director of Clacton Pier, said it was a very important decision to get right for the future.

“Plastic waste in this area of the food and beverage market is a really hot topic nationally and we wanted to look again at our environmentally-friendly credentials,” he said.

“We have gone for coffee pioneers Paddy and Scott’s and teapigs as the perfect combination. It is not all about making money but also doing the right thing in the wider world.

“These two firms have been working together for eight years and have made great strides. Paddy and Scott’s was one of the first UK companies to introduce recyclable coffee bags and make the switch to fully compostable takeaway cups long before their competitors.

“teapigs are committed to be the country’s greenest tea company and were the first to be awarded the Plastic-Free Trust Mark by A Plastic Planet.”

Martin Westhorp, Paddy and Scott’s National Sales Manager, said Clacton Pier Company is setting the bar high with its new development and his firm is delighted to lend its expertise.

The firm grow, roast and distribute coffee and other products throughout the UK and beyond. It invested in a farm in Meru, Kenya, last year and set up the Meru Farm Community Project.

Coffee drinkers are linked straight to the people growing, picking and processing their coffee and reinvesting in the farm as well as the wider community.

With just over 15 acres, the farm boasts 6,600 trees – one of which has been gifted to the Clacton Pier Company to mark the new link-up.

Paddy and Scott’s will be the official supplier throughout four coffee bars on the Pier. A proportion of the proceeds go directly into the Meru Community Project which has funded improvements on the farm and local school.

Mr Westhorp said: “This really is just the beginning; Paddy and Scott’s have committed the next ten years and beyond to the project. To Have Billy and the Clacton Pier Company involved is music to our ears.”

Clacton Pier will be serving Muchomba classic blend direct from the farm as well as the new Nitro cold brew craft coffee.

Louise Cheadle, teapig’s tea taster, is equally excited.

“We are delighted to have been chosen as Clacton Pier Company’s tea supplier and can’t wait to see the completed development,” she said. “This really is a winning combination in so many ways.”