Map - Coffee and Lounge opens its doors in Hoylake

Bronwyn Turner, from Nottingham, and her husband Jamie Turner, from Birkenhead met through working at Caribbean restaurant and bar, Turtle Bay.

The husband and wife travelled the world for several years, before having two children and settling in West Kirby.

Bronwyn, 32, said: "We’ve always said we wanted to have our own place one day.

"When we were travelling we always said when we settled somewhere we would open up our new place that incorporated all our travel but we never though it would be in the UK.

"After Covid we were living in Crete and we got pregnant with our second child. We came to the Wirral to visit family and we decided we loved it and wanted to call it home.

"The stars kind of aligned for us and it was just perfect timing."

Opening a coffee shop...

After finding a premise on at The Quadrant in Hoylake, the couple decided to open their business Map - Coffee and Lounge.

"The name came from our traveling", Bronwyn said.

MAPs interior (Image: MAP)

"We had to have an element of travel in our business so we have a giant wooden map of the world up. It’s pretty breath-taking to be honest.

"The idea behind the business is to bring bits of our travel into the community."

Map is a space where "people can come and relax and where the community can come together", Bronwyn explained.

"I'm a mum so I can see groups of mummy's coming to have their coffee's and people coming in for dates or in groups.

"We also have a frame with a cork board where all the staff have put up pictures of their travels and I will add photos from launch day and things like local dog walkers in the area.

"I've stayed awake at night and dreamed about how things are going to look inside.

"We’ve already had so many gorgeous messages from residents people walking past have said how homely it looks."

Map will serve breakfast and brunch, and every six weeks will have a themed week, with special coffee beans and food from various parts of the world.

They are also looking to serve cocktails in the near future.

Speaking about the staff, Bronwyn explained how it was "important to hire people with big smiley faces".

She added: "It wasn’t about hiring people with experience it was about their personality. 

"It was a very key thing for me because with me and Jamie travelling so much around the world we’ve taken little things from all these places and the key thing when we remember places is the staff, and the atmosphere. 

"It’s always been number one because people just make something that extra bit special."

Map - Coffee and Lounge opened its doors today (Tuesday, November 28) and will be open everyday from 9am-5pm, and closed on Mondays.

For more information, visit here.