‘We don’t need a Gail’s’ – the coffee shop boom dividing locals

There is a cheerful red awning and a newly painted cream wooden shopfront on the market square in Macclesfield.

A new bakery cafe has just opened, offering ciabatta and sourdough loaves as well as hot cross buns, syrupy cakes, vegetable quiches and of course coffee.

Like towns around the UK, Macclesfield has struggled with retailers closing, leaving empty stores, so there is a buzz around the new arrival.

But Gail’s, a brand that started in London more than 20 years ago, is controversial. It draws crowds and inspires social media memes, but attracts fierce criticism too.

A recent spate of national media coverage has even asked why some people “hate” Gail’s so much, focusing on everything from who owns it to what it does with unsold pastries.

Its arrival isn’t universally popular here either.

“We don’t need another coffee shop,” says Linda Willdig. She is out shopping with her friend Nicola Tomlinson, who agrees. “There are too many,” says Nicola.

In fact, from a table outside the new Gail’s you could easily throw a cinnamon bun and hit both a Caffe Nero and a Costa. Gregg’s is just around the corner too.

So something different might have been better, says Jane Kent, a community nurse.

“People will be larding out on all the bakery stuff,” she says. “We don’t need more pastries.”

At heart, though, the objections to Gail’s are not about what it sells, but that it doesn’t really belong, that it will push up prices and put independent cafes out of business.

But Stephanie Lamb, a teacher on maternity leave, is more welcoming.

“I don’t know Gail’s, so it’s not necessarily a chain to me,” she says. “I’m just happy to have something extra in town.”

She likes a latte and a croissant and somewhere she can read a book for an hour.

At Gail’s prices that would set her back £6.50. Yes, it’s pricey, she says, but she is still planning to “give it a whirl”.

Gail’s – a name that suggests a traditional, single-owner, cafe – favours attractive old buildings, often ones vacated as bank branches close, especially if it is a corner site that means it’s more visible to passers by.

It has 170 outlets mostly clustered in London and the south east. But this year it plans to open around 40 more, including Ely, Cambridgeshire later this month, Bath in April, and Buxton, Derbyshire in May.

At Friday’s opening in Macclesfield there was a flurry of interest in the new place on the square.

Even in the wake of the cost of living crisis, we are increasingly choosing a coffee out as a treat. Nearly two-thirds of people said they went to a coffee shop more than once a week, according to World Coffee Portal, spending more than £6 per visit on average.

So coffee shops are weathering the tough economic climate better than most businesses. There are now 11,450 branded chain outlets across the UK, up from 9,800 five years ago.

Speciality chains like Black Sheep Coffee, Coffee#1 and Blank Street are springing up in city centres, while the giants like Costa and Starbucks are opening drive-throughs and outlets in retail parks.

Caffe Nero has bought up several smaller chains, in different parts of the country, and is retaining their independent branding so it can make the most of local loyalties.

With enthusiasm for coffee so strong it’s something of a mystery to Gail’s chief executive Tom Molnar why people object to his chain. He feels misunderstood.

Mr Molnar – a joint owner with private equity backing – has been working on expanding the brand since he joined in 2003, but says it’s not just about coffee. Its role as a neighbourhood bakery – baking fresh in-store and in regional bakery hubs every day – is key.

He’s hoping to roll Gail’s out to many more neighbourhoods, including less affluent ones.

“It’s not supposed to be posh,” he insists.

But for now they pick very carefully where to open, using an algorithm to help select the most promising postcodes.

It flags up things like whether there is a local butcher, bookshops, a park, schools, churches or a farmers’ market.

“I prefer a place that’s evolving and growing rather than some place that’s too established,” he says.

If the algorithm homes in on a particular High Street it is a vote of confidence in that town’s future.

But retail experts warn that the very nature of the places that Gail’s is picking means there are likely to be accusations of gentrification, increasing prices and rents for existing businesses and residents.

“Gail’s is moving into areas with strong local identities. And when that happens, there will always be a reaction,” says Kate Hardcastle, founder of Insight with Passion.

“It’s not just about a bakery opening, I think it’s also about what it represents.

“Some will see it as a sign of investment and revitalisation, while others worry it’s another step back to our High Streets looking like carbon copies of each other,” she says.

In Flour, Water, Salt – a direct rival to Gail’s selling sourdough bread, bagels, coffee-iced buns and sausage rolls – that is just yards from the new shop, some loyal customers are adamantly opposed to the newcomer.

“Gail’s isn’t welcome here,” says Karen Pearson, a businesswoman who lives just outside Macclesfield. She and her friends are worried that the arrival of Gail’s means the town is “on the up”, when in fact they would rather it “stayed like it is”.

They’re not keen on big corporations coming into the town, concerned they might squeeze out independents.

But firefighter and local councillor Anthony Harrison, reckons Gail’s is no match for a place like Flour, Water, Salt. “It’s just a posh Gregg’s,” he says.

Independents may not be as under threat as people fear, says Graham Soult, a retail consultant from the north of England.

Local owners can offer a more personal touch, respond to local tastes and demands, he says, while it can be hard for chains to deviate from their given formula.

“I think a lot of independents are really adept at navigating all the things that are thrown at them,” he says.

Despite difficult times, the number of independent coffee shops has risen over the last five years from 11,700 to around 12,400 now.

Flour, Water, Salt’s manager Toby Johnstone isn’t worried. It could mean more footfall, with more people trying his shop too.

“We are happy there’s something else opening and keeping the town centre going,” he says. “It’s good to have competition.”