What does it take to transform a run-down pub into a brand new Caffeine&Machine location? The right location, a lot of hard work and just a little bit of luck.
Even before we opened the doors to our first venue, The Hill, in October 2018, we knew we didn’t want it to be a one-and-done thing. More Caffeine&Machines have always been part of the plan, and finally, in September 2023, we took the next step to realising that vision with our second location, The Bowl. Let’s wind the clock back a little, and take a look at its journey from derelict roadside pub to the second operational C&M venue.
The first thing to think about was location. Obviously, we can’t really open up in the middle of a busy town or village, but equally, it has to be somewhere within easy reach of enough people to build up both an audience and a pool of staff.
The Bedfordshire area had always been of interest to us. Much like Warwickshire, home of The Hill, it’s a bit of a hub for the UK automotive industry: Milton Keynes is a centre for motorsport as well as the UK base of several large OEMs. Then, of course, there’s the thing The Bowl’s named after – for years, manufacturers from the UK and beyond have been honing and stress-testing their products at the sprawling Millbrook Proving Ground, and the name is a nod to the High-Speed Bowl there, where cars can reach near maximum speed on a two-mile long, perfectly circular, high-banked test track. As an area, it’s also well situated between Britain’s two biggest cities and served by both the M1 and A1, so it’s a region that’s accessible to a whole swathe of people.
The venue that’s now The Bowl was formerly a roadside inn that closed down in 2020, an unfortunate fate befalling a growing number of pubs in rural Britain. One of the benefits of C&M conceptually is that it’s a creative approach to reviving places like this and bringing them back to life for the benefit of everyone in the community, enthusiast or not.
That’s not to say it’s a simple process to find the right location. We needed somewhere with enough room to encompass everything that people have come to expect from C&M – bar, restaurant, plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, a store, and of course, ample parking space.
Most importantly, though, it needs to be the right kind of venue. One thing that C&M will never do is open in a nondescript industrial unit somewhere – it’s important that our sites have the personality and the feel to make them proper destinations.
The Bowl ticked all these boxes plus a little more – a rundown barn, originally considered a bit of an eyesore, provided us with a creative space for a handy covered seating area to watch vehicles arriving, and a rear patio and beer garden with playground still in situ helped make the site more family friendly.
It seemed like such an obvious location that this wasn’t even the first time we’d tried to take it on – we came close when it was first on the market in 2021, but the deal fell through, and it was only early in 2023 that another opportunity arose. We weren’t going to miss it this time.
With the pub now ours, an intense period of activity followed. During the time the pub had been closed, the building had suffered from leaks and crumbling plaster and the car park was horribly overgrown. Even without these considerations, some of the décor was hopelessly outdated, especially the carpet which looked as if it hadn’t been changed since the early 1970s.
Thankfully, we had a brilliant designer on board who understood our vision and helped us bring the interior into the 21st century and smooth off the rough edges of the outside. With all that in place, we brought in a host of contractors, many from the local area, and there was a three-month period of extremely hard work from everyone involved to get the site ready for opening. While our team on the ground was busy with the renovation, we were hiring an entirely new cohort of 40 staff members and counting, employing floor, kitchen and store staff from across the local area.
Finally, 14 September 2023 rolled around – opening day. As with all best-laid plans, not everything went as smoothly as we’d have hoped. Some of the works overran, so the building was still being decorated as we were stocking the fridges behind the bar. We lost internet when someone cut through a broadband line; and on day two of opening, the pizza oven broke down. It ultimately took us longer than we’d planned to get full food service up and running.
We overcame these hurdles, but The Bowl is still very much an ongoing project. In less than a month of being open, we’ve already learned a lot about how customers use the space, and we’re taking on board every bit of feedback, good and bad. As time goes on, the food menu will expand, more signage will arrive, and we’ll grow and evolve our events calendar more and more as our team get accustomed to the workings of such a unique venue.
Most of all, though, we want to continue being a positive, welcome presence in the local region, for enthusiasts, locals and weary travellers alike. To that end, we’re working closely with local councils, police and other emergency services.
Caffeine&Machine has become an internationally-recognised part of the fabric of UK car culture, and our biggest aim is to continue to grow that recognition, whether that’s at The Hill, The Bowl, or wherever we go next. As for that third venue… watch this space.
