Bistro dream comes true for Kettering butcher Jamie

A popular Kettering butcher is set to bring another empty town centre unit to life by opening a bistro later this year.

Jamie Cooper, owner of Jamie's in Gold Street, is moving his Eats Cafe from the unit next door to the old Carphone Warehouse store by the Newlands Shopping Centre entrance.

But while it will be a cafe by day, at night it will transform into a bistro and has been something Jamie has been wanting to do for the past six years.

The 35-year-old said: "I always said I wanted to open a restaurant and now we're going for it.

"I can't wait for it to be finished. It's going to be a great place and people are going to get nothing but the best.

"It's another reason for people to come into Kettering and hopefully it brings a bit of a buzz to the town."

The new venture will be called Eats Cafe and Bistro - with Eats representing his three children Emelie, Ashton and Tyler - and Jamie hopes it could be ready to open by May or June.

He said the 'London-style bistro' will take it back to the old school and will use meat supplied from his butcher's shop.

It will be online bookings only with no walk-ins, have upstairs seating and "will really look after people", Jamie said.

He's promising Sunday roasts which he hopes will be a massive hit - but is keeping the rest of their "unique" food he says won't be found elsewhere under wraps for now.

Jamie, who first started working at the butcher's shop as a boy, said: "We want to offer something special but you won't have to pay through the roof for it like in London.

"That's what we do in all of our businesses - make sure people get the best price possible that we can afford."

The old Eats Cafe in Gold Street closed this week and the unit is being redesigned so that Jamie's next door can expand, with the butcher's shop more than doubling in size and taking over the back part of the cafe.

The front of the old cafe unit will become a spice shop, Jamie said.

It's hoped the spice shop and butcher's expansion will be ready by the end of March.

And Jamie's ventures don't end there.

He's also looking to open another place, called Little Eats and selling coffee and cake, at the old shake shack unit at the far end of the Newlands Shopping Centre.

He hopes to create another 10 jobs for the town over the next six months.

The projects are his latest after launching deliveries and internet sales, a cash-and-carry style discount shop and then a pet store last year despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said: "Business is booming and I'm loving it."