Fingerprint scanner can detect if you’ve had coffee
A new scanner that has been funded by the British Home Office is so sensitive than it can pick up traces of drugs from fingerprints. The device is currently being used and evaluated by West Yorkshire Police.
Apparently, the scanner can build a chemical profile of a suspect, identifying the person’s gender, what type of cosmetics they use and even whether they’ve had a cup of coffee, though its main job is to flag up signs of illicit drug use.
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Costa opens up its Eco Pod
A Costa Coffee outlet in Telford has become the United Kingdom’s first ‘zero energy’ coffee shop and arguably one of the company’s best designed stores.
As technology advances along at an alarming rate, a number of businesses and domestic addresses have begun to adopt and utilise renewable energy sources for their own use. But after a few years in the design process, Costa, one of the UK’s largest coffee chains, has just opened up its first solar powered store.
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Pret a Manger staff can hand out free coffee
Pret A Manger has ditched the idea of a loyalty card and has adopted a new, alternative method to keep customers coming back for more coffee. They’ll be handing out free cups of coffee, snacks and sandwiches to customers on an ad hoc basis.
“It’s totally random, maybe if someone’s extra nice of if they are a regular, of if they’ve bought a lot of things. There’s no rule,” explained one London based barista.
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Trew Era Cafe: A Brand new enterprise?
London is proliferated with coffee shops. From cheap and cheerful cafes through to third wave ventures designed for those who like to wax lyrical about the sovereignty of origin, the English capital has it all. And now there’s a new coffee shop in town and it’s been generating headlines left, right and centre.
The New Era housing estate probably won’t become East London’s trendiest hotspot any time soon. It could have been though. Plans were afoot to gentrify the area; to raise rental prices and try and draw in prosperous clientele to the area. But those plans failed. So it seems that this run-down area of London has become home to one of the country’s most talked about coffee shops.
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Wetherspoon to cut coffee prices in a bid to boost profits
Is there a new coffee price war about to start on Britain’s high streets? The Financial Times certainly thinks so, and that it will be the pub chain JD Wetherspoon that fires the first warning shot in the direction of Starbucks, Costa Coffee and McDonald’s.
With the proliferation of coffee shops in the United Kingdom coming at the expense of local boozers, Wetherspoon must be applauded for diversifying their menus and become a true one size fits all establishment that caters to a diverse range of clients. And because of this shift, they’ve reaped some healthy financial rewards.
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Crazed coffee chucker burns London parking attendant
From the market reports to the utterly ridiculous today we’re afraid. Sometimes, when you read these stories you just have to let out an incredulous sigh: They really do highlight how absurd some people can be.
According to numerous reports in the British press, a van driver threw a cup of scalding hot coffee over a traffic warden – because of a row over a parking ticket.
It transpires that Russell Smith was caught pulled up, appearing to park in a bus stop – something which is against parking regulations. When confronted, Mr Smith, 49, launched a foul mouthed tirade at the attendant, Joel Zagbayou.
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London coffee shop threatened over ‘Je suis Charlie’ sign
The terrible events that took place in France last week have dominated headlines in many European countries. On social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter the phrase ‘Je suis Charlie’ became an immediate trending topic with staying power and only a few days ago, with the tragedy still raw in the hearts and minds of many Parisians, memorial services were held in the French capital.
Issues will continue to be debated as it appears to be incredibly likely that a new discourse on the fine line that freedom of speech and expression balances, but conflicting opinions, unfortunately, threatened to boil over in a British coffee shop in an event that highlights just how heightened tensions are at the moment.
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Harris + Hoole post $20m loss
To be brutally honest, it can be hard to understand the Tesco-backed coffee chain Harris + Hoole. On one hand their parent company is actively scaling back their expansion – Tesco closed six stores earlier on this year due to poor trading figures – but they triumphed in the recent European Coffee Awards when they took home the gong for the Best Coffee Chain in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
You would imagine that the Harris + Hoole question could morph into a linger problem that haunts the corridors of Tesco HQ, a bit like the West Lothian Question is the topical spectre of British politics. The entity is obviously held in high esteem by those industry professionals who voted for the continental awards, but incoming revenue streams are quite hard to come by.
And now Harris + Hoole has recorded another annual loss.
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Coffee ban for Leicester hospitals
During the working day there’s nothing better in our opinion than grabbing a great cup of coffee and then attacking our remaining tasks head on. We don’t believe it is a right to enjoy a hot beverage on occasions during the hours of 9am-5pm, but we believe it is a wonderful tool to aid efficiency.
Unfortunately, it appears that staff at a number of Leicester hospitals will no longer be allowed to sip on a cappuccino or brew a cup of tea whilst on the job.
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Insomnia looks at Britain
You may think that there is already too much competition on the high street, but customers in the United Kingdom could be further spoilt for choice as news from the Irish press suggests that the Dublin-based coffee chain could be entering the British market.
The first Insomnia branded store could open its doors as early as next year, according to some sources.