Josie's opens its doors at the Station Mill in Alresford

Josie’s opened its doors today (Monday, March 18) on Station Road near Alresford Station, home of the heritage Watercress Line.

Speaking to the Chronicle, café manager Ben Mayle said: “It’s great to be here. It is a great location with a lot of footfall, and it is fantastic to be in the heart of the town, serving great coffee and food.

"We are going to do what we are good at and what our customers know us for.

“We are not here to compete with any other businesses, we’re just here to do what we do best and serve great food and drink.”

READ MORE: Josie’s to open its doors at the Station Mill in Alresford

Josie's opened on Monday, March 18 (Image: Chris Atkinson)

The café offers a range of food and drink options.

While the Alresford location does not allow dogs, an external heated, covered shelter has been set up to serve customers who visit with their four-legged friends.

This is the sixth Josie’s coffee shop in Hampshire, with the family-run chain also having locations in Winchester, Bishop’s Waltham, Romsey, Petersfield and Chandler’s Ford. The Alresford branch has created approximately 20 new jobs in the market town.

As previously reported, Josie's has taken over the location previously occupied by Party at the Mill after operators The Roasting Party announced that it would be closing the site in December last year.

Luke Searle, Josie's operations manager, previously said: “We are absolutely delighted to be given the opportunity to open in Alresford.

Crowds flocked to the newly opened cafe (Image: Chris Atkinson)

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“It’s all happened quite quickly. We weren’t planning to open more than one Josie’s it’s all just happened as and when an opportunity has come up. We are not actively looking.

“We’ve had a really positive response from everyone. Josie’s had an eye on Alresford for about 10 years. It’s a beautiful market town that suits our demographic and bridges the gap between all our cafes.

“The Roasting Party supplies our coffee so it’s a mutual relationship we have had for many years. We’ll put the Josie’s touch on the space but we’ll be keeping much of it the same. It’s a beautiful building and we love what the Roasting Party has done with it.”