Business

Harris + Hoole to close

Tuesday 19th August 2014

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Harris + Hoole coffee shop in Crowborough will close on Sunday 21st September.

Despite plans to open six more in the chain later this year, following a review of business at existing shops, the company say they have taken the decision to close the coffee shop on Crowborough High Street.

Three siblings are behind H+H, but the company has financial backing from the supermarket Tesco. Nick, Andrew and Laura Tolley first got started in the coffee business by establishing Taylor St. Baristas shops across London and in Brighton.

Harris + Hoole opened in Crowborough in February last year in the unit formerly occupied by Clinton Cards. The coffee shop chain has other shops in Sussex in Horsham, Burgess Hill and Shorham.

In total H+H said they would imminently close six struggling shops, leaving 41 across South East England and London.

Nick Tolley, co-founder said:

Harris+Hoole is a fast growing business. We have six more stores scheduled to open this year and the vast majority of our stores continue to perform strongly. However, like any business which has grown rapidly, some locations have performed better than others, so it makes sense for us to review those locations which have done less well, or where the lease is coming to an end. Unfortunately based on this review, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close our Crowborough shop.

We are currently in a consultation with our employees for the store and will confirm more details in due course.

Above all, we would like to thank our customers in Crowborough for their support since we opened our store here in February 2013.

Post by Harris & Hoole Crowborough.

As the company’s website explains, the name Harris + Hoole is taken from an entry in The Diary of Samuel Pepys referring to a visit to a coffee shop in Covent Garden in the 17th century.