New coffee shop in Slough's Horlicks Quarter offers fresh and handmade goods

A new artisan coffee shop in Slough’s Horlicks Quarter has now opened – offering fresh bread, breakfasts and hot lunch options, and specialising in handmade items.

Honesty Horlicks is set up in the iconic Horlicks Factory redevelopment in Stoke Poges Lane.

Honesty Group, founded by Romilla Arber in 2014, is ‘committed to providing real, non-ultra-processed food’ and uses local producers where possible.

All food made from scratch, and it uses sustainable products as much as possible, including no palm oil.

“Once you try the product, you see the quality shines through,” said Romilla.

It has the usual breakfast items and a vegan option, plus hand-made pastries made in the traditional way.

Lunchtime offers classics such as cottage pie, lasagne, soup, as well as freshly sealed-on-site sandwiches and paninis. Its bread comes from The Heritage Bakery in Oxfordshire.)

There are also cakes and biscuits made in kitchen in Newbury by Honesty’s chef there. It sells fresh bread and attempts to be light on packaging for environmental reasons.

Products do change from time to time, as they are trialled in each outlet to see what sells there.

The new café, in Clocktower Place, is part of the broader Horlicks redevelopment by Berkeley Homes, offering about 1,300 new homes.

Berkeley has been working on the major regeneration of the former factory since May 2020.

Honesty sets out its shops individually depending on where they are. At its branch in the thick of the Horlicks Quarter, it has gone for a ‘Manhattan-ish vibe.’

Romilla said: “That’s the inspiration we had fitting it out. That time period fitted it well given the historical significance of the building.

“We spent quite a lot of money on our fit-out, so people feel trouble’s been taken with it and it’s enhancing the space they’re living in.

“It’s nice to be part of a heritage building. I think Berkley Homes have taken a lot of care with how they’ve developed the site.

“We were attracted to Horlicks because it sits in the community. We’re careful about that – we want to be part of the community not sitting alongside it.”

With that in mind, Honesty seeks to employ local people, and train employees in-house to move onto other parts of the business.

“That’s the vibe of Honesty – community values,” said Romilla.

Honesty Horlicks works as a ‘functional, space to work remotely or catch up with colleagues for a meeting,’ but also offers ‘a comfortable chair for those who simply want to sit back and relax.’

The Horlicks branch is Honesty Groups’ 11th coffee shop across Berkshire and Hampshire.