Café Rohitgiri opens at 17 Cheap Street in Newbury

A new café inspired by the beautiful landscape near its owner’s home town in Bangladesh has opened in Cheap Street.

Café Rohitgiri, a coffee house that serves breakfast, lunch, cakes and pastries, opened at 17 Cheap Street on January 5.

Café owner Mosharof Hossai – better known by his friends as Mo or Shuvo – has been really pleased with the public response to his new business venture since it opened last month, despite a lack of marketing beforehand.

Mr Hossain said: “The most important thing to me is that the same customers are returning. That has given me a little bit more confidence that we are doing really good.

“Maybe their expectations and our standards have matched, so they come back.”

He initially wanted to create a space where he and his friends could meet, but this soon developed into the Café Rohitgiri idea.

Mr Hossain is originally from Cumilla in eastern Bangladesh and he moved to Newbury in 2010.

He said: “I feel like it is my home town now. I have been in Newbury for 14 years.

“I feel like how I used to feel at home with a lot of friends. It is a very nice place to live.”

The café’s name Rohitgiri harkens back to his roots in Bangladesh. Near Cumilla, there is a 34-mile long stretch of hills that are red in colour that appear to bleed when it is raining.

Rohit means red, and giri means hill, so Mr Hossain wanted to recognise his original home town and the scenic hills which he said were very special to him.

He was also very complimentary of his members of staff and said: “All of my team are my friends. We’ve known each other for a minimum of 10 to 14 years. They are well-trained baristas.”

All the food at the café is cooked on-site and fresh, every day and can be ordered online for collection from the Cheap Street eatery.

There is also an outside courtyard for customers to enjoy in the warmer months.

During the week, the café is open from 7am to 6pm, on Saturdays it’s open from 8am to 6pm and on Sunday it’s open from 8am to 4pm.