Scarlet Wines Falmouth and a Lot of People to Thank
3 days ago
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3 days ago
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Early January is a funny time of year. For a brief spell, the first few days of the year, life seems to pause and there is a little gap between the finishing of the old year and the beginning of the new. Scarlet Wines Falmouth, or the idea for it, was born during exactly that little eddy of time at the start of 2025.
This blog is the story of where the idea for a Falmouth version came from, who contributed to it and what it was like to turn it into reality.
With the help of local legend Sam “Clarkee” Clark, Scarlet Wines had been coasting along nicely for a few years leading up to 2025. Sam was doing a lot of the work and we had many great, loyal customers. I was generally happy with the way it was all going. It wasn’t really growing, I wasn’t chasing for more business and mostly that was fine.
As you will imagine, early January is a quiet time in the wine business. I do my stock take and count the bottles in the chilly warehouse. That evening I was speaking to my son Alex about the year ahead. It became obvious that he was uncertain what to do next so I blurted out “why not open a new wine shop with me then”. To my complete surprise he thought for a moment and said something like, “yes, that might be good”.
Once we finished that call I had a vague idea to look for premises in Falmouth. I did the usual online trawling and very quickly realised this was not a simple matter. Predictably, most of the premises were the wrong size, the wrong location and the wrong price. Never mind that fact that none of them had an alcohol licence.
We decided to launch an interim version; a home delivery service for Falmouth and Penryn. We had access to a lock up store so we did a bit of work on the website, brought over some wine and Alex rode the cargo bike from St Ives back to Falmouth.
Around this time we worked out that we needed to update the website and that we maybe needed some new artwork; keep it simple - just an image to show wine being delivered by bike in Falmouth.
Tuesdays are one of my favourite days of the week. Why? Because I get to play samba with the wonderful Dakadoum in Penryn then head to one of Cornwall’s best pubs, the Famous Barrel in Penryn. During the evening I asked fellow drummer Matt if he knew any decent graphic designers. Obviously that is what Matt does for a living and with in a few days he had sketched “Big Red”, our new logo, the wonderfully cheerful bottle of red wine riding the cargo bike around town.
With Big Red’s help home delivery picked up reasonably well over the Summer, but we all felt we could be doing more. We kept looking at estate agent websites and finally Alex came across a shop for lease on Arwenack Street. After some initial scepticism on my part we began to realise just what a good location this was.
We decided to take the plunge and sign the lease and at the same time go through the arduous process of gaining an alcohol licence. That is not an easy matter in central Falmouth, but we were helped by the world’s most organised lawyer, wonderfully named Ewen McGregor.
It took a couple of months to gain the licence and sign the lease. During that time we were dreaming of what the shop should look like. Alex and I made several trips to the shop and the staff at the lovely Bean Hive were kind enough to let us take measurements and a load of photos.
It was around this time that we began talking to Mia, Alex’s sister, about the possibility of her also joining the new team. At that time Mia was living in Brixton but it felt like she needed a change of direction and Alex and I certainly needed the help.
On Saturday 5th October the estate agents finally handed Mia and Alex the keys to the shop. They immediately started to pull up the flooring as we were keeping our fingers crossed the lovely red and white tiles we could see near the front door extended further. They did! It was exciting to realise we would have a lovely original Victorian floor for the shop.
Around this time we were looking for suppliers and our thoughts turned to coffee. It was a no-brainier to contact the wonderful Yallah and we arranged a visit to the roastery up the road in Argal. We were immediately sold. Fantastic coffee, lovely people and the prospect of a stunning espresso machine from Senesso. I genuinely hardly slept that night. Excitement or caffeine? Who knows.
Alex and I began the shop fitting work; initially decorating. It felt pretty sad to paint over the vibrant pink left by the Bean Hive but that colour really didn’t fit the Scarlet look, so with considerable remorse we picked up the (nearly) black paint and set to work.
For the bar and shelves we wanted something original but were terrified of the cost of professional shop-fitting. Luckily for us we came across the fantastic Woodcut based in Bugle. They will cut plywood to whatever size you need and the quality they achieve is fantastic. We placed an order for around 200 individual pieces of machined and lacquered birch ply and waited (im)patiently for them to arrive.
It took Alex and I two very fulfilling weeks to turn those 200 odd pieces into a bar and wine shelves. During this time Mia arrived in a huge van from London and we suddenly had an incredibly welcome extra pair of hands.
Add some stainless steel from Helston Fabrications, LED lighting from Burley Electrics, the incredible coffee machine from Senesso and a beer pump from Verdant (yey!) and we were nearly ready to open. Let’s not forget banquette cushions, curtains and fabrics from Justine Chinn.
In early November we added three lovely staff members, Cass, Harvey and Siany. Welcome! Finally it was time to bring hundreds of bottles over from St Ives and we opened the doors on Tuesday 11th November.
Not everything is finished. With some exec-chef guidance from old friend Todd we are still developing our food offering, so please watch this space for new menu ideas and small plates as we move into the new year.
It has been a fascinating journey up to this point, but the interesting part only really starts now. A good cafe becomes a community in its own right. Hopefully it grows a personality of its own; a personality made up of little contributions from the people who work in it and from the customers who visit. That creative process is just starting now; it is going to be lovely to see what emerges.
I would like to take the chance to offer a huge thank you to all the people who have helped us get this far already and especially to the staff and customers who will hopefully become the lifeblood of the place over the next few years. Plus an extra big thank you to the wonderful Sarah who photographed the new cafe and who looks after this website so brilliantly for us.
Enjoy your wine! And your coffee and small plates :)
