Friar’s Street Stirling. Home to one of the Old Town’s most beguiling coffee shops. Quirky, stylish and independent, Sable & Flea is beginning to attract the attention it richly deserves. If you’re looking for artisan coffee, cakes baked by hand, and a vintage setting that’ll ease the mind, you might just find it at Sable & Flea.
After 24 years in Melbourne Australia, owner Suzi Carr and her husband Peter returned to the UK where they opened the doors of Sable & Flea at Christmastime 2015. Suzi had owned a thriving interior design business in Melbourne, a city which, she says, has ‘the best coffee in the world’.
For the love of coffee
It’s this love of good coffee that started her on the path to selling her own: ‘I knew I would struggle to get a decent one here, so I decided that’s what I would do when I moved back.’ Her dislike of how chains have taken over coffee, food and retail across the UK also drove her decision. In response, fine coffee beans, authenticity, healthy food, independence and beautiful design have come together to create Sable & Flea.
A unique name and interior
Even the coffee house’s name is unique: ‘It’s a play on my children’s names, Saffron, Jezebel and Fletcher.’ The ‘sable’ and ‘flea’ elements also reflect her love both of expensive vintage treasures and irresistibly cheap flea market finds. It’s a balance you will find in the café interior too. Here, mosaic wall tiles are backdrop to delicate colour, signature pieces, and informal furniture. It’s an environment the Danish would call ‘hygge’ – cosy, homey, a comforting place to be with friends; to eat, talk and relax.
A place to be
Suzi loves the venue she has so carefully created and which now draws considerable, regular custom. They tell Suzi that’s it the good coffee, warm welcome, nice atmosphere and the décor that keeps them coming back. In summer, the sunny courtyard is a perfect spot, too. When asked what Suzi is most proud of at Sable & Flea, it’s this concept of setting that she underlines: ‘It’s the aesthetics of the place. Being an interior designer, it’s important that I create a beautiful and interesting place to hang out’.
A menu for the soul
And what’s on the menu? ‘Our inspiration is definitely from all the fantastic fresh food you can get in Australia. The menu is small, fresh, healthy, mostly organic, mostly vegetarian – with just a little meat’. Friendly, healthy and artisan, Sable & Flea’s unique character attracts an engaging clientele, too: ‘I’ve met some really fabulous people in the last year,’ says Suzi, ‘my regular customers and then some really interesting travellers, too’.
All about you
Forget Starbucks and having your name called out over a queue of fractious customers. Rediscover the slower pace of café culture – the one-to-one, the perfectly imperfect slice of a home-baked cake, and the coffee that’s been made for you alone – just the way you like it. If this sounds good, Sable & Flea is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30am-5pm, at 12 Friar’s Street, Stirling. Go make some new friends, and make the time your own.
- Follow them on Facebook too: https://www.facebook.com/sableandflea
- Photo credits: All photos courtesy of Sable & Flea. Copyright Sable & Flea.