When an independent coffee and doughnut shop opened on the end of a residential street in Swansea earlier this year, dozens of people queued down the road to get in. But unless you know it's there, you'll probably not even know it exists - you need to know it exists!
It's fair to say that family-run eatery "Crewders" has taken the Brynmill area by storm and specialises in decadent doughnuts made in-house, and also serves delicious coffee, hot chocolate and other hot and cold drinks.
Inside the light and airy eatery, which sits around 20 people, artwork by local artists adorns the walls, pretty lights hang from the ceiling, and tables and chairs have been arranged to give people plenty of space to sit and relax. Many of the seats have been upcycled - including a bench made from a church pew - and the whole atmosphere feels warm and cheery. For the latest Swansea news, sign up to our newsletter here
Business-owner Elise William wants Crewders to be a place people can come and chat with friends and family, or just sit and relax with a hot drink and a doughnut and watch the world go by. She and her family began converting the unit - which previously housed a tiny corner shop - last year and refurbished every aspect of the place.
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"The idea came after a family trip to New York," Elise said. "On every corner, every street, just everywhere you went, there were patisseries, bakeries, delis - we loved it. I worked in catering years ago and I've always loved cooking and baking, so when we saw that this unit, not far from where we live, became available we decided to take it on."
"When we first took the unit on last April, the unit was awful! We've had to completely refurbish it and put in new flooring, redo the walls, the tiling, everything," she continued. "It's an independent business run by me and my son, we're a family of entrepreneurs! Before this, I had an online business for 10 years which my other son now runs, and my husband has his own business too."
Elise is proud to be running an independent business and hopes to give the well-known coffee shop chains on nearby Uplands Crescent a run for their money. She said she had designed the menu to be fair-priced.
"We serve 12 varieties of doughnuts, they're all completely hand-made by us: we make the dough, the toppings, everything. We even make the custard [used in some doughnuts] from a recipe from a New York patisserie chef," Elise added. "I've got about 150 cook books at home - they give me inspiration - and then we try different combinations of flavours and make sure they're perfect before introducing them to the shop.
"It took us nine months to perfect the recipe for our doughnuts, they're yeasted doughnuts so they're light and airy and they rise, rather than the cake-style doughnuts that can be quite dense. We will be changing the menu every few months, in the summer time we'll be doing doughnut sundaes, milkshakes and hot doughnuts. Currently we have 12 different doughnuts, there's chocolate doughnuts, nutty doughnuts, fruity ones and four of them are vegan. There's also mini doughnuts and we also do mini doughnut croutons in some hot chocolates!" Want less ads? Download WalesOnline’s Premium app on Apple or Android
At the moment, guests can choose from: OG [original] glaze, cinnamon matcha, strawberry sprinkle, lemon & pistachio, 'Nutlicious', maple & pecan, triple chocolate, cherry & almond, coffee cream 2.0 (a newer take on their previous popular coffee cream doughnut), chocolate surprise, cinnamon cream, and mini doughnuts with different icings. A plain glazed doughnut is £3, whilst a filled doughnut is £3.50, or there's a discount if you buy a box of four.
Going forwards, Elise wants to be more involved in the local community. She said: "Once a week, we have a book group come in and we host the Swansea Green Scene [a local group supporting the environment] too. We want to be involved in the community and be somewhere people can bring their group or club, whilst still appealing to our customers - many are students or parents who pop in after picking up their children from nearby schools."
Crewders can be found at Marlborough Road, Brynmill, Swansea. It's open Tuesday - Friday from 10am to 5.30pm, Saturdays 11am to 5.30pm and Sundays 11am to 4.30pm.
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