It hasn't been plain sailing over the last 15 years for cob shop owner Fiona Fillingham with ups and downs along the way. But 15 years is a milestone worth celebrating, especially at a time when so many small businesses are closing down.
The shop, Taste, has had a revamp inside and out - carried out by Fiona and her husband Michael over Christmas and the New Year. She relaunched the business in Kirkby-in-Ashfield on Monday (January 9) with a birthday cake, fizz, a stilt walker Luke Baker and a visit from Ashfield MP Lee Anderson.
The shop was a convenience store which sold "a few breakfast cobs" when Fiona, a former forklift truck saleswoman, took it over. She said: "My uncle had had a cob shop in Annesley and while my children were growing up I went and helped him out and just fell in love with preparing the food and serving the customers.
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"Someone told me this in Kirkby had come up for sale and I decided to go all in and buy it. I was a single mum at the time so it was quite a big gamble but it worked - it paid off. It was hard - and it's still hard sometimes but I love it.
"I have changed all my colours and signage. It's now olive and pale green, before it was turquoise and black. I just wanted to zhuzh it up a little bit. It's been the same for 15 years - fashions have changed so I've stepped it up and gone with the times."
The job has earnt her the nickname 'the cob lady'. She said: "You're in a pub with your friends or in a restaurant having dinner and you hear across the restaurant 'it's the cob lady can I have a bacon cob?' I never really spent a lot of time in Kirkby until I bought the shop and now I know everybody. It's a lovely place to be, there's a lot of fantastic businesses here and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. People are so lovely and welcoming."
Taste, in Low Moor Road, sells a traditional array of breakfasts, lunchtime cobs, omelettes, paninis, salads, jacket potatoes and cakes. Fiona said: "I still serve what I did 15 years ago, I think if it's not broken, don't fix it. The best-sellers are breakfast cobs - sausage, bacon and egg - and full breakfasts with eight items. I do salad boxes that are very popular with the ladies in the summer. My main one is Wiltshire ham salad cob, definitely.
"I've tried to spice it up with brie and cranberry and smoked salmon and cream cheese but they don't want it. As long as what they are getting is good quality at a good price, they're happy."
Fiona has also acquired a new car to drop off orders to local companies and nearby industrial estates and she has contracts to supply Available Car and the new Amazon warehouse. But it hasn't been an easy ride since taking over the shop.
"I have had very down times. I've actually put it up for sale twice in the 15 years, thinking I can't do this any more, I've had enough and then I've shown people round and I've thought no, you're not having it, it's my baby and I've took it off the market again."
One of the worst times for the business was during the pandemic when Fiona decided to close the shop to keep her staff safe, particularly one whose son was vulnerable. "It was the most tough decision I'd ever made but I think it was the right decision. I got this government grant, the girls went onto furlough. I thought I was going to lose everybody, 99 percent is regular business. I thought they are going to go somewhere else but they haven't. Everybody came back."
Another stressful period was during roadworks in 2016, which prevented customers getting to the shop. The work should have taken six weeks - instead it lasted six months.
"I did a protest and a petition which got signed by thousands of people in Kirkby. People couldn't get to us because the road was dug up and it's the main artery where I am into Kirkby and the traffic was backing up. Me and my staff would actually be out there directing the traffic a lot because people were taking risks when both sets of lights were stuck on red," recalled Fiona.
"I took them to court for loss of earnings., It took about four years, I went to court four times and eventually the utilities company decided to declare themselves bankrupt so on my final day in court the judge said 'I'm ever so sorry there's no one to claim from, they have closed down and gone bankrupt.' That was very, very tough."
On a more positive note, Fiona said she loves what she does and can't ever imagine for working for anyone else. "Every day I can function as a business and see people is a good day. I love it.
"I know customers by name and by what they eat. I can have a company work van pull up and I know who it is and I've already got his bacon, sausage and egg on the griddle as he has it every day. It's like when you work behind a bar, you know, your usual?"
Despite rising prices, she refuses to cut corners. "I could buy cheap bacon and cheap sausage and it's just naff, no one's going to buy it, so I have always kept the quality up. I think people can get complacent and think I have got the customers now so I'll just buy cheaper. I never have and I won't.
"I try and keep my produce local. I have a local egg farm that delivers my eggs. I have a local baker that does all my breads and savouries and cakes.
"I'm a bit of a taskmaster when I want to be but it's got to be right. You don't succeed for 15 years by not keeping it right. I tell my staff we don't make cobs, we build them. It's not just about slapping a bit of food on a bit of bread, it's how it's presented, people eat with their eyes. I think everybody would open a cob they've had made for them to see what it looked like inside, is there enough filling, does it look nice?"
Fiona employees four members of staff including one of her twin daughters Chloe, 24. "My girls have worked with me for a long time, we're like a family. I love them, they love me I think.
"We're just like a group of sisters in there, working hard and having a good time. We do have a lot of banter with the customers. We're just laughing the whole time. It's a lovely place to work."
Regulars include double glazier Chris Ashley. The 44-year-old said: "It's perfect. It's good value for money, always reliable, always hot and always very nice, I've never been let down. There's other places and plenty of choice but we always choose here.
"I come most days for a breakfast tray or a sausage, egg and mushroom cob. You've got to support local businesses, 100 percent."
Ashfield MP Lee Anderson attended the relaunch. He said: "It's wonderful. This place has been here 15 years. Fiona has done a cracking job. She's not suffered through the cost of living crisis, she's adapted, she's got four members of staff. They are busy feeding the people of Kirkby.
"This is a great location - this is the sort of local, small independent trader we want in this town and throughout Ashfield. It's a great success story and the food here is absolutely first class."
The shop will also have a new purpose in 2023 as it has been designated one of Ashfield's safe spaces where vulnerable women and girls can seeks help. Surveillance camera will be installed on poles outside and technology will allow women to make a live, video-recorded SOS call to CCTV control room staff and police staff if they find themselves in danger or under threat. Staff at Taste will be undergoing training shortly.
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