Sam Walker and Tim Wilson are owners of New Street Market, a café, bar, community events space and lifestyle store which opens in Woodbridge tomorrow. Here, Tim shares the story of what has brought them both to Suffolk
Would you like to introduce yourselves?
We are Sam Walker and Tim Wilson, and we are both men of unearthly height and a real passion for good living, whether that’s seeking out the best coffee, the most reliable cocktails, an interesting plate of food, a banging playlist or just a plain old comfortable seat. We’re really excited to appear on Woodbridge’s map of great experiences and we hope we can bring something new to the town.
Are you Suffolk born and raised? What do you love about the county, and Woodbridge in particular?
We’re both London-born but with family roots in East Anglia. Sam’s wife Helen has family up here in Suffolk, and Tim grew up in North Norfolk. We both moved here around 2020 from South London, which we’d both been itching to leave for a while. I’ve loved coming to Woodbridge for nearly 20 years and always enjoyed the sense of relaxed creativity that lives on Suffolk’s coast.
What has led you to relaunching New Street Market and what’s the thinking behind it?
We’d been discussing how our respective ambitions to entertain people might dovetail for a while. Sam and Helen are an amazing husband and wife duo who have an astonishing eye for interiors, for colour, for joyous visual celebration, and for curating a home in a really special way. And I’m coming from a London career as a West End and touring theatre producer, and as a festival director and cultural entrepreneur, so that colours where I want to go for the space.
What skills will you be bringing to the table?
Well, I’ve run bars and gathering spaces a fair bit before, and so the machine of how that all works is sort of my end, as well as perhaps the programming of the live activities. We’ve got a space called the Square which is free to book for literally ANY type of gathering, be it a choir, a drawing club, a yoga class or a birthday – whatever it is, that’s the space for you. And Sam brings the finisher’s perfection – he’s all about that final finesse and the well-considered decision – so sometimes I have to slow down and pay more attention to what Sam’s looking at!
What can people expect this time round? There will be a café, shop and bar?
Café, Shop, Bar, Off-License, Events Space, Pantry – it’s a lot going on under one roof. But that’s the idea – it’s all about being a new destination in Woodbridge, one where you can turn up and sort of lose track of time a bit. Stay another hour – that’s our big idea. But we’re hoping that being open every day is going to reset people’s relationship with the building: we want to be absolutely, reliably, constantly the best coffee in town and the best place to come and work, eat, play, drink, and gather.
Where can people find New Street Market/find out more?
All together now – INSTAGRAM! For now, that’s the most up to date news but if you’re up for a fortnightly mailer with the rundown of events, food pop ups, music, shop wares and everything, then accept no substitute for the good old mailing list. Find that on the website newstreetmarket.com
What are your hopes and dreams for New Street Market?
Both of us are so keen to see it filled with people who are revelling in the simple joy of being in a beautiful place. There’s a particular glow about a place where people are employing their everyday creativity, even if that’s simply an appreciation of design, of music, of food and drink. But that glow gets brighter when people congregate in the Square to share what they love!
New Street Market, 70 New Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 1DX, Visit newstreetmarket.com and follow on Instagram.
Featured image of (left to right) Tim and Sam – supplied
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