Jonah's Coffee Bar, Preston

 

A recent visit back to my old uni city of Preston turned out to way more fruitful that I could have imagined. With a few hours to idle around before I went to see illustrator Mr Bingo give a talk at UCLan, I did a quick Instagram search to see what was new in the city. 

Preston has really tucked its shirt in over the last five years, with the city centre + university area being heavily invested in. Lines of trees have been added to the highstreet, the once-tired flag market is now a bustling hotpot where traditional butchers and antique sellers are knocking elbows with microbrewing start-ups and local ceramicists, and small business ventures are starting to pop up in disused retail units which have been left behind by the decline of the British high street.

The old Fish Market hosts another new venture for the city - Preston Box Market; a canopied row of tidy retail units ready to be occupied by local entrepreneurs. Coffee is always on my research list, and when I came across Jonah's Coffee I put it as top priority. 

Jonah's Coffee originally started as a mobile coffee cart business, by Adam "Jonah" + friends, serving the local area, and in the summer of 2018 the guys decided to take the next step. The idea was to bring a speciality coffee experience to Preston - with a level of service, knowledge and enthusiasm we associate with the more established guys around the country. This little place really does stand out in the city, with the striking wooden coffee bar being built by hand, bespoke typeface + hand lettering seen across the menu and signage, and an extensive selection coffee, tea (as well as soft drinks + locally baked cakes) being sourced from as far as Texas, to as local as Atkinson's from Lancaster.

Two hours later and I felt like I'd known Adam for years. It turns out we have friends in common, both share a keen interest in DIY, and within an hour he was showing me how to work the equipment. What a find!

Jonah's Coffee, Preston Markets - Box Market, Earl Street, Preston, PR1 2LA

Nice Things #2 - The Birthday Presents

Lexon Calculator for those sums

Paris Versus New York by Vahram Muratyan

Loads more quality reading material

Oi Polloi gift voucher, back of the net

One of THEE greatest and jazziest cards ever!

Well it's that time of the year and the friends & family have come up trumps once again. On Sunday I turned the ripe old age of 27. I'm not where I thought I would be in life but I've got a roof over my head, two part time jobs, an internship and a wonderful girlfriend so it ain't all bad. The time will come, I just need to keep positive and pro-active. 

Even though I wasn't feeling my usual chipper self on Sunday morning we got the formalities out of the way and headed down to Avenham Park to check out the last day of the Preston Guild (a celebration of brilliant people and things in the area which only comes around every 20 years!). After an ice cream and some serious dog watching we headed back and got stuck into some presents.

It was a book-heavy year with no complaints. I've been after Paris Verses New York ever since I found out the blog had been turned into a book (or was it the opposite?), check out the blog; it illustrates the differences between the two cities in the form of cartoons. Roadside America is just about the best book I own now, it's full of weird and wonderful happenings from around the States. If you're into advertising, oddities or kitsch stuff then this is the book for you. The whole gang clubbed together to get me a gift voucher for Oi Polloi in Manchester, I usually can't afford anything in there other than socks so I can treat myself to some decent clobber.

Thank you all for your birthday wishes, here to another year.

Barbershop Photoshoot

Here's a few unedited pictures from a recently photo shoot at a barber shop, for a uni project. We took over 400 images on the day so it was a tough task picking out our favourites. The about ones are a few that I am really happy with. The theme of the shoot was. The aim behind the project was to promote a local business(in Preston, where I go to uni) and display 4 images at an exhibition in January.

Which is your favourite, if any? Any feedback is really welcome as it could help with my final research sketchbook.

Styling by myself(and 3 others in my group), photographs by Dave Schofield

In other news I was recently featured in an article, "Stylish Men on Twitter". The article is very complimentary and I have no idea why the chose me. Give it a read if you have a mo.

Went out for magazines....

So I got up early on my day off to go through to Preston, the nearest city from where I live and also where I go to uni. In my mind I had magazines, I also needed to get a few necessities too. After a nice hour long coffee and reading session in Starbucks (the paninis are hotter than the sun aren't they?) I headed off to TKmaxx. If I remember rightly the American version is called TJmaxx? Well I picked up these dusty blue desert boots by a Scandinavian brand called Shoo. I know nothing about this brand but I do know they make an amazing range of shoes.

Reminiscent to the Acne boots from the new S/S collection and Paul Smith ones that have just been released.

I just love the little details on them, the one white eyelet and the light bit stitch below. They were a steal too so I was well chuffed.

I did get what I went out for too, I picked up Noise, 10 Men and Dazed & Confused. There's some great editorials in Dazed, the whole issue is themed on Frankenstein. The image image of the front page features a leather strap mask by Gareth Pugh. I'll take some pics of them soon.