A NEW café with a 'drive-thru' officially opens today, marking a return for a major brand in the city after a lengthy hiatus.

The city’s latest coffee shop chain addition will be Starbucks, open on Kingstown Broadway, Kingstown, Carlisle.

Officially open from 6am today, this café is the first one in England for the OCO franchise, which previously only had Starbucks shops in Scotland.

Yesterday, the café’s store manager Jade Bird invited friends and family of the franchise to see inside the store, allowing us to have a sneak peek at how everything is coming along.

In Cumbria: Starbucks Carlisle, interior.Starbucks Carlisle, interior. (Image: NQ)

With work still being done on the drive-thru at the time, the interior has been fully furnished with comfortable seating, tables, and wall outlets almost everywhere, making it a good spot for people doing work on laptops or wanting to charge their devices.

In Cumbria: Starbucks Carlisle, behind the counter.Starbucks Carlisle, behind the counter. (Image: NQ)

Speaking on its opening, David Neil, store manager for Hamilton’s Starbucks, also a part of the OCO franchise, who was here to support Jade in Carlisle’s opening, said he was hopefully going to see a line out of the door: “It’ll be the first Starbucks store in Carlisle in many years, and it’s the first drive-thru store down here so it should be busy.

In Cumbria: Starbucks Carlisle, behind the counter.Starbucks Carlisle, behind the counter. (Image: NQ)

“I was down here with Jade doing interviews for the store, and a lot of what we were hearing is that people missed Starbucks being on the high street, so we’re hoping it will bring a lot of business."

In Cumbria: Starbucks Carlisle, seating.Starbucks Carlisle, seating. (Image: NQ)

The nearest Starbucks stores from Carlisle are in Gretna services and Southwaite services, with there being no city-centre Starbucks for a while until now.

In Cumbria: Starbucks Carlisle, food.Starbucks Carlisle, food. (Image: NQ)

In terms of jobs, David said: “We have employed 25 members of staff for the store, so there has been quite a lot of staff coming from the local area.

In Cumbria: Starbucks Carlisle, drive-thruStarbucks Carlisle, drive-thru (Image: NQ)

“Also, as the store gets busier, more people come, we’ll be employing more staff at the same time.”

With it being situated nearby two Costa coffee outlets, coffee connoisseurs are in no short supply of places to get their buzz on.

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