The Christmas decorations were still up at Stacks on the grey morning of Monday, January 13. The superstitious side of me twitched a little – it’s bad luck to have Christmas decorations up past Twelfth Night. More to the point, there’s something a little gloomy about being reminded of carols and family and food when that happy period has already been replaced with an impersonal, interminable January.
A Christmas tree stood next to a Swiss cheese plant. Little baubles hung like stars from the ceiling. Festive décor aside, Stacks has an awesome interior design. Wood shaving boards line many of the walls, giving the impression that the café is constantly under construction, constantly buzzing with potential, constantly ready to be moulded by the imagination of its customers.
A makeshift stage stands at the front of the café, which I’m told both a local councillor and an Oasis tribute band recently made use of. While empty now, you can imagine it hosting a kaleidoscope of events: music, poetry, comedy, dance.
The inventive spirit of the café, which opened a few months ago, is evidenced on every table. One has a set of dominoes. Another, a chess board, solitaire board or a pack of cards. My table was nestled next to a plant nursery where the first sprig of lavender had popped out of the soil.
An eclectic set of books on Hendrix, The Beatles and graphic design sit near the record player, tempting customers to flick through them and let the pages inspire them. Artisanal coffees with funky names like Frostbite call customers to embrace the closest thing our modern day has to the art of alchemy: home brewing.
Stacks is not a place for scrolling through your phone (though that is obviously allowed). Stacks is a place for thinking, imagining and discovering. The ‘under-construction’ vibe created by the wood shaving boards is no accident: it is deliberate, thought-out, maybe just a little revolutionary.
The café is never ‘finished’: as long as customers bring in new ideas, it can transform in new ways. A little smitten with the set-up, I ordered a pistachio cappuccino for £3.70.
It arrived lopsided with the chocolate sprinkles dumped at the side. I wasn’t sure if this was an accident or a novel artistic statement about transcending the rules of coffee making (it was probably an accident).
Sprinkles aside, the coffee was furnished with some very intricate foam art, including two delicate hearts and what looked like lotus leaves unfurling in the foam. The pistachio syrup added strong nutty tasting notes to the coffee and was a refreshing change of pace from my usual pick-me-up. Perhaps even the unorthodox sprinkles played its part in making it a memorable coffee.
All in all, Stacks is an exciting new joint that makes ‘unfinished’ a compliment, not an insult. Most cafes consider themselves complete when they first open their doors, but Stacks invokes a sense of unending experimentation.
It isn’t the walls that limit Stacks, but the imaginations of those who enter. I truly hope you pop your head in next time you’re in Weston.
That said, I do hope they get round to taking down the Christmas tree soon. Because if there’s anything businesses could do without in this economic climate, it’s bad luck.
Stacks is open at the Sovereign Shopping Centre in Weston-Super-Mare from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays. You can follow Stacks on Instagram.