Liverpool coffee shop facing difficulty shown support by local community

Motivational quote board outside of Fika's entrance.

Fika is a coffee shop on Walton Road that was set up in 2017 by Anthony Grice which prides itself on being for the community that surrounds it. 

The word Fika comes from Sweden which means to have a coffee break, sit down and relax. 

Fika struggled like many during COVID-19, now they face the possibility of closing and have called for the support of the community via GoFundMe. 

Mr. Grice, 46, said: “I haven't had more than 3 days off work in over a year, haven't been on any holidays and not taken a wage for probably for 11 months. 

The GoFundMe and anyone's support have been helpful; I’ve had messages from people in Canada and obviously Scandinavia trying to reach out and help us.” 

Fika has a sister company in Sweden, where Mr. Grice found inspiration for the idea of opening a shop in Liverpool. 

“When I visited Sweden there was loads of people coming to the shop at 11 o'clock and I was wondering what the hell was going on, and I was told people were coming in for Fika.

They were sitting down with a stranger and having a talk about life, and I thought what a boss way to bring people together, and if it’s going to work anywhere it will work in Liverpool because we all like to talk.” Mr. Grice added 

During the COVID-19 pandemic Fika was essentially turned into a foodbank where they sold a bundle of milk, eggs and bread which was homemade. 

“So, I had a contact with a dairy farm, and we could still get a good supply of eggs and milk from him, we created boxes and they were £10 for bread, milk and eggs as well as delivery. 

We had 500 orders the first day we started it.” 

Despite all the love shown by the community, Fika still faces the harsh reality of closure. 

“In the past 18 months business has become difficult, it dropped off and our numbers have dropped and there's a lot of reasons for that like the cost of living. 

What separates us from other coffee shops I think is because we give back so much, you know we’re much more than a coffee shop we bring people together.” 

By Arley Armfield