Chimney Fire is Moving Home
We’re moving to a vineyard!
If you’ve been keeping track of our social media accounts in recent weeks, you will have noticed we’ve been dropping some rather large hints about the future of Chimney Fire Coffee… and finally, we are delighted to announce that we are moving our whole business a few miles down the road to Denbies Wine Estate!
This is a huge step for us just a few months after our fifth birthday, and we can’t wait to begin the next chapter in the story of our company. It’s going to provide a wide range of benefits to every aspect of what we do - for our operation, for our team, and for our customers.
What’s so special about Denbies Wine Estate?
Situated just outside Dorking at the foot of iconic Box Hill, Denbies is one of the largest vineyards in the UK, producing up to a million bottles of high quality English wine per year. At one time, the 265 acre estate made up 10% of all the commercially planted vines in the UK.
“Denbies are delighted to welcome Chimney Fire Coffee to the estate, we are proud to support like minded local producers and look forward to working together." Jeannette Simpson, Chief Operating Officer
What this means for us
In the past two years our business has grown substantially, and we’re sure that anyone who has visited our original roastery on Ranmore Common in recent months will agree that we are in need of some more floor space!
Our new unit at Denbies has several times the square footage and is split over two floors, meaning we can have a roasting and production area downstairs with plenty of office space upstairs. We will also have a dedicated cupping room, plus a meet & greet/training area where our beautiful Faema President GTI espresso machine will live.
We’ve purchased a brand new Coffeetool coffee roaster which is twice the size of our original one, increasing and futureproofing our production capacity. Our new space will make our operation more efficient while giving us plenty of room to grow in the coming years.
Oh, and there’s also a whole room upstairs which we don’t quite know what to do with yet - a games room maybe, or a gym (we vetoed Dan bagging himself a giant office with one desk and dozens of pot plants)...
What this means for our visitors
Denbies is situated on the slopes of the North Downs less than an hour from central London. Dorking (Main) railway station is 15 minutes walk away, with direct trains from both Waterloo and Victoria stations. There’s even a London Bus that stops by the estate entrance - the 465 from Kingston town centre!
For those who wish to cycle or drive, there is plentiful free parking for both cars and bicycles.
Other facilities on the estate include two cafes, a restaurant, and an on-site hotel (yes, they’ll all be serving our coffee!), the lovely Village Greens Farm Shop, and award-winning Surrey Hills Brewery. All are open to the public, so alongside walking among the vines, cycling up the world famous Zig Zag Road (as featured in the London 2012 Olympics), or perhaps doing Mole Valley Parkrun on a Saturday morning, there’s plenty to see and do.
Our whole unit is fully step-free and disabled accessible.
Coffee experiences and events
Coffee and wine are a perfect match, so (alongside resuming our own Bean to Cup Coffee Experiences) we will be teaming up with Denbies to offer a range of joint experiences and tours. Be sure to sign up to our weekly newsletter to be the first to hear about these.
If you are considering putting on an event in the Surrey Hills or are stopping by on a group activity, then we’d love to host you in our new space. We can help organise snacks, have secure bag storage for participants, and of course some pretty great coffee!
Christmas 2022
So there’s just a few things going on in our world right now, then. But with Christmas approaching fast we’ll also be attending some great Christmas events in the coming weeks - at Silent Pool Distillers, Secretts of Milford, Gate Street Barn, and Packhouse Farnham.
Don’t forget our Christmas coffees are now available online to pre-order too, with something to suit every budget.
We’re so excited to share our new home with you all, and if you’re in the local area please do drop in to say hello. For those of you a bit further away, keep an eye on our social media for updates and stories about the build.
PS. We've got a ping pong table now 😝
PPS. Plus some rather industrial-looking exhaust and filter flues from the new roaster...
