I first fell in love with Hideout Coffee in July 2019, just as it had opened. I was on my way to Amsterdam and I wanted to show my eldest son (who loves good design) this new coffee shop as I felt he would appreciate this eclectic hangout that had cool graphic prints on the wall and my kind of interior. Mid-century mixed with plants and in my opinion, very good taste! A place that not only sold great coffee but had merchandise to buy too, oozing in exciting branding and design that you just knew had hours and hours spent over every little detail.
What struck me while I was in Amsterdam wandering around, sightseeing, and let's face it visiting incredibly good coffee shops down the 9-streets was that I kept thinking about how good we had it in Portsmouth. I felt excited that when I got back home there would be another cool coffee stop on the other side of town that I could visit and have meetings there, or just meet a friend for a well-made coffee.
The concept of Hideout Coffee came from the I Love Dust crue and I have loved seeing it develop into what it is now. From day one the slogans posted on Instagram have become as iconic as the coffee. Serving only good quality donuts in all kinds of creative flavours allows for something sweet and well prepared to be dunked in your coffee and if you want to take donuts home, the skeleton box is whipped up and has a distinctive style that you instantly recognise as 'Hideout'.
I guess owning one of the most successful graphic design agencies in the UK (who have contracts with Nike for their marketing campaigns amongst other greats) mean we shouldn't have expected anything less than a great style and brand but it is still nice to think Hideout sits in Portsmouth and not NY, London or anywhere else.
Being a huge Interior fan I really get fussy about where I can relax in cafes, restaurants, and public places but Hideout really does make you feel at ease. It has a timeless quality to the decor on the main floor, the kind of feeling that this coffee shop could have been sat here for a good 30 years.
You then go from the chilled vibe of upstairs to the basement which has a Miami American diner feel, all decorated in an on-trend pink! From the walls to the leather sofas that stretch all along the room you do feel like you should be in a movie with Ryan Gosling sat in the corner. This part of the coffee shop is definitely a network, party for 20 kind of place. I think there has been quite a lot of Instagram photos taken amongst the pink background!
Because of COVID hitting us for a long time, I was kind of shocked when I realised that Hideout Coffee had hit the 2 years milestone. I just felt that this time had gone way too fast so I caught up with the manager of the place, Ross, to grill him on what life is like in the coffee shop 2 years on and what we can expect in the future.
Hi Ross, how do you feel 2 years on?
So 2 years on. It's honestly mind blowing. A few people may remember but Hideout was actually a quirky little speak easy beforehand. That was before my time, I was just a customer then, and I sometimes like to look back at that to remind myself just how long the journey has been. And what's crazier is that we haven't even begun to peak.
I came to Hideout from a really cushy job that I could have easily worked at until I retired. But the vision that the guys had for Hideout is what lured me and honestly what still drives us.
What has been memorable for you over this time?
There's so many memorable moments already. I guess some that come to mind is seeing a queue beyond HBs whilst people wait for donuts…it was like working at supreme, absurd.
Another that comes to mind is opening up Christmas day for free coffee. Christmas is always a weird one for me, so being able to go into Hideout and spread good vibes meant a lot personally to me.
The slogans on the insta feed is as famous as the coffee, do the team come up with ideas for what’s going to be posted?
Haha the slogans. So Mark once told me he writes them when he's in the bath, but sometimes we post 3 or 4 times a day and I've always wondered why he baths so much.
With regards to the quotes, we all throw ideas around but Mark is the voice of hideout. He's the one with the stones to say what everyone's thinking haha.
What’s new for Hideout?
What's new? Smoothies, cold brew, weekend specials, new weekly flavours, vegan specials, speciality coffees, more merch than ever, a few new playlists and more and more collabs coming.
The Bagel Man was probably our most recent. We've always remained adamant that if someone is good at what they do, we want to work with them. Bagel man knows his bagels. It seemed a no brainer really. The reception really gave us an idea for the demand and there's alot in the pipeline, though I wouldn't want to spoiler anything.
Any new ideas for donuts we can look forward to?
New donut flavours? We've had so many crazy ones lately. But there's one that honestly blew my mind. It's probably the best received donut we have ever sold. The Elvis. Peanut but, banana vistas and bacon. It's as dirty good as it sounds and I've heard that its coming back.
I guess my final word is that I'm honestly so stoked to be a part of hideout, I live and breath it. And the fact that Southsea supports it means I can keep living in this weird gothic fairytale and I'm honestly so grateful.
Photo Credit to Polly Wright from Hideout Coffee crue
