The Made in East Anglia film festival prompts Bury St Edmunds Butterworth and Son’s Robert Butterworth to reflect on his family business

This month, Abbeygate Cinema hosts the Made in East Anglia Festival (August 22-September 10 September), celebrating movies filmed in Suffolk and Norfolk. As a sponsor, the festival struck a chord with me. It reminded me that our own family business is a kind of East Anglian story too, shaped by place, people and generations.

Our beginnings in Bury St Edmunds

Our journey began with my father, Robert Butterworth Snr. He grew up in Bury St Edmunds, but his career took him overseas. By 1976, newly married with a child, he and my mother came home and bought the long-established retail shop Lorfords.

My father writes: “With a family tradition stretching back several generations on both my wife’s side and my own as commodity traders, the path we would follow was probably written in our genes. Once married and now with a child, the lure of returning to my home town was too strong to resist. We bought Lorfords, a shop which still trades today.

“Coffee and tea were new commodities we introduced. We had much enthusiasm and interest in the products but little depth of knowledge, despite my grandfather having been a tea dealer in Manchester. That did not stop both items from becoming a huge and immediate success. The business boomed. We loved Bury, and Bury loved us back.”

The tales of the old tea shop

The shop had a unique atmosphere, shaped by the rhythms of town life and the character of its customers. My father remembers it vividly: “Where else could one purchase 12 varieties of coffee beans from all over the world, or eight varieties of loose tea, including Lapsang Souchong, Earl Grey, Rose Pouchong, Darjeeling, Assam, Kenya, and our celebrated Bury Blend. The latter was specially devised for the local hard water conditions. The pleasure was not only in the business we were creating but in the company of the customers who graced our shop with their presence.

“Each day provided its own heartbeat. Monday was restocking day after a busy weekend. Tuesday was pension day at the nearby post office, which brought extra trade. Wednesday was the livestock and produce market day, when folks poured in from the rural areas, bringing with them a special and ancient magic. Thursday was traditionally a half-day closing, which still echoed with a quieter afternoon. Friday was the arrival of weekly publications, creating excitement in the shop. Saturday was the busiest day when all and sundry came, knowing of the warm welcome they would receive.”

He even pioneered his own version of loyalty rewards: the famous tea cards.

“Including a collectable free gift with a purchase must be one of the oldest methods of developing customer loyalty. In our case, from my interest in the world around us, it was easy and totally absorbing to produce picture cards with descriptive backs to include with our tea packets. They created fame, if not fortune, for the business.”

Looking back, he says the greatest joy wasn’t just trade, but people: “The greatest delight in running a business in East Anglia was in the people one interacted with. Customers came not just to make a purchase but to share something of themselves and their lives with us. Magic. All that modern shopping does not provide.”

From Suffolk to the world of speciality coffee

My earliest memories are of helping my mother and father in the shop. I remember my father showing me how to weigh the coffee beans out from the large jars we displayed them in, and how to bag them down into the traditional paper bags we used. He had a special technique to fold the top down to minimise air in the bag.

As I grew older, I worked across our family shops, Lorfords, then Ipswich Street, then Guildhall Street, where I first started my wholesale business. At the time, coffee we sold was really only origin specific, with no traceability to regions, processing types or farm specifics. Very, very general. What I learned from my father was the focus on quality. He always sold better-than-average goods, pushing the envelope in terms of what he offered and creating trends, rather than following them. Before the internet, too. My father was a true pioneer in his field, sometimes a little too far ahead, but nonetheless ahead of his industry. These qualities I picked up on, and they are the foundations of Butterworth & Son Coffee Roasters, the business I run today.

Since 2011, I’ve travelled the coffee belt, sourcing with purpose and building lasting relationships with farmers and producers. East Anglia shaped how I approach roasting, too. Most of the coffee we sell locally is for espresso-based drinks. The coffee needs to work in varying degrees of milk or water, mostly milk. From a very early stage, I had to create a blend that is one size fits all. I created the 4Bean blend for our local market; it’s balanced yet complex. I’ve always focused on coffees with provenance and used quality coffees. East Anglia was devoid of anything like this, but it turns out that this blend has far-reaching appeal.

So, just as the Made in East Anglia Festival celebrates local creativity with global reach, I like to think our family business is part of the same story: rooted in Suffolk, made in East Anglia, and carried into the wider world.

As for the festival itself, we’ll both be in the cinema seats. My father’s picks are The Dig and Yesterday, both of which he calls “superb entertainment”. For me, it’s The Living Daylights. I’ve always been a Bond fan - the action, gadgets, travel and adventure. Luckily, without the villains. If Bond had been written after the Third Wave of coffee, I think he’d enjoy a V60 as much as his Martini, shaken not stirred.

Butterworth & Son coffee roasters and tea smiths are based on Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds

Owner Rob Butterworth’s job takes him around the world visiting coffee farmers to source great coffees

Visit butterworthandson.co.uk