Coffee shop war breaks out in Stourbridge after café's flyer urges people to ditch long-running deli

The town is jam packed with different places to enjoy the perfect cup of coffee, depending on tastes, with three outlets in Coventry Street alone.

The French Deli has been a constant for more than four decades - with the My Coffee Station café, offering a selection of quick machine-made coffees, and coffee and hang out space Cup having opened more recently in the last few years.

The competition for customers is always tough in a small town, as high streets and businesses struggle to draw the footfall they once enjoyed.

However, a storm over a coffee cup has now broken out after My Coffee Station printed a leaflet to drum up trade that said: "Give The French Deli a miss - we're seven doors down."

The flyer sparked anger from rivals at The French Deli which hit back in a Facebook post, saying: "What a shame The Coffee Station in Coventry Street has gone to the effort of printing these leaflets. 

"The French Deli has stood in Coventry Street for over 40 years and I'm sure will be here long after The Coffee Station. Could someone tell them we are four doors up not seven."

My Coffee Station - which has a base in Bradley Road as well as the town centre café - has since posted on The French Deli's Facebook page apologising over the matter but not before the original post prompted an uproar on social media.

Stourbridge coffee drinkers were quick to brand the flyers "extremely distasteful" and "underhand".

Former Stourbridge councillor Nic Barlow (Conservative) described the marketing ploy as "shameful" while current Wollaston and Stourbridge Town councillor Andrew Tromans (Liberal Democrat) said: "There's no space for this sort of childish behaviour."

In a Facebook post on Monday, My Coffee Station said of the drama: "We apologise for any offence caused, it was not our intention. As soon as we were visited on Friday by a representative of The French Deli Stourbridge we requested that the café staff should destroy all remaining flyers from the 20 that were originally printed and any social media relating to the flyer. We are now considering our presence in Stourbridge town."

Nathan Webster, supervisor at the My Coffee Station café, added that the flyer had been just been a "fun way" of trying to drum up custom in the way that rival supermarkets vie for trade.

He said it was not something he had personally been involved with and he added that the matter had left him and the staff feeling "on edge" due to the backlash it had resulted in.

He told the Express & Star: "It was never meant to be harmful. We didn't think a café that's been trading for over 40 years would take offence."

It's understood that both coffee outlets were hoping the dispute would blow over.