{"id":162164,"date":"2025-06-06T05:45:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T05:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/162164\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T05:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T05:45:12","slug":"i-discovered-a-great-tradition-while-living-abroad-and-brought-it-to-liverpool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/162164\/","title":{"rendered":"I discovered a great tradition while living abroad and brought it to Liverpool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Grice owns Fika – a caf\u00e9 with a twist\"AnthonyAnthony Grice, founder of Fika(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

In Woolton, there\u2019s a caf\u00e9 where strangers are encouraged to sit together, make friends and talk about anything except work. It\u2019s called Fika, and for owner Anthony Grice, it\u2019s more than a name – it\u2019s a way of life.<\/p>\n

Anthony explains: \u201cThe word \u2018fika\u2019 means coffee break, but it’s a lot more than that. It\u2019s about slowing down, stepping away from the rush of life, and connecting with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old, from Liverpool, discovered the tradition while living in Sweden. He had opened a restaurant there and was caught off guard one afternoon when it suddenly filled with people around midday.<\/p>\n

He said: “Tons of people started coming in. I started flapping it and I was like: \u2018Whoa! We won’t be able to cater for these numbers in the kitchen\u2019. Then my partner said that they were just coming in for fika.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said: \u2018What the hell is fika?\u2019 They said: \u2018Watch what happens\u2019.<\/p>\n

“People will just get a cinnamon bun or a cup of coffee, and sit down on a table with a random stranger. They\u2019ll introduce themselves – there\u2019s an unwritten rule that you don\u2019t talk about work – and, basically, people will just connect, have a chit-chat for 15 minutes, and then get on with their day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next day, you\u2019ll see the same faces coming in, but they\u2019ll go and sit on a table with someone else. By the end of the week, everyone knows everyone and it\u2019s a boss atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a great idea to bring the community together, especially these days where we\u2019re more connected than we\u2019ve ever been, yet we\u2019re so disconnected with human interaction. It\u2019s why a lot of people are struggling with their mental health.”<\/p>\n

Anthony brought the idea back to Liverpool and opened Fika in Woolton<\/a> nearly eight years ago. There\u2019s now a second branch on Queen\u2019s Dock, but the original remains the heart of the concept.<\/p>\n

Anthony said: \u201cIf Fika was going to work anywhere else, it\u2019d be Liverpool. Scousers will chat to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Grice at Fika(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Inside Fika, the room is small and the tables are close together. There are also communal tables designed to get people talking. Anthony added: \u201cYou don\u2019t even need money to come in. We\u2019ve got free coffees for anyone who\u2019s short of cash or is just having a bad day. You can just take free coffee off the board which has already been paid for by someone. It\u2019s a safe space.\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, Anthony tried to bring Swedish cuisine to the menu – herring, sm\u00f8rbr\u00f8ds, and Scandinavian cakes. But it didn\u2019t take off.<\/p>\n

He said: “No one wanted it. People were coming in and just wanted bacon on toast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was baking all these cakes that were taking three or four hours to bake. They\u2019d be sitting there for a couple of days and the next minute they\u2019d have to go in the bin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen one day, a girl who worked for me saw a picture of a chocolate brownie on Instagram. She showed me and said: \u2018Wow! Look at this\u2019. I said that it was just a chocolate brownie. She asked me if I could make it and I said: \u2018With my eyes closed\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really want to go down that road because it wasn\u2019t Swedish but I made it and within five minutes, the entire slate was gone. The next day, I did more, and realised that people wanted flavours which they could relate to more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to adapt to the British palate, basically. The only thing that we do now that\u2019s Scandinavian is cinnamon buns, which are one of our biggest sellers and are made fresh every day.”<\/p>\n

In a city already known for its warmth, Anthony says Fika is all about “bringing the community together, taking time out and making new friends.” The caf\u00e9 can be found at 131 Woolton Road, Woolton, or its city centre venue can be visited at Queens Dock, 110 Mariners Wharf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Grice owns Fika – a caf\u00e9 with a twistAnthony Grice, founder of Fika(Image: Liverpool Echo) In Woolton,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,786,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-162164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-food-and-drink","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114634839157108414","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}