Bedford's Frescoes Coffee House under new ownership - but it's a familiar face

Frescoes Coffee House in Bedford is under new management, but it's a familiar face to regular customers.

Long-standing owner Kevin Kavanagh has handed over the espresso machine and more, to employee, now owner, Xanthe Jackson

Xanthe will be a familiar face to regular customers of Frescoes, as she has worked there for 16 years.

Now at the age of 43, she is the boss.

She said: “I’ve always loved this work and now I am excited to take on the new challenge of being the owner as we come out of lockdown.”

Kevin is concentrating on his new business, Blue Glass wine bar in St Peter’s Street, but will remain on hand to offer advice and support to the team.

In 2013, Frescoes made international headlines when an authentic art technique was used to recreate part of Michelangelo’s Libyan Sibyl on the building in Mill Street.

Artist Iain Carstairs used pigment paint on lime plaster, a technique dating back to about 1500 BC.

At the time Kevin, said: "The building will fall down before it fades."

He said the piece, copied from a work on the ceiling of Rome's Sistine Chapel, took three months and approximately £12,000 to complete.