A WOKING woman who returned to the area after travelling the world and opened a coffee shop has been so successful that she has set up a second one.

Jane Moffatt has opened Bem Coffee in Knaphill six years since she set one up in St John’s after living in Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro.

The name of her coffee shops was inspired by her years in Brazil as bem estar is Portuguese for “wellness”.

Jane grew up in the Woking area and went to Halstead Preparatory School before attending a boarding school in Effingham.

After returning from her travels at the age of 25, she decided to use her experience of working in coffee shops to run her own and took over the former Penny Blacks premises in St Johns Road.

Jane, who had also worked in marketing, doubled the size of the interior and expanded the old Penny Blacks menu.

“It built up and became a bit of a community hub,” she said.

“A lot of customers said it would be great if I could open one in Knaphill.”

The opportunity came when the Cutting Room hair salon vacated the site in Anchor Hill it had occupied for 10 years and moved to Chobham.

The refit this time was relatively easy and took a month, including a break over Christmas.

“It’s going really well and has allowed us to expand the community hub we have in St John’s,” Jane said.

It was thanks to those customers that Bem Coffee not only survived the pandemic, but has been able to expand.

“We did really well from community support,” Jane said.

“We did takeaway only and then, when we could, we had people come in socially distanced.

“It was really lovely to see the support from everyone.”

Despite her fond memories of her world travels, Jane has no regrets about returning to her home town.

“I love Woking. When I came back from Hong Kong and Rio, I loved being in Surrey which is spacious and green.

“It’s so beautiful around here which is often taken for granted.”