Warwick Retail is delighted to announce the opening of Pret A Manger in Rootes Building on Friday 18 October. The store is part of a new retail plan to create a vibrant campus that provides a wide variety of food and drink choices through a balanced mix of University-managed cafes and restaurants and popular high street brands.

Tony Howard, Director of Food and Retail Strategy, said: “The opening of Pret A Manger is the latest exciting development in our new retail strategy based on customer research which aims to offer a broader choice for students and staff, and encourage more people from the local community onto campus to eat, drink and shop.

“Pret A Manger is a well-known and hugely popular international brand, and its commitment to sustainability also makes it a great fit for the University, reflecting our own aim of making a positive difference to the environment.

“The fact that this is the first Pret A Manger in Coventry means that the University is bringing something new and fresh to the city as a whole.”

The store will open seven days a week and serve freshly prepared hot and cold food and organic coffee. The range includes sandwiches, salads and wraps as well as the new autumn menu which offers a wider choice of hot food including toasted focaccias, omelettes and an extensive soup menu (including vegan and vegetarian options). Pret’s sandwiches, salads and wraps are freshly-prepared each day, with any unsold food offered to charity.

To celebrate the store opening, Pret will be on central campus giving out 300 free coffee postcards as well as 50 £10 gift cards on the day, so get there quick to be in with a chance of picking up a freebie!

As Pret is an external outlet, please note that the Eating at Warwick and University Charge cards are not currently accepted at Pret. Catering for meetings will still be provided by Warwick Food & Drink, while any expenses for meetings (for which a charge card would be used) should be claimed via expenses.

Warwick Retail is delighted to announce the opening of a new café, pop-up bookshop and upgraded tills in Rootes Grocery Store.

‘Aroma’ by the Nero Roasting Company will open on Westwood Campus on Monday 16 September and will serve espresso based coffee and deli-style unwrapped sandwiches which include vegan, gluten free and organic options. Customers can also take advantage of Aroma’s loyalty scheme which offers a free coffee with any food purchase and a 4^th free drink.

Premium European coffee house, Caffè Nero, opened at the Sports and Wellness Hub on 5 August and serves espresso based speciality coffee, a premium Deli food range including salads, Italian deli sandwiches and an extensive vegetarian and vegan range.

As Aroma and Caffè Nero both operate their own loyalty schemes, the Eating at Warwick and University Charge cards cannot be used in these outlets. Further details on the Retail website including opening times

Following the closure of the Bookshop on 24 July, the University’s online academic book service and pop-up bookshop is now operated by Blackwell’s, the UK’s largest academic bookseller. Blackwell’s pop-up bookshop will open for five weeks in Warwick Arts Centre from 23 September – 25 October supplying students with all the books they need for term 1. You can find out more about our partnership with Blackwell’s and details of the benefits you can enjoy.

As part of Warwick Retail’s plan to enhance and improve customers’ shopping and experience, Rootes Grocery Store now boasts 15 checkouts, 12 of which are self-service (an increase of 6 self-service tills). The new tills accept debit and credit cards, Contactless, Android and Apple Pay.

Work has also started on a new Pret a Manger outlet coming soon to the centre of campus – more information and an opening date to follow.

Warwick Retail are delighted to announce that premium European coffee house, Caffè Nero, opened on Monday 5 August at the Sports and Wellness Hub.

The new café will serve a full menu of espresso based speciality coffee as well as Caffe Nero’s brand new premium Deli food range, including salads, Italian deli sandwiches, an extensive vegetarian and vegan range as well as ‘smaller serve’ alcoholic drinks including Prosecco, wine and Peroni. Customers will be able to take advantage of Caffè Nero’s loyalty scheme and rewarded with double stamps if they bring a reusable cup.

Further details on the Retail website including opening times

Coming soon 

As part of Warwick Retail's plans to create a vibrant campus by providing a wide variety of food and drink outlets for staff, students and the wider community, Pret a Manger will open in Rootes Building and Aroma by Nero (part of the Caffè Nero chain) will open on Westwood Campus in the previous café location. Both cafes are due to open later in the summer.

Over the next few months there are some exciting developments taking place which will see three new cafes opening on central campus, Westwood Campus and the Sports and Wellness Hub. The developments are part of the University’s plans to create a vibrant campus by providing a wide variety of food and drink outlets and have been informed by feedback from staff, students and the wider community.

As part of the developments, both Café Westwood and Costa in Rootes Building will permanently close in order for the new cafes to be built.

Café Westwood will close on Friday 19 July and a new café will open before term one. The existing seating area and microwaves will still be available to use. There will be some construction work taking place for a few weeks but we will endeavour to keep disruption to a minimum. From week commencing 29 July there will be a catering truck selling hot and cold drinks, sandwiches and cakes. For hot food, the nearest café is University House Café, a five minute walk away.

Costa will close on or around Wednesday 24 July. A new food and coffee offer will open in the same location before the start of term one. The nearest cafés are Curiositea and Arts Centre Cafe. Rootes Grocery Store has an in store Costa Express machine and is open seven days a week selling sandwiches, snacks, cold drinks and a drink and breakfast meal deal.

We’re also pleased to announce that Caffe Nero is opening at the Sports and Wellness Hub in August 2019. You will be able to enjoy a range of hot and cold drinks, award-winning Italian coffee, as well as delicious sandwiches, toasties and healthy snacks.

We’re pleased to announce a new online academic book service coming to campus, operated by Blackwell’s, the UK’s largest academic bookseller.

The new service is coming very soon and will replace the existing University Bookshop, which will permanently close on 24 July 2019 following summer graduation.

Blackwell’s will also be operating a pop-up bookshop at Warwick Arts Centre at the start of term one for a minimum of five weeks.

Our coffee supplier Union Hand Roasted Coffee is running a competition from 30 April - 5 May to win a month's supply of Sparkling Black. Sparkling Black is a refreshing, sparkling cold brew coffee drink containing natural caffeine and is the perfect morning or afternoon pick me up. For a chance of winning simply post a photo of Sparkling Black on your Instagram Story, tell Union what you need to stay focused for and follow and tag @unionroasted #stayfocused.

There will be a sampling session on Tuesday 30 April 10am - 3pm outside Cafe Library where you can also pick up a 50p off voucher to be redeemed against a can of Sparkling Black in any University cafe.

The competition is open to all Warwick staff and students and ends 8 May at 5pm. The winner will be contacted 9 May and will need to collect the 3 x cases of 12 cans from Rootes Grocery Store.

Rootes Grocery Store has set up a food donation drop off point at the front of the store and is working in partnership with the Students' Union and Coventry Foodbank to collect food items to help local people in crisis. If you have any unopened and non perishable food items that you would like to donate, please drop them off at the store. The items will be collected weekly by the Students' Union and delivered to Coventry Foodbank.

To celebrate Academic Book Week the Bookshop is offering 20% off all books, including the top 20 influential banned academic books, between 4 - 8 March. Academic departments can also take advantage of 20% off all department orders until the end of March.
 
If you haven't visited the Bookshop for a while, we'd love to see you (we are conveniently located in the Students' Union atrium opposite Costa). On Wednesday 6 March we'll be open until 7pm, so why not pop over for a glass of wine between 5 - 7pm, claim your 20% off department voucher and chat to our friendly and knowledgeable team?

Don’t worry – we’re only moving a short walk away! On Friday 22 February Café Bar will be relocating to the unit opposite the Music Centre in the Arts Centre. We’re also changing the name to Arts Centre Café which better reflects the café location.

There may be some work going on throughout the day, so please bear with us. We’ll do our best to keep disruption to a minimum. Kate and the team are really looking forward to welcoming everyone in the new, large capacity cafe.

We’re bringing a taste of our popular food market to Westwood campus this Friday, join us from 11am for a lunchtime treat.