Buon' Amici

Buon’ Amici

Buon’ Amici is Italian for “Good Friends” and certainly every time you go into this friendly coffee bar in Kingsbury, Aylesbury, that is the way you feel. It always has a large contingent of regulars including the local Italian community, normally discussing football. In an arc stretching from Bedford through Leighton Buzzard to Aylesbury you’ll find a strong Italian community and the artisan businesses such as coffee shops, bakeries, hairdressers and restaurants utilising the skills they brought from their homeland. One of the reasons they settled in this area was after the Second World War Italy was devastated and had huge unemployment whilst Britain had a manpower shortage as it set about rebuilding. Italians were allowed to come over to work in the Brickworks, cement plants and sandpits which were north of the Chiltern escarpment. Conditions were harsh in dangerous and backbreaking conditions by today’s standards; only young Italian males could be employed, they had to live in camps for three years before they were allowed bring their wives and children into the country and their movements were restricted as “controlled aliens.” As they left the camps and set up home they integrated well into the local communities whilst keeping their Italian connections. Aylesbury in the 1950’s had much manufacturing with food processing, printing and engineering.


Franco & Mama Lucia

Buon’ Amici is a welcome family business in a town which could be entered for the “Clonetown Britain” awards. The owner and barista who produces Aylesbury’s best coffees is my good buddy Franco Masella ably assisted in the cucina by Da Mama, Lucia. The Masella family ran the well regarded Italian Eatery “Pepes” in Tring for many years so Mama’s Pannini’s, Ciabatta’s, sandwiches and Pizza are made fresh with proper ingredients and her Lasagne al Forno has the authentic filling of beef and pork mince. The pastry cabinet normally has a display of Italian pastries from the bakery and the Mama’s lemon drizzle sponge is a big hit! It could have been so different. Franco had a successful coffee stall in the Hale Leys Centre in Aylesbury and the property company gave notice to end his lease as they decided they wanted to get a chain in as a “better covenant” and to increase the “food offer” to extend the shopper “dwell time” in the centre. There was outrage locally as Franco’s stall was particularly appreciated by disabled customers who enjoyed the easy access. Franco met with the surveyor for the property company as there was a campaign and petition by the local paper, The Bucks Herald, to stop him closing. To no avail, when they met with the wide boy surveyor, he told him he wasn’t interested in “whinging disabled people” and he had already done a “deal” for the unit. Today Franco’s pitch is held by a chain called BB’s which also has an outlet in the other shopping centre in Aylesbury and no less than six units in Hale Leys are empty. In the past two years many of the family owned businesses in Central Aylesbury have closed down squeezed between the Supermarkets and Retail Parks and avaricious landlords increasing rents by reference to “comparables” paid by the space bandits which is probably why both Hale Leys and Central Aylesbury have so many vacant shops.


Kingsbury, Aylesbury

After almost two years in temporary accommodation in a local bar Franco and his family got a shop between the Market Square and a newly pedestrianised “café quarter” of Kingsbury which was renovated at a cost of £2 m by the local council. It is a good pitch and his local customers in the Town Centre have returned including the disabled customers. I should explain that due to the wonderful Spinal Injuries unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital we probably have a high proportion of disabled people locally as many have settled in the area because of the facilities. These are not just medical as at Stoke Mandeville we also have the Guttmann Sports Centre, the home of the Stoke Mandeville Games which lead to the Special Olympics; locally we are proud of the role Stoke Mandeville played in changing both the reality and perception of disability and are very protective of the mobility impaired people who live here. Franco’s always seems to have a good mix of customers who appreciate the hospitality that only a family business can offer, not forgetting proper coffee. Truly, it is a gathering place for
“good friends.” As the sign over the door says; Buon’ Amici, La Passione Del Caffe!


La Passione Del Caffe!