Kookies & Kream in Portsmouth gains popularity after opening its doors for the first time in the old Crown Bingo Hall

Hayden Edwards lived a stones throw from Kingston Road growing up and his mum would often frequent the Crown Bingo Hall. Fast forward years later and he has opened Kookies & Kream a dessert shop in the front of the former bingo hall with his ice cream proving popular with the local community.

The doors opened around three weeks ago but the challenges started long before then when faced with turning the unit into a functioning space. Hayden said: “When I got it I thought it was going to be easy but then it had no electrics, no plumbing.

“It was literally a bare room and the floors were all broken. We had to re-concrete the floor and get it all levelled out. I did it all myself with a couple of people helping me along the way. It is the first time I have ever done any renovation work like this. It took three months to get it where we are now.”

Now that the store is open it is proving popular with customers. A soft launch where they gave out nearly 300 free ice creams piqued peoples interest as children and families queued out into the street.

There are a large range of treats on the menu which are made on site. Hayden said: “We serve things that we enjoy. We wont serve anything that we wouldn't eat ourselves.

“The whippy ice cream trays have been the most popular so far, they fly out of the door. As an example if you order the kinder tray it will be hazelnut sauce at the bottom and then we fill it up with whippy ice cream and top it all with Kinder Bueno and sauces.”

He added: “We also do French crepes and Belgian waffles, homemade cookies and brownies, all made on site. We do milkshakes as well which people are liking them at the moment. Other places will use soft scoop ice cream but we just fill the blender up whippy ice cream and the chosen flavouring and blitz it until its the right consistency.”

Hayden has always wanted to start his own business and while the process has been stressful he has no regrets in taking the plunge. He said: “I would be lying if I said it had all been enjoyable but it has been good.

“It has been great building relationships with customers. We have local kids come in and most of the time we end up not charging them, but it has been good to open to the community.”

Further information on Kookies & Kream and its menu can be found on its Instagram and Facebook accounts.