Mike Brennen, 55, is the owner of Casbah Coffee, which is situated in Penrith’s railway station. He has run this business since November 2015. Before starting his own business, he worked in journalism from 1992-2015 and before that he was in the retail sector. He is married to Tess and lives in Carlisle.

I was born in Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, which is near Bath and that city is where I grew up.

I then went on to do an English degree at college in Liverpool and then I worked in retail for a (then) major chain, Our Price.

I worked for them in Bath then in the West Midlands and South Yorkshire, eventually becoming manager in South Yorkshire. I then moved to the Carlisle shop which was in English Street, half of it is now Clinton Cards.

I had been managing that for a while and I started writing the odd piece for the News & Star. There was a weekly thing that came out and I would review the latest releases.

I decided to go in on work experience and then I decided to leave my job at Our Price and I did a block release NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists) course over 12 months. I covered education, the Wigton area and politics - both city council and county council.

I wanted to try sub-editing (responsible for creating the finished publication). I got six months of training in that and then I came across and did that for eight years until I left. I deputised for the production editor of The Cumberland News when he was not there and was a senior sub.

I always had a real passion for coffee and I think it drove my wife to distraction. I bought so many machines online and they took up masses of space in our kitchen.

Sometimes you get an idea in 50 seconds and it reveals where you are going - she suggested to me ‘why don’t you get a coffee van’ and I thought ‘yes, I could probably do that’. It was a lightbulb moment and I developed a business plan within a day.

I called it Casbah because I am a huge fan of The Clash. A lot of people ask if it is named after a Moroccan but it is just a musical reference.

I started off with a pitch in the car park of CN Group (owners of in-cumbria) in Carlisle. There were not many pitches in Carlisle and I did a few markets.

I asked about Carlisle station but they were already full-up. The owners though said they needed someone at Penrith and I came down here in March 2016 and it has really taken off from there so that was the big break, it really was a turning point.

I started off with just the van and then people started asking about newspapers so I teamed up with my local newsagent and he supplies me with them on a sale-or-return basis. I have also added seating, music and a gazebo and baked food.

What I like about coffee is that it is a very sociable thing and it is a very basic thing; I am meeting a basic human need. When you see people catching trains early in the morning they really appreciate a coffee.