This new lockdown may have dealt yet another blow to businesses in the town but many have dusted themselves off.

Willows - Coffee House, in Basingstoke Town Centre, has paired up with another local company, Mortimer Chocolate, to supply it with a new range of drinking chocolate. Willows is now serving customers with Mortimer’s 30% hot chocolate as take-away and once lockdown is lifted sit-in customers.

The powdered chocolate is crafted to create a product perfect for drinking or for use when baking.

Mortimer Chocolate was founded by local man Adrian Smith.

When opening in August of last year, Willows owner Mary Stevens was keen to use suppliers local to Basingstoke. Mary said: “ Willows is totally independent and for me I wanted to find as many locally produced Basingstoke and Hampshire products and suppliers as I could.

“I wanted to build a cosy and friendly community hub where our customers can support local whilst enjoying real quality."

“It's been such a difficult year for everyone, we hope that in the short period we've been open that we've provided a tiny snippet of normality to our customers whilst supporting Basingstoke and Hampshire.”

You can find Willows - Coffee House at the bottom of Church Street. Due to the current lockdown restrictions, they are only serving takeaway products to customers.

You can find out more by visiting www.willowscoffeehouse.com.