THE owners of a coffee shop who started out making chocolate from their own home have been nominated by The Mail readers for the Best Coffee Shop 2024 award.

The Chocolate Room and Kitchen in Dalton launched in May 2017 under the expertise of fine-dining chef Anthony Bennett, 51, and wife Suzie, 47. 

Anthony started around 2013/2014 making chocolate and selling it at farmers markets and expanded from there.

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The couple opened a café in a spectacular old building on Station Road which re-opened in January after replacing the roof and the floor in the upstairs area, along with installing a new staircase.

Last month The Mail launched a new campaign to find the best coffee shop that South Cumbria has to offer and now The Mail readers have selected the couple's business to be in the top ten finalists.

(Image: The Chocolate Room) Suzy said: "Thank you firstly to everyone that voted for us, it makes all the hard work over the last seven years worth it.

"We definitely wouldn’t be here without our fabulous customers who support everything we do.

"We truly appreciate each and everyone of them. And of course we need to thank every team member that works with us, again we’d be nothing without them.

"They help us create the warm, friendly neighbourhood café we had in mind when we started, so a huge thankyou to them. This really means the world to us, so thank you from the bottom of hearts."

Who do you think has the best coffee around? (Image: Unsplash) Voting is still on going with readers encouraged to pick their ultimate champion to be revealed in December.

You can vote for your winner by picking up copies of The Mail which will have a voting slip in the paper until December 7.

To keep up to date with the Mail's campaigns, subscribe here.

Don't forget to keep an eye out for special articles such as this dedicated to the local businesses that are in the top ten.

There will be one per day giving the owners' reaction and an insight into why they were favoured by The Mail readers - and don't forget to vote!