A mum-of-one has opened a village’s first coffee shop to honour the memory of her late father.

Lauren Anderson, 31, has launched Mickeyatos, a coffee and sandwich bar in Five Oak Green, near Paddock Wood.

It comes after the loss of her dad, Mikey O’Toole, who died in October, aged 72.

While dealing with her grief, the mum from Aylesford decided to make him proud and remember him by channelling his love of sweet things into a new business venture.

She said: “I’ve not long lost my dad and we used to come here to Five Oak Green because he had a stall where he would sell new goods like household items and every weekend we would come up together.

“He used to have the sweetest tooth for cake and he used to drink tea like it was going out of fashion. So, I thought, I’ll see how it goes.”

The cafe opened in Five Oak Green Road on Wednesday, May 14. But while Lauren was spurred on to launch the business for her dad, she was shocked to realise how much the community was lacking a place to eat and drink.

She said: “All the people from the community that have come in have said, ‘we needed something like this – there’s nothing here’.”

“It’s been received really well. There wasn’t anything, but there is now.”

The businesswoman, who is mum to nine-year-old Sonny, spent seven weeks renovating the space with a family member. Previously, the unit had been home to a pet shop and a balloon shop.

Talking of this process, she said: “When I came in it wasn’t as easy as I thought, I think there were about 500 holes in the wall.

“It was really hard work and at some points I thought ‘what have I done?’ I just couldn’t see the end - but here we are.”

The cafe is named after her dad by merging macchiato and Mikey, and Lauren says she felt a lot of pressure to make it perfect to properly honour her father.

She said: “Our dad absolutely loved us. If he could go out and earn a few quid he used to love it. He was a street trader, it was very much in him to go out and earn a few quid.

“He used to say to me ‘you’re wasted in what you do’. Now, I’ve got my own little family, and I just want peace. I’m not going to be a millionaire. But it’s not about that.

“I just needed some peace and I think I will get it.”

When asked what her dad would think of the shop, she pointed to a picture of him hanging on the wall and said: “He would just love this.”

“I can see him just sat in the corner, with his paper. I buy a paper every day and stick it in there for him.

“He’d be sitting, drinking his cup of tea and eating his cake,” she adds.

Every week Lauren hopes to get in one of her dad’s favourite cakes, which are provided by Sweet Temptations in Tunbridge Wells.

The last time the mum-of-one saw her father she recalls how he pulled £5 from his dressing gown pocket and said: “I want you to go down to the bakery and get yourself a bacon turnover.”

When she arrived at the bakery they didn’t have any, but after he passed away, she kept the £5 note he had given her and put it in the photo frame to remember him.

Lauren said: “Where everything has been very traumatic, I’m one of those people that has to keep going and do something just to take my mind off it. Now we’ve ended up with this.

“I just can’t believe it. It’s been a whirlwind. I couldn’t have been any happier with how it’s been so far.”

Mickeyatos is open Mondays to Saturdays from 9.30am to 2.30pm but has plans to increase its opening hours for after the school run. It currently offers coffee, cake and sandwiches.