In pictures: New Jamaican cafe and bar opens in Bexhill

It has been opened by Michael Wright, a second generation Jamaican, who is eager to serve up some of the traditional tastes of the island.

He explained: “I was born in 1960 in West London in a family of five and grew up with my mum cooking in the kitchen, that’s how we get the vibe for the cooking. I came to Bexhill in 2018 and couldn’t find any authentic Jamaican food so decided to do my own thing and ended up here in Sackville Road doing it.

"Jamaican food is really more about flavours than heat. We are cooking curry goat, jerk chicken, ox-tail, with chickpea curries. It is all about the flavours and all the passion in the cooking. And we are more lively people and happy people, the Jamaicans. So, I've opened the kitchen for a nice vibey kitchen, rather than the restaurant, you know, militarised stable restaurant.

"More of a vibey place, so that we can just enjoy the food, enjoy the West Indian music, or the Caribbean music and drink a few cocktails.

"Our food really is very healthy food, mostly organic, coming in from Jamaica. We eat most of the food from the land, yams, bananas, and a lot of citrus, which is involved in the cooking.

"Since moving to Bexhill, I've found that it's a lovely community. There's no stress and strains here like London, and I'm now hoping to do work with warming up the homeless and also looking for any suggestions that we can do here at the One Love Melting Pot to help the community, for the community to join in with what we're doing.

"We're looking to do evenings for the community, maybe some cakes and coffee. I'm also looking to, if we have any homeless people that would like to just come in and have a coffee, they're more than welcome.

"We are looking for anything that we can do that enhances the community for what we're doing here at the One Love Melting Pot.

"The kitchen is a place that, is a happy place, and my aim is to have people coming in smiling, and leave smiling. It's more of a vibesy place where we like people to be talking to each other, get to know each other, more of a relaxed lounge and eating place.

"We have an open kitchen so that people can see exactly what we're doing, and they're confident in the way that we prepare our food, and that our kitchen is nice and clean.

"And our bar will be serving the Caribbean cocktails, Jamaican white rum, Appleton Estate rum, and everything Jamaica.”

One Love Melting Pot promises to be a friendly relaxed placed where all will be made welcome and can enjoy authentic Jamaican food cooked fresh daily or maybe have a refreshing drink whilst enjoying the original artwork or just soak up the atmosphere whilst chilling on one of the comfy sofas. What ever you fancy Michael and his team look forward to welcoming you soon.

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