Smoothies, juices and healthy snacks are going to be big in fruity Fylde

Three Fylde residents have teamed up to launch the shop in South Westby Street which specialises in the growing market of trendy smoothies and nutritional foods.

Big business in America and Australia, juice bars are still relatively new in the UK outside of the big cities.

But with increasing numbers of people taking part in sports and looking for nutritional boosts, the team from The Health Bar are looking to make Lytham a local centre for the sector.

Keen fitness fans Katherine Wholey, 31, of St Annes and Olivia Knowles, 23, of Poulton got together last year to launch an online juice business, KO Juice.

Drawing on their backgrounds in biomedicine, naturopathic nutrition and sports science they came up with a range of cold-pressed juice recipes which have been sold to people all over the country from Land’s End and London to Lytham.

Katherine said: “Many more people have become interested in fruit juices and have tried making their own smoothies at home.

“But it can be quite tedious, you may do it once or twice, buy the fruits and vegetables and process them, but quite often people end up not using it all and throwing the veg away.

“So we launched KO Juices to do it all for the customers. The idea was to produce health foods at affordable prices.

“We get so many customers coming back so it has been going really well.

“We have a production facility in Blackpool from where we have been sending out the juices for the online business.

“We produce foods to complement a healthy diet and juice cleanses, but it is always about taste. The drinks and the food at the Health Bar is all made with the freshest ingredients, with fabulous combinations. We are combining great taste with nutritional value.”

She said for the bar they have teamed up with chef Jamie Hargreave, 30, who has 13 years of catering experience including at highly rated Manchester restaurant Australasia.

Recipes feature well known health food staples such as avocado, quinoa, spinach, grilled peppers and chicken and tuna.

Booster drinks include the likes of bullet-proof coffee which is big in America and features espresso coffee with unsalted butter and coconut oil.

Katherine said: “Jamie has come up with some fantastic dishes to complement the juices suing fresh ingredients and super foods.

“We do salads, juices, wraps sandwiches and hot food specials for takeaway which are ideal for mums on a tight schedule and don’t have time to cook.”