A passion for bikes, art and coffee have inspired a young couple to open a combined bike workshop and cafe in Norwich.

In the last 18 months, Matt Lawford, 28 and Kayleigh Jowers, 26, fell in love, moved back to Norwich and opened The Dandy Horse Coffee House on Magdalen Street. Unique to Norwich, the shop has a cafe, cinema room, outside terrace, bike parking lot and artwork as well as a state-of-the-art bike workshop.

Mr Lawford, who was born in Norwich's old hospital, rode bikes as a child, and rediscovered his love for wheels while he was studying forensic science at the University of East Anglia.

Fixing bikes developed from a hobby to a job at university and beyond when he continued to work in the bike industry, and opened a pop-up bike cafe in Colchester where he met Ms Jowers.

The couple met at an art installation, where Mr Lawford asked Ms Jowers, who previously worked as a set dresser and events organiser, to run the cafe in his pop-up shop.

'We did lots of events and I'd photograph them all. It went well and we got on well, so we brought it together to create a workshop and a cafe, not just a workshop with a cafe on the side,' said Ms Jowers.

After closing the Colchester shop, they searched for the perfect property in Norwich while living in a caravan for six weeks.

They eventually found the building on Magdalen Street and added: 'We did most of the renovating ourselves; the building hadn't been used as a commercial property in 12 years – it was derelict.'

The couple, along with the shop's resident dog, Nia, opened the doors to the Dandy Horse on March 17, with 300 attending the first night.

Mr Lawford said they wanted to create a hub for bike and coffee enthusiasts, and added: 'We can do bike repairs across the board.'

Ms Jowers said: 'We've got trained baristas, home-made cakes and our speciality bagels. We chose bagels to do something different, we wanted to keep it simple and tasty.'

The Dandy Horse Coffee House is located at 27, Magdalen Street, and is open Tuesday-Saturday, 9am-6pm.

For more information visit www.thedandyhorsecoffeehouse.co.uk Twitter: @thedandyhorse Facebook: /DandyHorseNorwich

Do you have a story about a new business opening? Call reporter Ben Woods on 01603 772426 or email ben.woods@archant.co.uk