News
Meet the team behind Coffee Quarters
24th July 2025Cake confidential:
Meet Maria Wilkinson, who with her business partner and best friend Lou Lou Murphy is the mastermind behind newly opened ‘Coffee Quarters’ café in Trinity House’s spectacular lower-ground communal areas
Career operations manager Maria Wilkinson makes a moreish masterclass in creating unique dining and drinking destinations in and around Gosport and Portsmouth. The much-loved local character and restaurateur is well known for her work at both The Creek and The Lightship at Haslar Marina (after a stint in Lanzarote, she recently returned to run both by popular demand), with her latest venture, ‘Coffee Quarters’, the stylish café now open in Trinity House’s newly completed, magnificent communal areas.
Maria runs it with her business partner and best friend, Lou Lou Murphy, a restaurant designer who has run several eateries both here and abroad, and is also working with her at both The Creek and The Lightship. We asked Maria for the inside scoop.
Q: What was your first job in the hospitality business?
MW: It’s hard to believe I’ve now been in the catering and hospitality business for 32 years. I was born in Portsmouth and my first job was washing up at Monks Wine Bar in Old Portsmouth. I found myself in the right place at the right time - within two weeks I was running the pub. You could say I was born to it!
Q: What’s your connection to Royal Haslar?
MW: I moved to Gosport about 13 years ago, and ran The Lightship at Haslar Marina for 10 years. In fact, I gave the restored 1940s vessel its original name as a venue, Trinity’s at The Lightship. After spending some time in Lanzarote, I came back to the marina in 2024, initially to take over sister restaurant The Creek, working with my best friend and business partner for 30 years, Lou Lou Murphy.
I’ve seen Royal Haslar grow and develop over the years, of course, and got to know many of the residents through their visits to my eateries. It was such a privilege to be asked to develop ‘Coffee Quarters’ on the site, and apply all my experience and knowledge in such a special place.
Q: How do you cope with the long hours the hospitality business demands?
MW: It definitely requires a type of lifestyle that doesn’t suit everyone. And it’s certainly not as glamorous as people think. I’ve generally started work by 6am and am not finished until midnight.
Q: How was your first full day of trade at “Coffee Quarters”?
MW: Lou Lou and I saw our first full day of trade here at Coffee Quarters on Tuesday 8th July. It was fantastic, really successful. Home-baked cakes were particularly popular, with one of our specialities, coffee and walnut, in high demand. Along with residents and people who live locally, we had some customers who had nursed at Royal Haslar when it was as a naval hospital. They all loved it.
Q: What’s your vision for “Coffee Quarters”?
MW: It’s already shaping up to be a wonderful social hub, buzzing with community spirit. I’m ensuring I choose staff members that are chatty and will be good with Royal Haslar’s residents. Several of our customers have come forward with some fantastic ideas about how to use the café and the wider communal areas beyond, whether it’s groups, talks or classes. We are going to be able to get a lot of things going here.
Q: What do you predict will become firm favourites on the menu?
MW: Our savoury menu at the moment is offering coronation chicken, beef or fresh gammon baps with salad. Our wonderful local cake maker does a mean red velvet, a chocolate mocha, and the coffee and walnut cake has been flying out. For the dairy free, we have ginger and beetroot cake, as well as gluten-free offerings, and we have bacon or egg and sausage baps on offer at breakfast time. We are also busy designing our cream teas, which we can’t wait to offer our customers.
Q: What can’t you resist?
MW: Unfortunately, I have a very sweet tooth, so the wonderful cookies and cakes are very tempting. I really don’t want to put on weight, but luckily the space is so large I can see I’ll be burning it all off running up and down looking after people!
Q: If you could have any celebrity or historical figure from the local area as a ‘Coffee Quarters’ customer, who would it be?
MW: Former Southern Television presenter and author Fred Dinenage is a local legend, and father of MP for Gosport Caroline Dinenage. As the co-writer of the Kray twins’ autobiography ‘Our Story’, and the confidant of these two infamous villains, he’d be a fascinating person to ask to do a talk here.
Coffee Quarters is open Monday-Saturday, 9am-5pm, to Royal Haslar residents (who receive a 10% discount on all purchases at the café), their guests and the public. Outside of café operating hours, the spaces will still be accessible to residents as their communal facilities, where they can socialise, form clubs and hobby groups. They also an exciting new programme of instructor-led events on the site, including yoga, pilates and mindfulness (visit https://www.royalhaslar.com/events/ for further information).
Maria runs it with her business partner and best friend, Lou Lou Murphy, a restaurant designer who has run several eateries both here and abroad, and is also working with her at both The Creek and The Lightship. We asked Maria for the inside scoop.
Q: What was your first job in the hospitality business?
MW: It’s hard to believe I’ve now been in the catering and hospitality business for 32 years. I was born in Portsmouth and my first job was washing up at Monks Wine Bar in Old Portsmouth. I found myself in the right place at the right time - within two weeks I was running the pub. You could say I was born to it!
Q: What’s your connection to Royal Haslar?
MW: I moved to Gosport about 13 years ago, and ran The Lightship at Haslar Marina for 10 years. In fact, I gave the restored 1940s vessel its original name as a venue, Trinity’s at The Lightship. After spending some time in Lanzarote, I came back to the marina in 2024, initially to take over sister restaurant The Creek, working with my best friend and business partner for 30 years, Lou Lou Murphy.
I’ve seen Royal Haslar grow and develop over the years, of course, and got to know many of the residents through their visits to my eateries. It was such a privilege to be asked to develop ‘Coffee Quarters’ on the site, and apply all my experience and knowledge in such a special place.
Q: How do you cope with the long hours the hospitality business demands?
MW: It definitely requires a type of lifestyle that doesn’t suit everyone. And it’s certainly not as glamorous as people think. I’ve generally started work by 6am and am not finished until midnight.
Q: How was your first full day of trade at “Coffee Quarters”?
MW: Lou Lou and I saw our first full day of trade here at Coffee Quarters on Tuesday 8th July. It was fantastic, really successful. Home-baked cakes were particularly popular, with one of our specialities, coffee and walnut, in high demand. Along with residents and people who live locally, we had some customers who had nursed at Royal Haslar when it was as a naval hospital. They all loved it.
Q: What’s your vision for “Coffee Quarters”?
MW: It’s already shaping up to be a wonderful social hub, buzzing with community spirit. I’m ensuring I choose staff members that are chatty and will be good with Royal Haslar’s residents. Several of our customers have come forward with some fantastic ideas about how to use the café and the wider communal areas beyond, whether it’s groups, talks or classes. We are going to be able to get a lot of things going here.
Q: What do you predict will become firm favourites on the menu?
MW: Our savoury menu at the moment is offering coronation chicken, beef or fresh gammon baps with salad. Our wonderful local cake maker does a mean red velvet, a chocolate mocha, and the coffee and walnut cake has been flying out. For the dairy free, we have ginger and beetroot cake, as well as gluten-free offerings, and we have bacon or egg and sausage baps on offer at breakfast time. We are also busy designing our cream teas, which we can’t wait to offer our customers.
Q: What can’t you resist?
MW: Unfortunately, I have a very sweet tooth, so the wonderful cookies and cakes are very tempting. I really don’t want to put on weight, but luckily the space is so large I can see I’ll be burning it all off running up and down looking after people!
Q: If you could have any celebrity or historical figure from the local area as a ‘Coffee Quarters’ customer, who would it be?
MW: Former Southern Television presenter and author Fred Dinenage is a local legend, and father of MP for Gosport Caroline Dinenage. As the co-writer of the Kray twins’ autobiography ‘Our Story’, and the confidant of these two infamous villains, he’d be a fascinating person to ask to do a talk here.
Coffee Quarters is open Monday-Saturday, 9am-5pm, to Royal Haslar residents (who receive a 10% discount on all purchases at the café), their guests and the public. Outside of café operating hours, the spaces will still be accessible to residents as their communal facilities, where they can socialise, form clubs and hobby groups. They also an exciting new programme of instructor-led events on the site, including yoga, pilates and mindfulness (visit https://www.royalhaslar.com/events/ for further information).