Sandra Jinks caught up with Shaek Zaman in early 2023, when he was already a regular feature on Newland Street- an unexpected daytime weekend focal point in this quiet corner of the village. The photo was taken on 12 June 2022.
Shaek set up Meet Point coffee around the start of the pandemic, when regular pubs and cafés closed their doors. ‘Meet Point brings all my great experiences together in one place, from drinking Bangladeshi chai at a young age, to riding around Dhaka in Bangladesh in a tuktuk’, he says.
‘My love for coffee goes back 20 years, where I attended coffee science classes whilst working for Google, to being trained to make coffee by some amazing people who roast the finest beans in Oxfordshire. We now have our own blend and all our coffee bean waste is turned into and used as compost in North Oxford.’
‘It’s great to see people stopping by the Meet Point Tuktuk, grabbing a drink whilst passing on a walk, or exercising a four-legged companion’, says Sandra. ‘Those returning from Park runs, local cricket matches or passing cyclists are also often to be seen enjoying Meet Point. There’s a variety of coffees, tea, buns and even street food to try, thanks to a friendly electrical arrangement with Ready Steady Spice’.
Meet Point Coffee also popped up at occasional events around the village and even further afield but moved away in 2026. Shaek still misses the Eynsham vibe and is hoping to return.