Help us build the future of Pearl Milk Bar

Aim

From home kitchen to a community hub. Help us create Hertford’s next third space for food, culture, creativity, workshops and connection.

Help us build the future of Pearl Milk Bar

Six years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, Pearl Milk Bar started in a home kitchen.

What began as a small side project selling bubble tea quickly grew into something much bigger. Customers travelled to find us before we even had a shop. Eventually, demand outgrew our home and we took the leap into our first physical location.

Today, Pearl Milk Bar serves thousands of customers every year, welcomes visitors from across the UK, caters major events and festivals, and has become a place where people gather to enjoy Asian-inspired food, drinks and culture.

But we've reached the limit of what our current space can do.

Our existing shop is just 330 sqft. Every corner has been maximised, every shelf utilised and every improvement made. We’ve invested in equipment, expanded our menu and grown our team, but there is only so much that can be achieved within four walls of this size.

That's why we're launching this crowdfunding campaign.

We’ve found a new premises in Hertford of just over 1,000 sqft. A space that would allow us to create something we've dreamed about for years.

Not just a larger café, a true third space.

A welcoming environment where students can study, remote workers can focus, friends can connect, and visitors can experience authentic asian flavours, tea culture and creativity.

The new Pearl Milk Bar would allow us to:

• Create a larger seating area for guests
• Introduce a fresh-made pan-asian food menu including handmade Asian pastries and baked goods
• Expand our breakfast, brunch and evening offerings
• Stay open later as a calm alternative to pubs and bars
• Host matcha workshops, tea experiences and cultural events 
• Provide space for local creatives to host their own workshops
• Offer private hire for celebrations and community gatherings
• Build a dedicated commercial kitchen to improve quality and efficiency

Our goal is not to become a chain.

Our goal is not to maximise profits at the expense of quality.

Our goal is to create places people genuinely love spending time in.

Places where culture is shared. Places where people feel welcome. Places that bring life back to the high street.

We are personally investing our own savings and continuing to reinvest profits from the business into this project. We have already invested tens of thousands of pounds into building Pearl Milk Bar from the ground up.

Your support will help fund:

• building improvements and restoration
• kitchen installation and extraction
• workshop facilities
• furniture and seating
• accessibility improvements
• electrical and plumbing works
• equipment and fit-out costs

Every contribution, no matter the size, helps bring this vision closer to reality.

We’re backing this too

Pearl Milk Bar has never been built through outside investors. From day one, we've grown through hard work, reinvestment and the support of our customers.

Alongside this crowdfunding campaign, we are personally investing more than £30,000 of our own savings and reinvested business profits into this project.

We have already invested tens of thousands of pounds into building Pearl Milk Bar over the last six years and will continue investing in its future alongside this campaign.

We're not asking our community to take a risk that we're unwilling to take ourselves.

Every pledge helps us create a larger café, workshop space and community hub for Hertford.

Thank you

Thank you for believing in independent businesses.

Thank you for supporting local culture.

Thank you for helping us build the next chapter of Pearl Milk Bar.

We can't wait to welcome you through the door.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 4th August 2026 at 11:34am