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Win a trip to London Dungeons with #HauntedCosta!

We're super excited about Halloween here at Costa! We want you to help us get in a haunted Halloween mood so we've decided to run a photo competition all week! Whether it's in your Halloween costume, with a pumpkin carving or just a scary face - post your pictures onto our Facebook Page, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #HauntedCosta ! Add a Patrick the Pumpkin Gingerbread Biscuit or our new Hot Spiced Apple Drink for extra points! The very best gets a family trip to London Dungeons!           Terms and Conditions: Includes train travel, entry to London Dungeons and lunch. Maximum number of 4 people. Competition runs from 9am Monday 28th October until pm Friday 1st November 2013. Competition open to UK mainland residents only.                     

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Win Tassimo Caramel Latte discs from Costa Coffee!

Fancy winning some of our all new Tassimo Caramel Latte discs? Yes of course you do! Carry on reading…

Starting on the September 23rd we’ll be giving away 40 packs of our fantastic new Tassimo Costa Caramel Latte every day.

To be in with a chance to win, you simply have to do the following:

- Follow us on Twitter (@costacoffee)

- Find our daily #CostaAtHome #CaramelLatte Tweet in our timeline and retweet it

And now for the important part, the rules:

- The competition will run from September 23rd – 27th September

- Winners are chosen at random every day and contacted directly through Twitter

- To be eligible you must be at least 18 years of age and live in the UK

Easy.

If you have any questions tweet us or visit us on Facebook. Good luck everyone!

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Go #CostaNutty and Win Some Nutty Treats!

Fancy making like a squirrel this month with Costa's new Toffee Nut Caramella? If so, we've got some suitably nutty treats lined up!

To celebrate the launch of our delicious new Toffee Nut Caramella, a delightfully nutty treat for Autumn, we're inviting you to go #CostaNutty for the chance to win some fantastic Costa prizes. Hooray!

Here's what you have to do:

We want to see snaps of you enjoying one of our new Toffee Nut Caramellas - so far, so easy. However, the twist is that what we really want is for you to embrace the onset of Autumn and show us your best #CostaNutty squirrel impression! Whether it's a snap of you drinking your Caramella up a tree, next to a park or in your garden, we want to see you get in touch with nature! For those with a little less access to squirrel-like environments, we want to see your best squirelly faces with your drink!

Here are a few inspiring examples:

So, simply visit one of our stores, order the drink, take a snap of yourself getting all squirelly (yes, that's a word!) and share it with Costa by posting it on our Facebook page or @ mentioning @CostaCoffee on Twitter or Instagram, using the hashtag #CostaNutty. Please don't forget to follow us on one of these accounts, as it will make it easier for us to get in touch with you!

When does it start and finish?

The competition will launch on Monday 9 September and end on Friday 13 September

What can I win?

We'll be keeping a close eye on all the images you submit, with three £10 Costa gift cards awarded for the best photos each day and a grand prize of a £100 Costa gift card for the best overall entry!

So remember, the drinks in the pictures need to preferably be a Toffee Nut Caramella and as always, no offensive pictures or language please.

We're looking forward to seeing how you all decide to go #CostaNutty! If you have any questions please tweet us @CostaCoffee or send us a message on Facebook.

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Are you in love with Costa at home and want nothing more than a supply of Costa at home TDiscs? Then read on..

Starting on June 3rd we'll be giving away 20 sets (five packs in each) of our fantastic Costa Americano and Cappuccino TDiscs, and three bags of Roast & Ground every day.

To be in with a chance to win, you simply have to do the following:

-Follow us on Twitter (@costacoffee)

-Find our daily #costaathome Tweet in our timeline and retweet it

And now for the important part, the rules:

-The competition will run from June 3rd until June 14th

-Winners are chosen at random every day and contacted directly through Twitter

-To be eligible you must be at least 18 years of age and live in the UK

Easy peasy.

If you have any questions tweet us or visit us on Facebook. Good luck everyone!

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Buy One Get One Free - Terms and Conditions

- Buy any medio Costa Ice drink on Friday May 10th 2013, Friday May 24th 2013, Friday June 7th 2013, Friday June 21st 2013 and Friday July 5th 2013 between 2.00 pm – 6.00pm and receive another medio Costa Ice drink for free at the same time.  The cheapest drink item is free and any extras will be charged for separately.

- Offer is available in participating Costa stores in the UK only and is subject to availability.

- This offer is not valid in conjunction with any other offer, promotion or discount scheme.

- The Costa Ice drink range consists of the following: Coffee Cooler, Mocha Cooler, Original Lemonade, Peach Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, Raspberry and Cranberry Lemonade, Iced Latte, Iced Speciality Latte, Iced Mocha, Iced Cappuccino, Iced Americano, Strawberry and Cream Creamy Cooler, Raspberry and White Chocolate Creamy Cooler, Belgian Chocolate Creamy Cooler, Vanilla Creamy Cooler, Sticky Toffee Creamy Cooler, Red Berry Fruit Cooler, Tropical Fruit Cooler, Mango and Passion Fruit Fruit Cooler and Orange and Raspberry Fruit Cooler.

- No cash alternative and the promoter reserves the right to cancel the promotion or amend the terms and conditions at any time in their sole discretion.

- Employees (or family members of employees) of any Whitbread company; companies associated with the Promotion and all affiliates of such companies and their agents are not eligible for this Promotion.

- The promoter is Costa Limited, Houghton Hall Business Park, Porz Avenue, Dunstable LU5 5XE

Please visit www.costa.co.uk for further details.  

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Love chocolate? Love coffee? If so, we have a treat for you...

You may have noticed that we have recently launched two new Mocha drinks:

Mocha Latte – a smooth chocolaty drink with a slight coffee aftertaste. Perfect for those of you who want a sweeter and less intense coffee.

Mocha Cortado – a rich, creamy chocolate drink with a big hit of coffee. Great for those of you wanting their coffee kick but who also have a sweet tooth.

And what better way to celebrate the launch of our new drinks than by giving you the chance to win something. Yes, you heard correctly. Prizes are on offer!

What you have to do:

We want to see you enjoying one of our new Mocha drinks (they are so delicious after all!) Visit one of our stores, order the drink, snap an Instagram picture or shoot a Vine clip and share it with us on Instagram, Twitter and Vine by using the hashtag #mochatastic as well as tagging us @costacoffee and @costacoffeeuk on Instagram. Please don’t forget to follow us on one of the accounts. This will make it easier for us to get in touch with you!

When does it start and how long does it go on for:

The competition will launch on 21st March and run for two weeks, ending on April 4th.

How it works:

We’ll be keeping a close eye on all the images and vine clips you submit and will pick 50 people to win a spot prize (we won’t reveal the prize until the end of the competition period, when we’ll choose our overall favourite and the winner will receive a year’s supply of Costa Coffee). Please keep an eye out for a comment or message from us, because if you miss it, we may have to pass your prize on to a different winner.

So remember the drinks in the pictures must be from our new Mocha range and as always, no offensive pictures or language please. 

We are looking forward to seeing all of your lovely creations! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to Tweet us (@costacoffee) or send us a message on Facebook. 

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Love Costa? Then read on..

Fancy winning one of 30 £5 Costa Coffee gift cards? If so, why don’t you take part in our #lovecosta Twitter competition?

Here is how it works:

Remember these dates: 18th February, 20th February, 22nd February, 25th February, 27th February, 1st March

On these days we will ask you to follow us and retweet one of our Tweets including the hashtag #lovecosta

We will give away five vouchers on each of the above dates. All you have to do is keep your eyes open, spot the Tweet, follow us and retweet us!

Simple..! Who of you is excited?

Ps: All of our lucky winners are chosen at random.

PPS: If you have any questions don't hesitate to Tweet us (@costacoffee) or post on our Facebook wall!

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What does Christmas mean to you?

Are you ready coffee lovers? Costa's Christmas Twitter competition is here! We love you, our fans, and believe that you have all been lovely this year which is why we want to treat four lucky winners.

Show us what Christmas means to you (and why it is special or who makes it special) by snapping a picture and tweeting it to us using the hashtag #CostaChristmas. Be creative!

What can you win? Ho ho ho, hold your breath!

One year's supply of coffee as well as three £50 gift cards are up for grabs! Yes.. a WHOLE year's worth of coffee.

The competition will run for 24 days, starting on December 1st ending at midnight on Christmas eve. We'll look at all your pictures and will pick our favourites, based on originality, creativity and the very important factor of humour.

What are you waiting for? Get your smartphone cameras ready and snap away.

PS: If you have any questions don't hesitate to tweet us (@costacoffee). Good luck and a very merry Christmas!

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In Response to Watchdog Daily

Our recyclable takeaway cups are products made to an industry standard. We do acknowledge slight differences by ensuring our brand standard recipes take into account the cup size when it comes to the amount of milk and coffee used. This means our customers enjoy the same Costa coffee taste, whether they stay in store or take their drink with them.

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BUY ONE GET ONE FREE - NOVEMBER 28th

You loved our summer Buy One Get One Free deal so much that we thought, why not do the same for Christmas? Grab your friends, colleagues, family, simply EVERYONE, and head down to Costa on November 28th to take advantage of this special offer.

The deal is open between 2pm and 5pm and is only valid on November 28th. If you buy any medio Christmas drink you will get one free! YEEEEY! Please note that this offer is only available on the seven Christmas drinks in the range:

Salted Caramel Latte

Praline & Cream Latte

Gingerbread Latte

Crème Brulee Latte

Blackforest Hot Chocolate

Frosted Mint Hot Chocolate

Honeycomb Hot Chocolate

We are hoping you’ll all enjoy this early Christmas present from us. Take lots and lots of pictures of your experience and upload them to our Facebook wall to be included in our Costa Moments album.

Terms and Conditions: Offer only valid on Wednesday 28th November between 2pm and 5pm. During the promotion period customers will receive one Christmas drink free, if they buy one medio Christmas drink first. Offer valid while stocks last, in participating Costa Coffee stores in the UK only. No cash alternative.

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Costa Openings

As the UK’s favourite coffee shop and one of the success stories on the UK high street, we work closely with planning departments across the country to open new stores for the benefit of their local communities, creating new jobs and providing attractive and popular social meeting places.   Coffee shops are popular meeting hubs for people and bring substantial benefits to surrounding businesses, bringing people into town centres and spending money in the local areas. An estimated 10,000 shops are likely to close in the next couple of years and already, nearly one in six shops stand vacant.  We honestly think that people would rather see a disused building turned into a thriving business and attracting visitors than to remain empty. When we open in a new location we do all we can to integrate ourselves with the local community, getting involved with events; providing the store as a meeting space and helping with fundraising. If our stores are franchised it's a local business person who invests their own money into the store - just like independent cafe owners do. If it is a company owned store, our managers treat the Costa as if it were their own, taking a great deal of pride in what they do.  We operate in a number of locations where branded chains coexists happily with independent shops. We honestly do not think that anyone should see Costa as a threat.  Our offering is very different to local independent coffee shops and we believe that people can and will use both, depending on their needs.

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A letter from Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes and Mr Chris Rogers, Managing Director of Costa, regarding the plan to open a new Costa store in Totnes.

To the people of Totnes,

We are sending this joint letter from Costa and the offices of the MP and Mayor for Totnes as we felt it was important to outline, together, the outcome of discussions held between us in early October.

Along with other representatives from Totnes, we had an open and constructive discussion. As a result of that discussion Costa has carefully considered the points made, listened and decided that it will not be opening on Totnes High Street.

In making this decision Costa has recognised the strength of feeling in Totnes against national brands and taken into account the specific circumstances of Totnes. Totnes is a town with a long and proud history of independent retailers, it has one of the lowest percentages of branded stores of any town of its size in the UK, very few empty shop fronts, as well as a very high proportion of places selling coffee.

Costa is a successful British business employing over 10,000 people, the majority of whom are under 25 years old. In Devon, Costa has some 19 stores, employs nearly 200 people and sources a large quantity of milk as well as products from local farms and producers across the County. At its heart, Costa cares about what customers want and seeks to be a force for good in the communities in which it operates, contributing to growth, greeting jobs and supporting local projects and activities. 

As your MP and Mayor, and speaking on behalf of the people of Totnes, we would like to thank Costa for being prepared to listen to our concerns and showing that they care. We would also like to recognise the valuable contribution that Costa continues to make to communities across Devon.

Yours faithfully,

Chris Rogers, Managing Director, Costa

Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP, Totnes

Pruw Boswell, Mayor of Totnes

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Barista of the Year

Here at Costa, our highly skilled baristas are at the heart of everything we do. They strive to give you, our customers, an unbeatable coffee experience every time. 

Every year we search the globe to find the best of the best and this year we found 10 finalists who are outstanding examples of that. To get to the finals of Barista of the Year 2012, they have demonstrated not only their incredible technical ability but also their pride, passion and personality. 

Today, our expert judges, will be looking for a champion who combines all of these elements and shows potential to be an ambassador for Costa. 

Our finalists are:

Rob Pound, Hull Kingston Retail Park, UK

Gerald Doles Reyes, Dubai Airport Terminal 1, Dubai

Agnieszka Fleischer, Poznan Airport, Poland

Laska Goldsack, Queen Alexandra Hospital Portsmouth, UK

Jack Jughes, Tesco Seaton, UK

Sam Le, Wuhan K11, Asia

Brad Makinson, Bury Rock, Sim Trava Ltd, UK

Pedro Monteiro, Esher, UK

Urvish Mistry, Hatfield Galleria, UK

Victoria Stewart, St Andrews, UK

Are you going to cross your fingers for one of our Top Baristas? If so, follow our updates and join the conversation over on Twitter with the hashtag #BOY2012!

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Costa before my lesson! #coffee #magazine #nice (Taken with Instagram)

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Statement regarding the incident in Costa store, Aberdeen

We are able to confirm that we have now spoken to Mrs. Walker, the lady involved, and sincerely apologised for the incident involving her family. During our conversation we agreed the following three steps would take place immediately: 

We will deal with the staff member involved in line with our Human Resource procedures.

We will reinforce our policies around disability to all Costa team members at the earliest opportunity.

We will increase our focus on teaching staff how to deal better with sensitive situations whatever they may be.

Mrs. Walker has provided the following comment. “I felt the whole situation was disrespectful but I am pleased that Costa called me to apologise. I agree that this is a one-off, isolated situation, caused by one person and not Costa as an organisation."

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Welcoming customers in Aberdeen

Mothers bring in children of all ages to Costa and they are always warmly welcomed by us. Costa is renowned for its family friendly environment and is the perfect place for mums to relax with their children. We are looking into this isolated incident as a matter of priority, but in the meantime we apologise for any distress this obviously caused the lady in question. We would like to assure our customers that this incident does not reflect Costa's standard practice which is to provide a welcoming and comfortable environment for all of our customers at all times.

Amanda Chalmers also commented: "I am sorry this may be my mistake regarding the tube feeding line being disconnected and I misunderstood when my daughter was explaining the situation, however this does not detract from the fact that this did happen. I must add again that I was commenting on the behaviour of one manager in Aberdeen and NOT on all Costa Coffee establishments, head office has been in touch to resolve the situation."  She also adds: "I drink at Costa Coffee and do not agree in anyone boycotting your establishments."

**UPDATED**: It has been our priority to contact the lady referred to above. Unfortunately we have still been unable to make any contact. We are still extremely keen to do anything we can do get to the bottom of this situation. Amanda Chalmers who has initially complained on our page has decided to remove her post as she was receiving abusive messages. Please be assured that here at Costa we aim to make everyone feel welcome and comfortable in our stores.

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How lucky are you?

What an exciting day it is, coffee lovers. Today, we are able to let you in on our secrets and tell you all about what we’ve been planning over the last couple of months. Do you love Spain? We’ve been teasing you all week about our most recent product launch. Cortado, originally from Spain, is one of the newest additions to our drinks menu. But what is it and who will love it? It’s two corto shots topped with smooth textured milk and is ideal for those of you who fancy a quick pick-me-up or a shorter milk-based coffee.  To get you all in the mood and as excited about the launch of this shortie, we are launching our summer photo competition today! What can you win? We are giving away a trip to a city of your choice in Spain, as well as two £100 Costa gift cards. All you have to do is upload your funniest holiday photo to our Facebook app and get your friends and family voting. The three pictures with the most votes win.  Are you ready?

Coffee Club goes Facebook! With three million active Coffee Club members, we are launching a Facebook app that will allow you to log in to your account at any time, check your balance, update your details or, if you are new to our Coffee Club, register your card. The app is super easy to use and you’ll always be able to see what you can get with your current point balance.   To celebrate the launch of the app, we are running a big big giveaway. How big? Hold onto your hats, people. We’ll give away a total of TEN MILLION POINTS. Yep, that’s right. TEN MILLION. How will it work? It’s simple. Hop on over to Facebook, click on the Coffee Club tab, log in and get playing. What are you waiting for?