How does a near-death experience influence big life decisions? Brig spoke to Aaron and Alfie to find out.
The inviting scent of fresh coffee beans and salt floats on the wind through the top of Oban’s George Street. A few months prior, there was little here but the old cinema facade and a stench of stale alcohol. Now, there is a smart sign above an old shop: Anchor and Steam Coffee. Framed by the large window are goodies galore, and behind a cabinet of fresh bakes are two smiling faces: Aaron and Alfie.
It’s the time of year when young people across the globe face one of the biggest questions of their early twenties: what to do after graduation. Keep studying? Go to Australia for a year? Get a job and lock in on ‘real’ life? There’s no right answer, but sometimes, there’s one that sounds a lot more exciting than everything else – it’s just a matter of finding the balls to do it.
Alfie and Aaron relocated to Oban on Scotland’s rural west coast in September 2025, leaving behind their traditional career pathways. Alfie, with a degree in biochemistry, and Aaron, with a Naval background, a pilot license, and a plan for air traffic control – one of the best-paid non-graduate jobs – did not originally plan on opening a coffee shop in their early 20s.
Everything changed when Aaron got hit by a lorry and nearly lost his life in 2023.
“Aaron was dying in hospital, and that’s when we decided to leave.”
Now, I have never spoken to someone who has been able to give a clear answer on the meaning of life, but someone who’s very nearly said goodbye to it all certainly offers an invaluable perspective. Brig was lucky enough to chat with the couple about their relocation, new business, and advice for graduating students.
“I was born and raised in Stornoway,” Aaron tells me in his gently northern-english accent, as I ask how they are settling into the quiet Oban community. “Yeah, the accent is funny, but when I come out in fluent Gaelic, they normally go quiet.”
Aaron and Alfie had been living in Luton prior to the move. Aaron had been working for Tui. “I made them millions and millions of pounds,” Aaron explained. ”You have to think, what is the point? I’m sitting here 12 hours a day making these people money, and I had no take in it.”
However, the turning point came from another source. “Aaron was dying in hospital, and that’s when we decided to leave,” Alfie explained to me. Aaron continues;
“We were thinking about setting up a coffee van or doing something random down where we were living, but the prices were going up. You could tell the area was going downhill and going downhill rapidly. So then we looked at road options, moving to Italy, Spain, perhaps, then to set up a business. But visa-wise, it would be next to impossible for us.”
Alfie takes over. “So, we found a commercial property in Oban, and we asked them if we could have it. They said yes. So we put an offer in on the house on the 27th of August, we made the brand and everything at the start of September. Within 29 days, everything was done.”
“But I kept almost dying, didn’t I?” Aaron chimes back in, curiously nonchalant in the memory of his medical mishaps.
I tried and failed to suppress my noisy curiosity in a futile attempt at professionalism. Alfie elaborated for me: “The reason we didn’t move was because we were waiting for Aaron to have iodine treatment for his thyroid. The thyroid treatment has got two options: it either fixes you or fucks you. And with Aaron, it wrecked him.”
“That was a fun experience, to be fair, because you get full psychosis. So that was quite fun.” Contributes Aaron, merrily.
Fun though the psychosis may have been, the treatment marked their final straw. The boys’ employers were announcing redundancies and restructuring, and they had come to the conclusion that the South was simply not good for their health. Anchor and Steam was born. But why choose a coffee and gift business in Oban, out of all things?
“We absolutely love making coffee and selling local produce,” Alfie says. “We have come from a place where we didn’t even know our neighbours’ names until we left. I think it’s just a big push factor for us to come somewhere like this. Even though you’re so close to everything, to London, to major towns, I’ve never felt that isolated before. It’s not like you’ve even got a community of young people.”
Alfie and Aaron are settling into Oban life, and their wee shop is becoming a local staple. After everything they have been through and the choices they have made, what is their advice to current young professionals and students heading out into the world as they navigate post-grad pathways?
“The advice is, enjoy university, but don’t settle for just another corporate job. Value your personal life more than your work life,” says Alfie. “Always remember that if you work for a corporation, whatever you’re paid is pennies compared to what you’re making for them.”
It’s Aaron who concludes the discussion. “You’ll just be a number. You want to be the number that just gets hit down by a bus tomorrow and die being nothing? Sorry, that was a bit intense…
“You’re here once, don’t forget it. It’s as simple as that.”
Featured Image Credit: Anchor and Steam
Journalism student at the University of Stirling & BRAW Magazine editor 24/25 and 25/26 🙂
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