A COFFEE shop in Otley has been handing out free drinks this week after partnering with one of the world’s largest oat milk brands.

The Coffee Station café in Otley joined forces with Oatly – a global brand that offers a range of oat milk alternatives – after a hilarious mishap at The Otley show.

Jimmy, Oatly's intern, took a trip to the popular agricultural show to meet local lovers of the brand– only to find out that not a single person had heard of Oatly and instead thought he was talking about Otley.

“I turned up with a cameraman and a carton of Oatly in my
backpack. I met some incredible people —as you do when in West
Yorkshire — including the Mayor, a pub landlord, and a man who
insisted we’re pronouncing the name of our company wrong. But
sadly, they couldn’t care less about a plant-based drink from
Sweden,” Jimmy said.

In the three-minute clip, local residents answer questions about Oatly oat
drink, describing it instead as a “great place to live” with “lots of
pubs”. 

Another – who tried the product for the first time - suggested
it was “a great drink named after a great town”.

Michael Lee, creative director for Oatly, said: “I have to admit, having the same name and being the first oat drink company ever to attend the Otley show, we thought we’d find fans everywhere.

"But it turns out that having similar names doesn’t result in the automatic oat-drink-and-town-match-made in-heaven we were hoping for. So we’ve decided to give out free coffee instead…yeah, we’re not so proud of that.”

This week, Oatly decided to release the tongue-in-cheek footage on
its Instagram page anyway.

And, to celebrate the faux pas, the brand has partnered with the Coffee Station in Otley to give away free coffees with its best-selling Oatly oat drink to residents until Friday (September 16).

They’ve also printed limited edition Otley in Oatly cups.