Planners will have to decide whether to give the green light to a new Starbucks outlet in the island.

If it does get the go-ahead then it could fall to Lynn Day and her team of designers to work on giving their own stamp of individuality to the proposed outlet.

Starbucks’ design director for Europe, Middle East and Africa just happened to be in Douglas to address a meeting of the Isle of Man Business Network about the role of women in business.

Before the event took place at the Claremont Hotel Business News talked to her about her presentation but also saw the chance to ask about the plan for a second Starbucks in the island, there is already a coffee shop in Victoria Street.

The coffee chain is looking to develop a drive-through on the site of the former Eurocars development on Peel Road, Douglas.

Asked if she and her team would have an input into the proposed new Starbucks she said: ‘Eventually when everything is agreed, and if the site goes ahead, and there’s a building there and everybody is happy with it, then we would be designing the interior.’

But she stressed: ‘I don’t have any strategic involvement in whether it goes ahead, that’s not my role.’

Lynn, who has been with the coffee giant for more than seven years, said of her team: ‘We have a very good team of designers, men and women.

‘They do the designing and I manage the team.’

She added the brand was very diverse and it is definitely not the case that every store looks the same.

She said: ‘We try to make it suit the location and the customer base, everything.

‘We design every store individually which is why I need a big team to do it.’

Before taking up her role within Starbucks Lynn worked in design in commercial interiors in high street stores, restaurants, hotels , bars and even spas.

Lynn, 57, said Starbucks is ‘constantly changing and innovating’ as it faces ‘masses of competition in the market.’

She added: ‘The UK is the toughest market out there and [there’s] lots and lots of competition from chains as well as independents,

‘So you have to keep moving ahead.

‘We want our branches to be comfortable and welcoming to everybody.’

Yorkshirewoman Lynn admits her Huddersfield accent ‘may have softened a little’ after being based in London for more than 30 years.

She told Business News: ‘I’m quite passionate about women in business, I think we have to support one another.

‘It’s tough enough being a woman in anything let alone business.

‘I am here to talk about my experiences in the design industry. I’ve come to talk about my career and how I’ve managed to keep going, experiences I’ve had, hurdles that I’ve had to get over in my career.

‘I hope it might inspire other women.’

She said the main hurdle had chiefly been having a family ‘which is very difficult for anybody, men and women, but obviously affects women the most and puts a lot of barriers in place.

‘It’s pretty difficult, nobody is going to pretend it isn’t.

‘A bit of support would not go amiss. My message is don’t give up.

‘Having children is not a career in my opinion. It is a stage in life you go through.

‘I’ve two children now aged 17 and 20, one is at college and the other is about to go to college.’

Asked if women still have a long way to go before they break through the so-called glass ceiling [an unacknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession] Lynn said: ‘Yes, definitely.

‘When I look at this, when I started in the 1980s it was pretty dismal for women.

‘Things have improved but there is still a long way to go.

‘We have done quite well on the lower to middle level management levels but getting above that is where we really struggle.’

Lynn said sometimes she thinks women ‘sabotage their own chances’ a little bit by being under confident.

She had read an article which claimed women feel they cannot be angry about things. She said: ‘When they feel injustice they are not allowed to have that kind of negative emotion because we are told to keep quiet and keep out of the way. Right from an early age that can affect your confidence and your ability to speak out and I think that affects us all.’