![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/credit_colour-your-steets.jpg\")
\n
\n Image credit: Colour your streets <\/p>\n
Emma Barnett and Jeremy Weil\u00a0hadn\u2019t exactly planned on a third\u00a0child. After enduring five gruelling\u00a0rounds of IVF to welcome their now\u00a0seven-year-old son and two-year-old\u00a0daughter, Emma readily admits\u00a0her body has been “put under a lot of stress” in\u00a0recent years.<\/p>\n
And yet, here they are \u2013 proud parents once\u00a0again. Only this time, there\u2019s no pram, no\u00a0sleepless nights and no maternity leave. Their “third child,” as Emma affectionately calls it,\u00a0is Colour Your Streets \u2013 a publishing company\u00a0that creates colouring books celebrating\u00a0neighbourhoods and landmarks across the UK.<\/p>\n
In just two years, what began as a bit of\u00a0family fun around the kitchen\u00a0table has transformed into\u00a0a thriving business with a\u00a0projected turnover of\u00a0\u00a32-4 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t think either of us\u00a0could have imagined it,\u2019\u00a0reflects Emma, a presenter on\u00a0BBC Radio 4\u2019s flagship Today\u00a0programme. It was while on\u00a0shared parental leave that she\u00a0and Jeremy returned from a walk in Brockwell\u00a0Park, close to their home in Herne Hill, south\u00a0London, and their son asked about colouring\u00a0in a nearby clocktower. <\/p>\n
“We thought there must\u00a0be a colouring book of it \u2013 but there wasn\u2019t.”<\/p>\n
So they made their own. Armed with photos\u00a0of local landmarks and a bit of AI magic, they\u00a0created their first prototype. <\/p>\n
“It was very rough\u00a0and ready,” Emma says, “but we\u00a0took it on holiday with friends\u00a0and the parents got really excited.\u00a0That\u2019s when we knew we were\u00a0on to something.” <\/p>\n
Their first\u00a0customer was their local gift\u00a0shop. <\/p>\n
“There\u2019s nothing more\u00a0exciting than your very first\u00a0sale,” says Jeremy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n Image credit: Colour your streets
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fast-forward to today, and\u00a0we\u2019re sitting in a caf\u00e9 in that\u00a0same south London park, now\u00a0vibrantly illustrated in one of\u00a0the 170 titles (and counting) in their growing\u00a0collection. From London boroughs to cities all\u00a0over the UK, including Manchester, Belfast and\u00a0Edinburgh, demand is so high that suggestions\u00a0for new locations pour in daily.<\/p>\n
So much so that last December, Jeremy left\u00a0his job at the forecasting company Economist\u00a0Intelligence Unit to focus on the business\u00a0full-time.<\/p>\n
“Our son now thinks colouring in is\u00a0my full-time job,” he jokes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As requests flooded in from across the\u00a0country, Colour Your Streets quickly outgrew\u00a0the kitchen table. In the early days, books were\u00a0stacked floor to ceiling, envelopes were packed\u00a0
into the night, and their daughter\u2019s bedroom\u00a0served as storage.<\/p>\n
“Once, we accidentally posted\u00a0someone a book that our son had already\u00a0coloured in,” says Emma.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Basically, at some point \u2013 a few months in\u00a0\u2013 the numbers just became unmanageable,”\u00a0Jeremy recalls.<\/p>\n
“It became clear we had to have\u00a0a warehouse.” They also hired a tranche of\u00a0freelance designers \u2013 AI isn\u2019t used \u2013 some of\u00a0whom are now illustrating international\u00a0landmarks, including Brooklyn, the New York\u00a0borough in which Jeremy was born and spent\u00a0his early years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What has surprised them is\u00a0the unexpected adult appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We started out targeting five\u00a0to seven-year-olds,” Jeremy\u00a0explains, “but the adult\u00a0market has dwarfed that.”<\/p>\n
Indeed, whether for\u00a0mindfulness or nostalgia,\u00a0grown-ups are buying in\u00a0droves, from students to\u00a0pensioners. One New Zealand customer, who\u00a0hadn\u2019t been back to south London in 35 years,\u00a0emailed in tears after requesting books of\u00a0scenes from Clapham and Battersea where she\u00a0grew up.<\/p>\n
“We realised that, aside from your\u00a0name and your football team, your local area\u00a0is one of the few things people really feel\u00a0passionate about,” says Jeremy. The books offer\u00a0a multigenerational bonding activity for\u00a0grandparents including Emma\u2019s own mum,\u00a0who has coloured her way through south\u00a0London with her grandchildren.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Running a business together, of course,\u00a0hasn\u2019t been without its challenges and Emma\u00a0admits there has been the odd bump along the\u00a0way as the couple navigated not just living but\u00a0working together.<\/p>\n
“Early on I created a separate\u00a0WhatsApp group called Colour Your Streets so\u00a0that we didn\u2019t have it in our husband and wife\u00a0WhatsApp,” says Emma.<\/p>\n
“I knew I had to draw\u00a0a digital line. At the same time, as parents of\u00a0very small children you are always grabbing\u00a0time, so things do bleed into one another.\u00a0There are definitely moments when I say,\u00a0\u2018I can\u2019t talk about work right now,'” she adds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s always me, not Jeremy, who says that.”<\/p>\n
“We do our best to have date nights where\u00a0work talk is off the table \u2013 if we can stay awake,”\u00a0says Jeremy. You imagine that could be\u00a0especially tricky for Emma, an award-winning\u00a0broadcasting stalwart, courtesy of her stints at\u00a0the helm of the BBC\u2019s Newsnight and Woman\u2019s\u00a0Hour, and who last May, in the midst of the\u00a0couple\u2019s burgeoning business, took over as one\u00a0of the presenters on the Today programme.\u00a0It requires a very early alarm call twice a\u00a0week \u2013 3.21am to be precise.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve always liked\u00a0odd numbers,” Emma shrugs. “And\u00a0I think it is also about stealing time.\u2019\u00a0Like any parent of young children,\u00a0there\u2019s always a bit of a juggle going\u00a0on: alongside swotting up on the day\u2019s\u00a0news items on the way into work in\u00a0the small hours, Emma will quite often\u00a0do an online food shop, too.\u00a0Jeremy has long accepted she has a\u00a0relentless drive.<\/p>\n
“Emma has this saying,\u00a0that she likes to be inconvenienced by\u00a0life,” he says.\u00a0“She\u2019ll force us all to go to a tenth\u00a0sight on holiday when we\u2019re ready to crash \u2013\u00a0and it usually ends up being the best part.”<\/p>\n
“I have definitely dragged him along to lots\u00a0of cultural events over the years,” Emma admits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I like to wring the last dregs out of every day.\u00a0At the same time we have both influenced each\u00a0other. Especially since having children, I\u2019ve had\u00a0to lean into Jeremy\u2019s more laid-back approach.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/credit-colour-you-streets.jpg\")
\n
\n Image credit: Colour your streets
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Both acknowledge that they have grown up\u00a0together, having met as 20-year-old students\u00a0at the University of Nottingham. Emma, then\u00a0president of the student theatre society, was in\u00a0a budget crisis when a friend introduced them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“She said, ‘This is Jeremy. He\u2019s good with that\u00a0stuff. And he\u2019s single.’ So I was very practical\u00a0and very direct and very northern, and then\u00a0very quickly asked for his number.”<\/p>\n
Jeremy was\u00a0all too ready to give it, having told their friend\u00a0that he thought she looked rather lovely. They went on their first date a couple of\u00a0weeks later, during which Emma says she knew\u00a0instantly that Jeremy was the man she would\u00a0marry.<\/p>\n
“In fact, I called a friend on the day and\u00a0told her, so I have a witness,” she says.<\/p>\n
It took\u00a0Jeremy a little \u2013 but not much\u2013 longer to\u00a0decide she was the one, and seven years later,\u00a0the couple, who are both Jewish, married at\u00a0a west London synagogue.<\/p>\n
By then, Jeremy was well aware of the “bone-grinding” pain Emma lived with due to\u00a0endometriosis \u2013 a chronic condition in which\u00a0tissue similar to the uterine lining grows\u00a0outside the uterus.<\/p>\n
Emma was finally diagnosed\u00a0with the disease aged 31 after what she has\u00a0described in the past as 21 years of suffering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I only started speaking out because I was\u00a0outraged,” she says of her decision to talk\u00a0so candidly about the impact on her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I couldn\u2019t believe no one knew anything about\u00a0it.”<\/p>\n
She\u2019s since written a well-received book\u00a0covering her experience (Period: It\u2019s About\u00a0Bloody Time), as well as one shining a light\u00a0on the reality of maternity leave (Maternity\u00a0Service: A Love Letter to Mothers From the\u00a0Front Line of Maternity Leave).<\/p>\n
Nine years, five rounds of IVF, one miscarriage\u00a0and two pregnancies after diagnosis,\u00a0the condition remains a “work in\u00a0progress”.<\/p>\n
“They don\u2019t have a cure. Dark\u00a0humour is required,” she says.<\/p>\n
“I have\u00a0better days and worse days. I feel like,\u00a0since having our second child, and\u00a0a lot of IVF, I\u2019ve put a very unwell body\u00a0through a lot of stress to have our\u00a0children. It\u2019s been very hard since\u00a0stopping breastfeeding.”<\/p>\n
Latterly, she has tried to overhaul\u00a0her diet in a bid to help manage the pain.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m\u00a0taking my body a bit more seriously,” she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve tried to cut out ultra-processed food and\u00a0I don\u2019t eat as much gluten. We both eat a lot of\u00a0nuts, and I exercise twice a week. So ironically,\u00a0I\u2019ve never been stronger and fitter and\u00a0healthier in my life than I am now at 40.”<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no surprise given her immense appetite\u00a0for life that Emma was unfazed by her 40th\u00a0birthday milestone. She celebrated with a “boozy” lunch with good friends, which she jokes was “commensurate” with her experience as a serial\u00a0luncher.<\/p>\n
“I was very happy to turn 40,” she says. “I don\u2019t really believe in age. I believe in life.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Barnett and Jeremy Weil\u00a0hadn\u2019t exactly planned on a third\u00a0child. After enduring five gruelling\u00a0rounds of IVF to welcome…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[64,63,457,62258,134],"class_list":["post-82402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-books","tag-emma-barnettbrcolouring-books","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}