Updated Two Triangle cafes are taking tentative steps towards reopening, offering takeaway menus next month. So how was the lockdown for them - and how’s the future looking?
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Miss Ellie’s Cafe at Bitterne Park Triangle is preparing to reopen for takeaway orders from June 2, with a range of choices on the menu including breakfasts-to-go and a new ‘meal deal’.
‘We were getting to the top of our game.’
“We’ve been there five years this August and we were getting to the top of our game,” co-owner Adele Humby said. “We were really doing well, and it’s [like] starting a new business again, so that’s a bit worrying.”
“But we’ve got a big following on our page, and there’s a lot of positive people talking who can’t wait for us to get back, so that’s quite good.”
Stewart Humby with daughter Ellie
Adele said her husband Stewart has been keeping busy while the cafe’s been closed, using their facilities to prepare food for delivery to isolated elderly and vulnerable people, including some in McCarthy and Stone Boathouse flats by Cobden Bridge.
“So that’s been quite good. We’ve survived a little bit that way,” she said.
But beyond takeaway, Adele said she wasn’t sure how far off opening up the cafe for customers would be.
“I think we’re probably looking, hopefully, to the middle of July when they say [with] safety procedures you can open.”
“We can get eight to ten people back in the cafe at a safe distance, measuring up as much as we can do."
But, she said, “it is difficult” in small premises.
‘When we go back it’s going to be very different, isn’t it? That’s the problem.’
Meanwhile just along Manor Farm Road The Songbird plans to reopen from June 15 for takeaway “for the time being, until anything else is announced,” according to owner Jackie Tomlin, who took over the business in July 2018.
Jackie Tomlin
Their takeaway offer will include ice creams, milk shakes, hot drinks, baguettes, paninis and cakes.
The Songbird had been able to apply for the grant for small businesses, and furlough staff – apparently like most others on the Triangle.
“It’s time we reopened really: I’m going to have to come out of my sabbatical!” said Jackie.
“I’m almost getting used to a different pace of life. My life’s slowed down quite a lot - and I quite like it. But I really want to get back to it as well.”
While it seems plenty of similar businesses aren’t managing to reopen, Jackie said she’s thankful that her business can.
“But then again, when we go back it’s going to be very different, isn’t it? That’s the problem,” she said.
“This bit’s been the easy bit in some ways. But then going back and being restricted as to how many people you can have in for a long period of time....
“We always had a good summer, because we’re ice cream, mainly, but of course winters are tough for us. So if we, by the winter, can’t have as many people sitting in... that’s the sort of thing that’s going to end up affecting us quite a lot.”
‘Businesses want to know that we've got that 'community support' again’
“We’re looking beyond the first few weeks. It will be alright if the weather stays like this, but we’re very limited because people do come to the cafe for the atmosphere to sit in... so it’s actually gauging just what it’s going to be like when we come back”.
“What the [Triangle] businesses really want is to make sure people are coming back, and they’re not forgetting that we’re there, and [to know] that we’ve got that ‘community support’ again, isn’t it?”
• Update: Terry Hackett from Il Picchio, another Triangle cafe, subsequently told bitternepark.info that they weren't intending to open just yet: "To us, it all seems too soon, I think the government are putting economy before health, our demographic is toward the later in life range who are obviously the people at more risk," he said.
If you want to support Triangle businesses, various others are already (or still) open, including of course the Co-op, plus SOS Hardware, rideride bike shop, and some takeaways including Bengal Paradise. The Butcher’s Hook is open for deliveries only, and Darn it and Stitch is also offering an online ordering and collection service. Expect other traders to start opening soon, and some may already be offering products and services via their websites and social media pages.
Update 1/6/20: Bitterne Balti says it will be open for takeaways from June 2 for collection or delivery.