Coffee Shop closure announced (Bridgwater and not this one!)

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Bridgwater Mercury

The White Feather Coffee Co to close shop in Bridgwater station

THE White Feather Coffee Co has announced it will be permanently closing its site at Bridgwater Train Station.

A spokesperson from the company said: "It is with a heavy heart that we have taken the decision to permanently close our site at Bridgwater Train Station.

"With so much uncertainty surrounding the railways at this current time, and having been unable to negotiate more affordable terms for the impending three year lease, we have taken the decision to safeguard our business and step away from the station.

[Mark A]

Short term leases, or even 5 year with an upward-only rent review at 3, that approach is commonplace, but suitable for few businesses when it comes to building a stable foundation for both landlord and tenant. Aided and abetted by the fact that landlord tenant law is thoroughly feudal in nature.

*Thinks of all the sometimes very good people operating out of kiosks outside railway stations, anywhere from Carlisle* to Castle Cary to Penzance.*

*Thinks of several relaxing Sunday morning (non-train) travel breaks in the cafe on the platform at Yeovil Junction Station, which seemed at the time to have become well known locally as a good place to stop for coffee. Not sure if it's there now...

Also: *glares at residential letting market*.

Mark

*Carlisle has, or had, a good cafe *in* one of the station's striking interior spaces for once... on the other hand, the station loos, newly fitted with infrared triggered automatic flush controls, were prone to hostile action, as the flush was positioned to trigger itself when you sat down.

[JayMac]

*Thinks of several relaxing Sunday morning (non-train) travel breaks in the cafe on the platform at Yeovil Junction Station, which seemed at the time to have become well known locally as a good place to stop for coffee. Not sure if it's there now...

The coffee shop at Yeovil Junction reopened in May 2023. Sister branch at Pen Mill.

https://atthestation.co.uk/

[johnneyw]

I'm still missing the Coffee Trike at Redland Station.  It's been gone a fair few years now and hopes of someone seeing an opportunity there have proven fanciful.  It didn't help that Kiera, the owner of the trike, found the red tape with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) most frustrating when trying to make running the business easier.