A cafe which has been at the heart of a town for three years is to move location due to new coronavirus rules.
Swallows Coffee Shop in North Walsham Market Place will move to its new location on Vicarage Street on Thursday September 10, after new regulations meant it could only accommodate one customer at a time, with the rest having to use the takeaway service.
Owner Julie Cameron says the larger new location will feature outdoor seating space allowing her to welcome more visitors.
Ms Cameron said her landlord offered her the move after she said the business may have to close if only one person was allowed in at a time.
She said: “Basically because of lockdown, my cafe is very small and I was told that I could only use one table at the moment along with takeaways and obviously that’s not viable. Like that I could only keep going until Christmas with my grant, so I had to tell my landlords that I’m going to have to pack it up.
“But they’re friends of mine and they’re property developers, so they told me they had another property in the town and they suggested that I move there and try it there, because it has this outdoor seating space.
“I’m taking a massive leap of faith with it in the current climate but hopefully it will work out. I’m trying to be really positive about it all but obviously I’ve still got to have a kitchen fitted and sort out my furniture and all these things.”
Ms Cameron, who has owned businesses in the town for the entirety of her working life, said she was very grateful for the support the cafe received throughout lockdown when it was only allowed to do takeaway service.
She added: “I’ve got a lovely loyal coffee shop family who have all been really supportive and they’ve all been coming and buying takeaways and I didn’t really think I would ever be a takeaway business.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by the support, totally overwhelmed, so that’s been lovely.”
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