A new community-focused coffee shop has opened its doors in Allonby.
Seaglass Coffee Allonby, on Main Street, held a soft opening over the weekend and is now open from 8am until 2pm on weekdays except Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 10am until 2pm on weekends.
The coffee shop will serve classic café food, including breakfasts, coffee and teas and lunch options including sandwiches, cakes, burgers, jacket potatoes, salad boxes, paninis and soup.
It is being run by three couples who live in the village, Mike and Keith Appleton-Derrick, Julie and Mike Wilson and Ann and Andreas Doebereiner.
The group has fully renovated the building, which was formerly Wisher’s of Allonby takeaway.
It has now been transformed into a cosy café space that will also be home to Allonby Community Forum, of which some of the group are trustees for.
Mike said: “We opened last Thursday and we called it a soft opening because we didn’t know how busy it would be and we wanted to make sure that we’re doing the right things first.
“But it’s gone really really well, we’re going really deep on good coffee and breakfasts, and the interest in the village has been phenomenal.
“We’ve had people from Whitehaven and Keswick all making a trip up to come and see us.
“There’s six of us that have done it and invested in it and we’ve also had some really good support from other villagers too who have given us advice and guidance, we want it to become a real community hub.
“But our signs will hopefully go up this week and we’ve got some new LED signs for the window to brighten up the place and make it a really nice place to be.”
Mike said that alongside giving people a space to come together in the village, the coffee shop will also become a hub to support the activities of the community forum.
The community forum aims to keep improving the village by helping the village’s parish council raise funds for projects.
It is currently busy fundraising to provide brand new community playpark equipment for youngsters living in the village and visiting.
Mike added: “A few of us are trustees for the Allonby Community Forum, which is raising funds for the playpark at the moment, so what we’re trying to do is use the coffee shop as a fundraising hub too.
“We’re really passionate about the village, we’ve all moved here from afar really. I’m from St Helens originally, Julie and Mike are from Scotland and Andreas is from Germany, so we’ve all come from far and settled here for different reasons.
“I used to run a pub a long time ago, but I’m in corporate and work in London as well as living here now, Julie and Mike were in engineering and education, and then Ann and Andreas do history events at Lowther Castle.
“So we’re all bringing different things to the table, but I think between us we’ve got a really good skill set!”
Mike added that the group are excited to welcome more people to the coffee shop as it finds its feet over the winter months.
He said: “Our ultimate goal is to make the village a really nice place to be and create a really nice coffee shop where people can come, because there isn’t really anywhere for people to come and have a good sit down coffee.
“We’re really trying hard to get our name out there and we absolutely know its winter and a little dead in Allonby, but now is the time to get it wrong and learn and if we do it right, the summer will be fantastic for us.
“But we’ve done so well already, we’ve had loads of people coming in and seeing what we’re all about and we’ve broke even for our first week and we’ve only been open for a few days.
“The amount of walkers, runners and dog walkers who’ve come in to grab a coffee has been amazing.”
You can support Allonby Community Forum’s fundraising efforts here.
