29/08/2021
***Life is too short – an announcement***
It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing that Number One King Street will close its doors for good on Saturday 25th September 2021.
My vision was to create a space for our wonderful community, a café by day, and to follow on alongside that, a private hire venue by night. But just 5 months into business, having established the café, and then as party bookings were starting to come in, covid came into all our lives. We have tried our best to keep going and at different times over the last 17 months we have been an indoor cafe, an outdoor café, an indoor and outdoor café, a takeaway, a fruit and veg shop, a deli...whatever we could put our minds to, to keep some money coming in and provide a service for our community.
There is understandably no certainty as to when people's confidence will return and for parties to be in full swing again, and the café has sadly been trading at 50% of pre-covid times. I could carry on for another 6 months before closing, hoping Christmas bookings happen, but it comes with too much stress, worry and pressure as to if life will have resumed enough by then. Christmas is essential in the hospitality trade to carry businesses through the quite months of January, February and March but again for another year, Christmas parties and events are not a given.
My staff have been amazing and I’m truly thankful for them; I have responsibility of each and every one of them which I take very seriously. The job market for hospitality is normally very good at this time of year but constricts in the New year, so I feel that by closing at the end of September, it gives each member of staff the greatest number of opportunities when looking for a new job.
I need to publicly thank my family for allowing me to follow my dream. There is huge family sacrifice when you run your own business and no more so in the hospitality industry. Our busiest times are weekends, when we should be spending time together and being a family. I might have been the face of the business but Anna has been my rock; she designed everything and gave us all such a beautiful space, wonderful photos and social media pages, and has been my sounding board throughout. I cannot thank my family enough and I can’t wait to be home on a Sunday morning.
So it’s time to cut my loses and draw a line under this venture. I’m so sorry for Potton that it has come to this. I sincerely thank all of you lovely people who have supported us along the way.
