News / Cheltenham Road
Popular Cheltenham Road cafe to reopen
It has almost been a year since a car crashed into the front of a cafe on Cheltenham Road forcing it to shut due to serious structural damage.
After innumerable back-and-forths between three different insurance companies, work has now started to repair the cafe, with Emmeline due to reopen in April.
“I call it doing a merry dance,” Emmeline owner Shona Graham said, explaining the process to get the building fixed.
is needed now More than ever
“I’m feeling so much better now. But still cannot believe how long it has taken.”
Emmeline opened on Cheltenham Road in June 2016
Shona was walking in the Forest of Dean when a friend called to tell her the news of the original accident.
“I had put my whole life into it, getting it off the ground,” Shona told Bristol24/7. “I never expected something like that to happen.
“There were definitely times when I thought I couldn’t scrape the energy back together to do it again.
“I’m just grateful that nobody got hurt. The Pipe & Slippers garden was full of drinkers at the time.”
Shona was previously the manager of the Pipe and also Yurt Lush close to Temple Meads, and has kept busy while Emmeline has been closed running a backstage catering business at festivals and gigs.
As well as being a cafe, Emmeline also sold flowers and plants from The Mighty Quinns
“I’m looking forward to giving Emmeline a bit of love and there will be a little facelift,” said Shona, who aims to open Emmeline (named after her niece) from 10am to 6pm from Monday to Saturday.
It will primarily concentrate on takeaway food at lunch, with coffee from Wogan, a renewed emphasis on reusable receptacles, and a return of flowers and plants for sale from The Mighty Quinns.
Soon after the accident happened, a crowdfunder was set up to help Shona, who said that she was devastated to have to let her staff at the cafe go.
“Without that, it would have been game over,” she said, now looking forward to a new chapter in Emmeline’s story.
The Emmeline shopfront before the accident – including a small hatch for takeaway coffee
Read more: Emmeline – cafe review
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