Former owner of Milk Teeth lends his support to Hidden Corner

As the owners of Hidden Corner cafe and bookshop in St Paul’s remain evicted from their business after their landlords bolted the front door shut, the previous tenant who ran a cafe in the same building has told of his own problems with the same landlords.

Josh Bowker was the owner of Milk Teeth, which opened on Portland Square in 2017.

In a live Instagram video, Josh spoke of both the mental health and financial problems he experienced dealing with the landlords of the building.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVAprf7h5a4/

“I wanted to come on here to express my support and encourage others to support in other ways,” said Josh, also one of the original members of sea shanty sensations The Longest Johns.

Josh said that the landlords treated him “pretty badly” when he was a tenant, “but I managed to emerge relatively unscathed at the end of it…

“It was mainly emotional trauma that they inflicted, financial as well, but my mental health suffered through having Milk Teeth, principally because of the landlords, not really to do with anything else. It was generally a good time but the landlords made my life pretty bad.”

Josh said that compared to what Hidden Corner co-owners Sophia Khan and Aaron Onuora are going through, however, “it was a holiday”.

“I emerged with my deposit, which was a bit of a miracle. Not even sure how that happened. I was able to peacefully hand over the running of the cafe to Aaron and Sophia but little did I know that they would run into such hot water further down the line.”

Hidden Corner co-owners Aaron Onuora and Sophia Khan – photo: Martin Booth

Josh claims that the landlords have carried out an eviction with no rightful grounds and said that “sadly the police have not been great in the whole situation, which is just really disappointing”, leaving Aaron and Sophia needing all the support they can get to resolve the situation.

He said that if the landlords “get away with this, there is something very very wrong with our legal system, and our system of landlords and tenants”.

“So we need to be talking about this, we need to be raising awareness of these sort of issues, particularly right now when small businesses are struggling to make ends meet more than ever.

“We need to be protecting small business culture, we need to be protecting these guys. Aaron and Sophia turned this cafe into frankly something way more suited to St Paul’s than Milk teeth ever was.”

Protests have taken place outside Hidden Corner since the landlords bolted the business shut – photo: Martin Booth

Josh added: “I lived in St Paul’s and it felt like that was a good location for a speciality coffee shop, which was my passion…

“But these guys have brought a much more St Paul’s feel, making it a safe space for people of colour and for the LGBTQ+ community, and they have had a lot of people finding a haven…

“For a large community they have been a real lifeline. For that reason as well it’s really important to protect these spaces, protect these people who are doing good work for other people.”

The landlords, Presman, have been asked for comment by Bristol24/7.

Main photo: Bristol24/7

Read more:

• Landlord locks door of much-loved cafe and bookshop
• Nathalie Emmanuel lends her support for Hidden Corner cafe
• Portland Square: from dereliction to luxury

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