The owner of new Darlington healthy eating café which had to close shortly after it was launched, said she is determined to reopen somewhere else in the town within a month.
Meet N Marrow, run by childhood friends Nicola Patterson, 35, and Axel Tucker, 32, soft-launched at Firthmoor Community Centre, and was due to open fully on Saturday (September 20).
However, after temporarily pausing their plans to relocate due to unsuitable conditions, the pair have now confirmed the cafe opening will be postponed until further notice as they search for a new venue.
Following what she described as “a breakdown in relationships”, co-owner Nicola is determined that this setback will not define her and her dreams for the café.
Axel Tucker & Nicola Patterson who co-own Meet n Marrow.(Image: Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT)
“There’s no point in dwelling on something that obviously was never going to work in the first place,” she said.
“However, we are going to get somewhere else, because this town needs it.
“I’ve got lots of viewings coming up. I’ve got lots of meetings. I feel much more positive today.
“You have to keep on moving, it’s just a bump in the road.
“Bumps form resilience.”
Axel Tucker & Nicola Patterson said they want to reopen next month.(Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)
Nicola and Axel initially soft-launched the café on Saturday, September 13, which they felt was a big success.
The 35-year-old added: “The soft launch went really well.
“Seeing the kids eat banana pancakes on that Saturday was something else, I cried in the toilet! It was just a beautiful moment.”
However, despite the initial success, she said the community centre was not the right fit for the café’s future.
She said: “There was a lot of background noise. I don’t think a lot of people agreed with it.
“There was a lot of people that that acted with integrity and had faith in it, but there was a lot of people that didn’t.
“I can’t really say much more than that.”
They want the share their love of healthy eating with the whole community.(Image: Sarah Caldecott)
After announcing the news on social media, Nicola has seen an outpouring of love and support from the Darlington community.
“The support has been incredible,” she said.
“But everyone is being so supportive. I’ve had members of the community coming forward and saying, “I’m looking for places for you!”
She added: “Everything happens for a reason, and obviously the reason was we were never meant to be there. I’ve got such a lovely team behind me.
“I’ve even had people stopping in the street asking me when’s it going to be open again.”
Nicola hopes that the café will be reopen again within the next month.
Nicola and Axel soft-launched the café on Saturday (September 13), which turned out to be a big success.(Image: Sarah Caldecott)
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“We’ve got all of our equipment, we’ve got everything we need. We just need some walls and the door.
“I put so much effort and hard work into it that it’ll be silly not to keep going.”
When asked about the future for the café, she said “the dream is still the same”.
She added: “My goals for the future are to educate people and feed people real food.
“We will be opening elsewhere. We will be feeding Darlo again. And it’ll be everything I promised it would be; because the work has already been put in and the fire’s still there.”
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