Following almost a year of uncertainty across the hospitality sector, one pair of entrepreneurs have made the leap to expand their business – with the hopes of bringing something new and exciting to the town of Hadleigh.
Faye and Rob Wicks have taken on the former premises of furniture shop The Little Grey Bird in order to open Cobblers Waffle House – a year after they opened Cobbler's Café & Wine Bar on Hadleigh’s high street.
The duo, who opened their café on Wednesday February 5 2020, saw a huge surge in popularity in takeaway ice cream and waffles throughout the year, and wanted to open a second location dedicated to sweeter fare.
“By May, we’d reopened our café and wine bar and put in a Kelly’s ice cream freezer, eventually extending our offering to waffles and sundaes. The desserts proved really popular, as no one could really do anything but go on walks, so it was a treat for families when they were out and about,” explains Faye.
"However, we eventually found that waffles and ice cream weren’t conducive to being in that property, but they did really well. In our mind, we’d always wanted to continue that business model, but in a separate premises. Then the property on Maiden Way came up, just a stone’s throw away, and it was perfect.”
Prior to being The Little Grey Bird, the shop was previously a café - meaning Faye and Rob haven’t had to change the property use through the council.
“Even though it’s high risk at the moment, we thought it was a risk worth taking because we can still open as a takeaway thanks to all of the Covid-safe measures we can put in place. We’ve given ourselves four weeks to update the premises and get everything ready in time for a March opening.”
Desserts on the menu alongside ice cream and waffles will include crepes and milkshakes, and everything will be served from recyclable packaging with biodegradable cutlery.
Once able to open for sit-down customers, the waffle bar will have space for around 10 to 12 people seated inside, between 16 and 20 outdoors, and enough space to host children’s waffle parties.
“We had thought about doing waffle parties in our original premises, but this one is perfect as we can put a big table out on the landing. We’re hoping to do parties of up to eight, and what we’re going to do is get the children to design their own waffle on a page, tell us what they want to put on it, and then they can create their own waffles to eat.
“Hadleigh is such a growing town, with lots of housing estates being built, and I think it’s really up and coming - but there’s nothing for children to do party-wise. You have to go out of town for that, so I think it’s nice to be able to open up something like that locally and have something to look forward to.”
Cobblers Waffle House can be found on Facebook.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here