Combining the West of Ireland and coffee
LOUISE AND DAVE SMYTH LOVED HAVING COFFEE SO MUCH IN THEIR FAVOURITE SLIGO RESTAURANT THAT THEY DECIDED TO TAKE IT OVER! THE COUPLE OUTLINE THEIR MOVE FROM DUBLN, WHERE THEY ALSO OPERATE CAFÉS, TO CATHAL MULLANEY
MANY would say the current environment does not lend itself to opening a new business, but try telling that to Louise and Dave Smyth. They have taken over at Milligram Café on Wine Street in Sligo town, looking to bring their unique coffee experience west of the Shannon. Already well established in Dublin where they have a number of outlets, Louise, a native of Geevagh, and Dave, relocated to Sligo during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic and decided to take the plunge to take over from previous owners, Arina and Martin.
The café will retain the Milligram name, and look to build on the already sizeable reputation it has for good quality coffee.
A ‘soft’ opening took place last Saturday week, and the reaction has already been hugely positive.
Louise explained the way their latest venture came about.
“It was very short notice I suppose,” the former Sligo footballer told The Sligo Champion.
“We have been coming into Milligram a lot over the last couple of months and we noticed they were closed and we would have approached them to see if they were interested.
“So that was it, and we took over, literally it probably all happened within two weeks.
“With Covid, we were relocated here. I had a baby in November, and we renovated my mum’s home house and we had a base down here anyway.
“We were here for Covid and that was kind of our draw. Dave loves the west so we said we might try to combine the two, the west and coffee, and have that down here also.”
Regrettably, the major impact of the restrictions imposed during the course of the pandemic has been felt by businesses across various industries.
Thousands have lost their jobs and many have seen companies they have spent their life building close their doors.
The Milligram story is a welcome positive story in an otherwise challenging business landscape.
Dave says: “We’ve a couple of café’s in Dublin and we know what we’re doing I suppose, it was readymade.
“I don’t think there really is a good time to start a business, definitely not the perfect time anyway. It actually helps in one way, there are a lot of places reopening anyway so everyone is at the same stage.
“We’ve got some cafe’s in Dublin that were closed and we’re actually reopening them at the same time.
“People are starting to get back out and about so it just made sense, we’ve been in coffee for a couple of years now so I actually roast myself, I run the coffee company Full Circle Roasters so it’s kind of a nice step for us to have a good coffee shop down the west of Ireland as well.
“It gives us a bit of a showcase that people can come in and taste the coffee and that’d be one of
the approach, that people are chasing good coffee here as well.”
The chance to open a café in Sligo provides somewhat of a different challenge to that of Dublin, but Dave and Louise view it as a major chance to develop something special in the west.
“There’s a bit of an opportunity there also,” Dave says.
“The long-term plan may be to be based here but just when the opportunity came up we would have known the previous owners here and we just opened a discussion on that and as Louise says it happened kind of quickly, but we’re delighted to be here.
“It is a small space as well so it’s relatively straightforward to run in terms of what we have experience at.
“It was just one of those opportunities that came up and we grabbed it. The previous owners were here for just over a year, and it would have gotten quite a good name.
“We would’ve been customers and being interested in coffee I kind of seek out good places wherever we travel to or wherever we’re visiting and we really liked the place.
“So we’ve taken over and kept it going with adding a little bit to it with food down the line.”
With society returning to something like the pre- Covid-19 environment, the initial signs since the doors opened have been encouraging.
Dave says of the first few days: “It’s quite good. I think people are coming back, getting back out and about.
“They’re happy to be out, grabbing a coffee is one of those things you can grab on the go, we would call it an affordable luxury, people are into it and enjoy a good coffee and its something where you can meet friends.
“I do think it’ ll come back, maybe a little different to the way it was before but hopefully, Sligo has been one of the better places in the country so it probably has helped.
“We have been here the whole time and we felt extremely safe down here, the bounce back in Dublin may be a little slower.
“We’ve actually noticed it already with opening here and reopening a couple of cafes in Dublin, it’s actually nearly busier here.
“People are very much honed in on the quality side and we’ve had a couple of customers who’ve been travelling the west of Ireland a little bit.
“One guy came in and said he got a recommendation from a friend in Clare that this was the place to come to in Sligo so I think that’s our real aim here is to bring a real quality to the coffee and if people enjoy it I think they’re going to come back, so it makes complete sense as well.”
IT’S QUITE GOOD. I THINK PEOPLE ARE COMING BACK, GETTING BACK OUT AND ABOUT. THEY’RE HAPPY TO BE OUT, GRABBING A COFFEE IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS YOU GRAB ON THE GO