‘Emotional decision’ to close Bridgetown’s Button & Spoon
BUTTON and Spoon in Bridgetown was forced to close its doors for good last week due to a sharp decline in business.
Nuala Grant of Button and Spoon said that they had opened the cafe in Bridgetown four years ago and ‘Bridgetown was extremely good to us. In our type of business you need a good summer to make enough money to sustain the quieter winter months and this year that didn’t happen.
‘We were supported very consistently by our regular local customers but what we did notice was a huge reduction in the number of domestic and UK-based tourists. It was really quite significant. We would have had a lot of repeat domestic tourists who were staying in places like Rosslare but this year they just weren’t here.
‘Maybe with the upturn in the economy they decided to go away but it’s really quite startling the difference in tourist numbers.
‘In Bridgetown we don’t get a lot of American or other international visitors so we rely on the UK tourists, especially in September when traditionally we would have gotten a lot of retired English couples coming here, but again they weren’t here this year.
‘It was quite a dramatic drop. The weather in September just wasn’t good either and it all had a knock-on effect. In a rural area like Bridgetown we don’t have a lot of passing trade.
‘We were heading into the winter with a low summer base and then Ophelia hit and we were without power for three days, so not only were we closed we also lost a lot of stock.
‘With Storm Brian on the way we decided not to open up between the two in case lost more stock.’
Nuala said that they then had to examine the business’ viability.
‘In terms of a basic business decision it was very black and white looking at the numbers but it was an extremely emotional decision.
‘Bridgetown was our baby and we were so committed to it. We never envisaged closing it but we just couldn’t afford to go on.
‘It has been a very rough week since we announced we were closing. The support from people has been absolutely incredible.
‘We really only realised the depth of support we had from reading people’s comments about the closure. So many people have come to town and called into us to lend their support.
‘It has been incredibly humbling.’ Nuala said that although they have been forced to close the doors in Bridgetown she expects the village to continue growing.
‘Bridgetown now is a different place to what it was four years ago when we opened. That’s down to all the businesses there who are working so hard. I’ve no doubt that someone will take over the cafe and make a go of it.’