City centre cafe reopens to provide takeaway service

A CITY centre coffee shop has re-opened as a t akeaway-only service more than a month after closing due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Coffee & Co on Reform Street has installed a plastic counter shield and floor stickers indicating how far apart customers can stand from each other.

The cafe will be open from 7am-2pm f rom today serving hot and cold drinks and food to takeaway.

The business, which opened four years ago, has been f orced to furlough 11 members of staff after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered all pubs, restaurants and cafes to close indefintely amid the outbreak on March 23.

But under government rules, food takeaways are allowed to stay open.

Owner Heather Judge said the cafe had been deep cleaned while it was closed. She said: “It just felt like it was time to open up in some way.

“The closure gave us a chance to gut the place and give it a good clean.

“When I’ve come in to sort a few things I’ve seen some of our customers walking past and looking through the window wondering if we were open.

“We’ve put our heart and soul into this place and we’re not wanting to fold.”

Coffee & Co’s decision comes after McDonald’s, which has a branch further down on Reform Street, responded to reports it was planning to reopen some drive-thrus and delivery services next month.

In a post on Facebook, the company said: “We promise we will update you here as soon as we have confirmed our plans.

“Stay safe, stay at home and we will see you soon.”