Cafe and car wash closes after 20 years
THE owners of a popular cafe and car wash have announced its closure after 20 years in business. Steve and Debbie Vickers opened TC’s Cafe and Car wash on Southport New Road in Tarleton back in 2000 after getting the idea from a new trend of car wash cafes in Sydney, Australia.
Since introducing their business to Lancashire it has boomed with locals visiting the cafe for a ‘famous’ fry up whilst watching their cars being primed and cleaned.
The couple have now made the difficult decision to retire and sell their business with their final trading day having taken place on August 16.
An application has now been submitted to demolish the existing cafe and car wash to make way for a development of a drive-thru coffee shop and four other shops units at the site.
Steve Vickers, 57, said: “We got the idea from Sydney back in 2000 after talking to my brother. He used to take his car and meet all his friends at the local cafe and have something to eat whilst his car was cleaned. At the time there were 35 car wash cafes in the city.
“I thought it was a brilliant idea and wanted to bring it over here to the UK, so that’s what we did. We’ve now been doing it for 20 years.
The site has just been sold to be redeveloped to a drive-through coffee shop and some retail units.
“We’re now very much retiring and moving on.”
The couple worked tirelessly over 20 years to make their business a success and during their time they have welcomed lots of local customers.
“The last 20 years have been absolutely fantastic, we’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been very successful and very busy,” Steve said.
“We’ve made lots of good friends and had a great bunch of customers. It was always very busy in the summer.”
Debbie, 56, added: “I worked in the car wash for the first 10 months but after that I was in the cafe and Steve was on the car wash.
“All the locals used it and it became a meeting place for all the local farmers on a Sunday morning for their breakfast.
“Over the years we’ve had a lot of customers who would come have a bite to eat in the cafe whilst watching their cars being cleaned. Then in the last 12 months we really focused on the cafe and people came to visit even if they weren’t having their cars washed.
“I think we were the first car wash and cafe in Lancashire at the time when we opened.”
With a heavy heart the couple have now decided to retire, move on and make way for the new development.
“We were open seven days a week so it was very hard work. We decided now was the right time to retire,” Steve said.
“Our final trading day was Sunday, August 16. It was very difficult there was lots of tears from the local customers as well as us.
“Unfortunately because of Covid-19 we haven’t had chance to tell everybody that we’ve closed permanently. We hadn’t opened the cafe back up so we want to let our customers know.”
Earlier this month proposals were submitted to West Lancashire Borough Council which would see the disused car wash and cafe demolished to make way for a drive-through and four shops along the Tarleton Bypass.
Tarleton-based developer Bella Homes is behind the plans, which will entirely redevelop the existing forecourt off Southport New Road in Mere Brow.
If approved, the former TC’s Cafe and Car Wash will be replaced by a building housing four shop units and an adjacent coffee shop with a drive-through facility.
A report submitted with the application says the development would be designed to complement its surroundings and would not affect traffic levels.
It concludes: “The new units will allow for an improvement in the range and choice of goods offered locally and will be accessible to residents on foot/cycle or by car without causing undue disturbance to the amenities of nearby residents.”