Quiet success after switch for cafe
AFTER going through eight generators in four months, the owner of a mobile cafe who faced complaints about noise and fumes has found a longterm solution.
Victoria Young has thanked local councillor Linda TylerLloyd and Swansea Council for helping her switch from diesel to electric.
The Touring Tea Room caravan, in Clyne Gardens, Mayals, is now powered from the mains, thanks to a new connection to a toilet block in the council-owned park.
Miss Young left her job as a nursery nurse to start up the business, which opened in June, but faced complaints about noise and fumes from her generator.
She said: “Some people were coming up to me and saying I should move,” she said.
The majority of people, she said, were supportive of her venture and wanted to try to help.
But Miss Young claimed the complaints situation “got a bit feisty”.
The business was closed down for two days by the council – the licensing authority – in order to carry out an investigation.
Miss Young said she replaced her original generator with a quieter one, and then had a box built around it to dampen the sound further.
But at one point her electrics melted, and in a relatively short space of time she ended up
renting a number of generators.
“I’ve been through eight of them,” she said. “They’re notoriously unreliable.”
The 27-year-old said she’d never really wanted to have a diesel unit, but the electric hook-up has finally offered a solution, although the caravan is now further down the sloping park than it was.
“It has made a massive difference,” she said.
There’s less setting-up time, no fumes and no noise.
“It’s taken an hour off my day,” said Miss Young.
“Linda (Tyler-lloyd), bless her, really worked hard to sort it out. She’s been really helpful.”
The business operates seven days a week selling hot drinks and cakes – and Miss Young also runs story time sessions for children on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12.30pm.
It is the first time she has been her own boss.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “I’m really loving it.”
Cllr Tyler-lloyd, who represents Mayals, donated £2,000 of her community budget to help pay for the electric link-up into the park.
She said it was something she had been trying to do for months.
She said The Touring Tea Room was a “wonderful facility”.
“I’m so enthusiastic about this,” she said.
“And I’ve had thank-you letters from people in Roman Bridge Close for getting it done.”