City restaurant takes over cafe at museum
Pleace and Sandra Milne of Loving Food
Owners of a Stirling restaurant which opened just over 12 months ago are to take on the cafe at the Smith Museum and Art Gallery.
Stewart Pleace and Sandra Milne launched Loving Food in King Street in May last year after a six-year struggle to establish a business in the city.
But following the success of Loving Food, they have now been invited by the new Smith director Caroline Mathers to run the cafe in the museum’s Dumbarton Road building.
The previous cafe operation ceased a few months ago and from today (Friday) it will be run by Loving Food who will have two of their team based there.
Stewart said this week: “The Smith is a fantastic place to visit and we are regulars there with our son. Caroline wanted to have a high quality and accessible cafe at the Smith and approached us about it. We are delighted to be involved. We’ll start with coffee, tea, home made scones, soup and sandwiches and take it from there. We hope to cater for community and family events there too.”
Stewart and Sandra built up a following among foodies in the city with Hervé, their vintage Citroen van from which they sold a range of street food from a pitch opposite the railway station. They approached Stirling Council in 2014 with plans to convert the former pavilion in King’s Park into a cafe-bistro in a scheme expected to create 15 jobs.
The couple successfully applied to take over the derelict pavilion and in July 2016 were granted planning consent for its conversion. But after drawing up detailed plans for the work the council awarded the lease to another applicant.
Stewart and Sandra were angry at the council’s change of tack which left them £15,000 out of pocket, and they switched their focus to the unit at 51 King Street.
They said this week that they have been very impressed with Caroline’s plans for the art gallery and museum.
Stewart added: “The work they have carried out at the Smith over the last year to renovate one of the galleries and display the art is amazing. There are also plans to display much more of the artefacts that they hold there. It will be great to be part of it.”
Caroline has also redesigned the Smith cafe and it includes an illustration on one of its walls by artist David Galletly.
She said: “The Loving Food Team will bring their brand of fresh, locally produced dishes and great service to The Smith. We look forward to welcoming back our local visitors as well as new faces.”