From South Africa to Denmark Street

A NEW family-run business is bringing the taste of Africa toWokingham.

Characters Cafe, which opened on Denmark Street last week, is hoping to bring some “South African flair” to local residents.

The independent cafe is run by Dianne Wiid, who used to manage her own coffee shop on a beachfront in South Africa.

After moving to Wokingham, the owner said she had always wanted to bring “something new” to the high street, andwhen she sawthe unit on sale it was the “perfect opportunity”.

“We live in Wokingham so it was a nice and convenient location, and we already know quite a few of the people here,” she said. “Now we are up and running, we want to introduce South African food that you can grab and go, including things like melkterts.”

Ms Wiid runs Characters Cafe with her husband, their son and his girlfriend but said opening the shop during lockdown hasn’t been easy.

“Business is a lot slower than it would usually be, especially with people not being able to sit down,” she explained. “But we decided to bite the bullet and go for it anyway.”

Despite coronavirus restrictions, Ms Wiid said the cafe has been overwhelmed by support from the community.

“People seem excited that we’re open and they’ve all assured us that they’ll support us,” MsWiid said.

“Lockdown has not made it easy, but we’ve followed all the guidelines to get the cafe running as it should and we’ll keep going.”

Due to current lockdown rules, Characters Cafe is operating on a takeaway-only basis.

“People can come in and grab a coffee and pastry to take away with them,” Ms Wiid explained.

“But we can’t wait for lockdown to be over so we can offer eat in, get more involved with local people and get to knowthem better.

“For now, we are very excited to be open, even though it is a lot more challenging than in normal times.”

The coffee shop opened its doors on Wednesday, February 17.

To find out more about Characters Cafe, search for ‘Characters Wokingham’ on Facebook.