Popular Leeds café Mrs Atha's is reopening its doors after "struggling" and "mounting costs".
The Central Road spot in Leeds city centre, is best known for serving breakfast, brunch, lunch, cakes, and hot drinks. The venue opened its doors in October 2012, with owners Jonathon and Warren starting the venture in honour of their grandma Mrs Atha.
It quickly becoming one of the most quirky and interesting independent coffee shops in Leeds in recently years. Sadly, customers were left "devastated" in June when Warren announced the café would be "taking a break" and closing.
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Announcing the news on social media, on June 19, Warren said: "I'm sure many of our regulars have chatted with me over the last few months and heard me say how we are struggling with how much it's costing us to run the shop. I'm also sure you have all noticed the building works currently going on, on our street. It's having an almost ruinous effect on us.
"Our weekday trade has been absolutely decimated. The work has also meant the loss of our extra outside seating across the way. Not that anyone currently wants to sit outside because of the noise and dust from the construction anyway. We are not getting any help with this situation. The company doing the job have made us promises that have that have been consistently broken.
"We are on the brink. If this shop didn't mean so much to me personally and I wasn't so emotionally invested in every single aspect of it then I believe we would have already called it a day. But I'm not doing that. I'm fighting with everything I have to stay here and keep things moving."
He added: "Everyone knows how much this place means to me. My grandma's name is above the door. I love doing what I do. At a time when my team is probably as good as it has ever been, we are really struggling to stay afloat. I have decided that we will closed the shop, after close of business, on Tuesday June 20.
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"We need a break. Some time to take stock of what is going on and figure out a way to proceed. It's a sad day."
Two weeks following the closure, Warren has announced Mrs Atha's will be reopening this weekend. On July 7, the café will welcome back customers from 9am.
In a new announcement, owners said: "We are coming back. The news we have all been waiting for. I honestly can't thank each and every one of you enough for being a massive part of the reason we are announcing today that we will be reopening on Friday July 7 at 9am.
"The response from our amazing loyal customers that got us the coverage and the leverage we needed to make sure that we could secure our future has been truly inspirational. Never thought we could make it happen this quickly. But here we are!! See you Friday!"
The news excited many; one individual said: "That's fantastic, I am so happy for you." On Instagram @bloomcoffeebakery added: "Awesome news!" "That's fantastic, I am so happy for you," @kokacollection added.
@rio_jxde_ said: "So glad to hear this." "Such brilliant news," @lindsey_portero said.
