June 14, 2021 5.23 pm
This story is over 13 months old
Couple turning dreams into reality with triple business in Louth
A Pride month Lincolnshire spotlight
Ashley Janney and Jonathan Cryans (middle left and middle right) are the owners of three successful businesses in one Louth shopping complex. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
A couple from Louth have turned the uncertainty of COVID-19 lockdown into an exciting career venture, and are now running three businesses at once in the town.
Jonathan Cryans (26) and Ashley Janney (30) are business partners that run a menswear store, a sewing shop and a salon in New Market Hall, Louth, and they recently got engaged after five years together.
They began in March 2018 with the opening of The Little Sewing Shop, selling cushions and other home furnishings, as well as offering tailored services for clothes.
The Little Sewing Shop has been at New Market Hall in Louth since March 2018. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When the first coronavirus lockdown hit, Ashley, who is the head designer and director for the sewing shop, made a bold call to buy the unit next door and turn it into a workshop.
Ashley Janney is the director and head designer at The Little Sewing Shop. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Ashley would regularly get customers for weddings, having the local community come to him to tailor suits, and that’s when Janney & Cryans Menswear was born.
Janney & Cryans Menswear at New Market Hall in Louth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
The shop opposite The Little Sewing Shop had previously been a menswear shop, but Ashley and Jonathan made it into their own and opened in June 2020.
That was then followed by The Loft, an upstairs salon run by Jonathan himself, which also opened last June.
Jonathan Cryans runs The Loft, an upstairs salon in close proximity with the other two businesses. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Ashley told The Lincolnite that the success of the businesses has been a result of making the right decisions at the right times.
“You’ve just got to enjoy your job, you spend more time at work than you do at home, so it’s all about finding something you love”, he said.
“We made a choice during the first lockdown to invest in the business and not just expand the sewing shop, but also open the menswear shop and the salon.
“It came to the point where you either fight or die, and despite everybody calling me crazy, I went for it and here we are today.”
Eye-catching decor at The Little Sewing Shop. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
During the local elections in 2021, The Heritage Party ran for council in Louth, and their policies of being against the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as same-sex marriages, caused controversy within the community.
The staff are a really tightly knit team. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
This is something that deeply upset Jonathan and Ashley, though they say they say they’ve never really encountered any forms of homophobia within their business.
Ashley said: “I guess it’s never really come up in conversation, it’s hard to take and sad knowing that people think like that.
“We have new customers every single day, it’s just reassuring that it’s only a small minority who have those views.”
Ashley works most days, but says it never really feels like work because of how much he loves doing it. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Jonathan said: “If you are LGBT you can still run a successful business. You can lead a normal life and be a ‘stable’ member of society.
“It seems so backward to even have to be fighting for this in 2021. But things have come so far and I refuse to not fight for equality.”
Jonathan Cryans at The Loft. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Since reopening, all three businesses have boomed, with the help of a growing online presence and word of mouth.
Janney & Cryans Menswear specialises in smart clothing and footwear. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Ashley explained: “The community has kind of spread the word, I think it works well having all the businesses close together.
“Our local regulars supported us a lot through lockdown to keep us afloat, and since then it’s gone from strength to strength.”
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
You can take a look at the businesses on their Facebook pages by clicking the following links:
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We want to speak to three individuals in relation to a burglary which took place at Tattershall Farm Park at around 1.45am in the early hours of Monday, 8 August.
A fence was broken to gain access to the grounds, and a rear door to the workshop was forced open. Numerous power tools and equipment were stolen, including a red quad bike, to the value of around £25,000.
The escape was made via the same route across a field to the rear and along Marsh Lane, Tattershall using two-barrel carts from the site to transport the stolen goods down the lane.
If you know these individuals, or you have any further information that will help with our investigation please get in touch.
Please email [email protected] quoting ‘Incident 86 of 8 August’ in the subject line.
Or call 101 quoting Incident 86 of 8 August.
If you wish to remain anonymous you can report any information via CrimeStoppers by calling 0800 555 111.
Doddington Hall Farm Shop near Lincoln will feature in a new Channel 5 series which celebrates the British love of a good farm shop.
Episode one of ‘Britain’s Poshest Farm Shop’ is due to air on Channel 5 at 8pm on Friday, August 12. Doddington Hall features throughout episode 1 alongside farm shops in North Wales and Devon.
The two-part series is narrated by Patricia Hodge and described as “a warm and touching look at why we all love a farm shop, the characters that inhabit them and the people behind the scenes that work so hard to create outstanding produce.”
Owner Claire Birch in the Kitchen Garden, a stone’s throw from the Farm Shop.
Doddington Farm Shop Kitchen Garden display.
Doddington Hall said its award-winning farm shop wasn’t built on being ‘posh, but was “born out of a passion to provide our customers with good quality, seasonal, local food.”
Doddington Hall said Production company Out of the Blue TV filmed “on a momentous day when the cows were being put out to pasture for the first time after the winter so they were gambolling in the sunshine.”
Doddington Farm Shop Kitchen Garden display.
Owners Claire Birch & James Birch and stockman Hari Limbu.
Since 2006, the Elizabethan Doddington Hall has been the much-loved family home of Claire and James Birch. Claire’s family have lived in the Hall for over 190 years, devoting themselves to the upkeep, repair and progression of the Doddington Estate.
After a 50 year absence, the formerly neglected two-acre walled Kitchen Garden was restored to its former glory in 2007, inspiring the opening of the Farm Shop followed by the Cafe. Just a stone’s throw from the Hall, it provides an abundance of fruit, vegetables, salads and herbs which take centre stage in the Farm Shop and on Doddington Hall’s menus.
Owner Claire Birch in her kitchen in Doddington Hall, giving a sneaky peek into the ancient recipe archive.
Owner Claire Birch with a Kitchen Garden tromboncino squash.
Over the last 16 years, Claire and James have developed the Farm Shop, Bike Shop, Café, Coffee Shop, Restaurant, Home Store, Country Clothing Store, Holiday Cottages, Bauble Barn, Christmas Tree sales, Weddings and Events businesses; increased public access and organised popular concerts and exhibitions with all proceeds going towards the upkeep and conservation of the historic Hall and Gardens.
This year, the Doddington Hall Conservation Charity secured National Lottery Heritage Funding to develop ‘Wilder Connections’, a project to connect people with nature at Wilder Doddington.
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