Business

Cafe Pino has been given a fresh lease of life with Italian desserts and drinks as it reopened under new ownership on Tuesday.

It has been taken over by Dario Rossi, who is from the Italian region of Sicily. Daniel Ramsey, who worked as the assistant manager at Angel Coffee House in Lincoln for two years, is the new manager at Cafe Pino and was delighted to welcome the first customers through the door on Tuesday, June 15.

The original Cafe Pino opened on the corner of the High Street and Tentercroft Street in November 26, 2019. It previously closed its doors for good as the former owner Memet Ozer relocated to London after a family bereavement, but it is now back again under new ownership.

Cafe Pino has kept its original name and has created five new jobs, including manager Daniel and his colleagues Mia Farrar and Jasmin Slingsby.

The cafe has introduced new Italian desserts such as cannoli and aragostine, as well as vegan cakes and also freshly baked croissants each morning.

There will also be a mixture of sandwiches, paninis and toasties, including ham and cheese, Caprese with tomato and pesto, and vegan pepperoni.

There is a variety of hot and cold drinks available, including an Italian coffee known as a Cortado and a traditional frothy cappuccino.

A twist on Italian street food with “grandma style” homemade dishes was also among the original plans of the new owner, and will be introduced to the menu over the next few months.

Manager Daniel told The Lincolnite: “It feels great to be open. It has been weeks of getting things ready, but we are now serving food and drinks to the public, who we hope will love the new Cafe Pino.”

Cafe Pino is open between 8am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm on Saturday and 10am-4pm on Sunday.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

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.”

Since reopening, all three businesses have boomed, with the help of a growing online presence and word of mouth.

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.”

You can take a look at the businesses on their Facebook pages by clicking the following links:

• Janney & Cryans Menswear
• The Little Sewing Shop
• The Loft

Lincoln Cathedral’s new cafe and shop will be open to the public from Monday, June 28,

The cafe will offer a range of light lunches and tasty treats, while the shop will boast a new contemporary space in the revamped visitor centre.

It will be run by Meadow Brown Restaurants, an independent family-run business that operate cafes across the country, namely one at Nottingham Castle.

There will be several new product lines released on the day of the cathedral cafe’s opening, including Lincoln Cathedral branded beer from Ferry Ales Brewery.

The new changes come after the Old Deanery Visitor Centre underwent a £16 million restoration project, in which the shop and cafe will be situated.

As well as these, a bite of community meeting rooms have also been made available for commercial, charitable and community hire, along with a range of hospitality packages.

Both the cafe and the shop will open at 9.30am on Monday, June 28. Following that, the cafe will open daily from 9am to 5pm and the shop from 9.30am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am to 4pm on Sundays.

Will Harrison, Chapter Clerk at Lincoln Cathedral, said that the opening of the shop and café was the culmination of many years’ work and a cause for much needed celebration after a turbulent 18 months.

“At a time when people are once again able to socialise with friends and family, we are delighted to be sharing new spaces where everyone can enjoy spending time together.

“We are looking forward to welcoming visitors from Lincoln, Lincolnshire and beyond; whether they are old friends and regular visitors, or if this is their first time though the doors.

“The transformation that has taken place is simply breath-taking when we remember what the Old Deanery looked like before the work began.”