A new community hub for Cleckheaton
Milly’s Café at No 1 is serving up good coffee, good food and good conversation for local people and businesses
A new café in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire is bringing together the whole community thanks to the vision of café owner Bernadette Samuel. Bernadette had been made redundant from a career in management but saw an opportunity to take control of her work-life balance and provide for her family financially. This coupled with a love of meeting new people and engaging in good conversation led her to set her sights on launching a café – and one which would bring a whole community of residents and businesses together. Milly’s Café at No 1 opened in November last year. Nine months later, business is flourishing and Bernadette is now focusing on further growth and expansion.
Milly’s Café at No 1 – Milly is a nickname Bernadette uses for her daughter – has received over 7000 customer visits since it first opened. Positioned opposite a park in a pinnacle location in Cleckheaton, Bernadette had identified a lack of local coffee shop where the local community could meet. The café now provides a meeting place for locals, and has regular footfall from the nearby parks. It also provides many of the local businesses a buffet service – an offering that Bernadette established herself as she wanted to create strong links with the local industry.
Supporting the local community was an important feature when Milly’s Café at No 1 opened. Bernadette plans to take this one step further by also supporting local charities. She said. “We have a tips box which, when it’s full, will be given to local charities or groups from the Cleckheaton area. I promote this to all our customers as a way of encouraging the employees of the local businesses to support the Cleckheaton community.”
The business was launched with support provided as part of the Start & Grow programme. Bernadette was still scouting for cafes or sandwich bars to purchase when she made contact with Haroon Qammar, Business Advisor at West and North Yorkshire Chamber. Together they developed a business plan and financial forecasts, so that when the premises in Cleckheaton came up for sale, Bernadette was in the perfect position to complete the deal.
With the café now firmly established, Bernadette is looking forward to extending their outside catering offer, increasing dining space inside the café and continuing to maintain their strong links with the local community.
West and North Yorkshire Chamber work with a range of local start-up businesses as part of the national Start & Grow programme delivered in this area and would be delighted to hear from others looking to start up in business to see if they meet the criteria of the programme.
Ends
Notes for Editors and contact details
1. Bernadette Samuel, Milly’s Café at No 1, 1 Hunsworth Lane, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, BD19 4EJ, Tel: 07780 816212.
2. The West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce have offices in Bradford, Leeds and York. Contact Business Advisor Haroon Qamar Tel: 01274 772777
About Start & Grow
Start & Grow is a national programme run by Cavendish Enterprise and funded by the Regional Growth Fund that provides a range of pre and post start support to individuals across England looking to start a business. The programme is available to those looking to start a business which expects to employ people from its early stages and where start-up financing is required to get the venture off the ground.
https://www.cavendishenterprise.co.uk/programme/start-and-grow/