Pelaw Coffee keeps it in the family with the launch of new artisan cafe
Gateshead has a new cafe, bringing speciality, barista-style coffee to the Tyneside community or Pelaw for the very first time. Having been open for just three months, the freshly renovated cafe is proving a hit among the residents and beyond.
Prior to the cafe opening, Pelaw’s coffee lovers had to travel to Newcastle and other larger towns to find great coffee. Identifying a need in the local area for a modern, stylish cafe with barista-style brews, Amy Aiken teamed up with her sister and enlisted the help of other family members and colleagues to launch Pelaw Coffee.
Amy and her team spent months renovating the cafe which was “in a state of disrepair”. With a blank slate to work on, they transformed the space into the area’s first specialty coffee shop.
Since opening in April, the response from the local community has been “amazing”, proving that a high-quality cafe was long overdue in Pelaw. The area’s residents were stunned by the modern interior design of the cafe, Amy said.
“So many people have said just how lovely it is to have somewhere to come and just sit or catch up with friends,” she explains. “The response has been really lovely and made all the stress worth it.”
The shop is inspired by the hip artisan cafes found across Newcastle while paying homage to the local area and Pelaw’s rich history and industrial past.
“We’re similar to the likes of Starbucks and independent specialty cafes, but we also give a nod to what it’s always been, a community-focused cafe,” Amy explained. “We’re basically somewhere that everyone, old and young from the community, can come, meet or have a chat, have coffee, have cake or have a meal.”
The interior walls are steeped in nostalgic photos of the area and the local industry, including images of the old shirt factory, the printing works and the factories and shipyards that lined the Tyne River.
“I’ve put up a lot of photos of what Pelaw used to be in the past and also what Pelaw Coffee used to be,” she continued.
“It means people can come in and look at it and reminisce. I’ve got a picture of it when it was Miss Confectionary in 1930. So there are loads of old pictures dotted around that give a real nod to the past, but the interior is very modern.”
Amy has taken her experience as the owner of the popular Newcastle pub North Terrace to reinvent the cafe as a coffee spot that can rival some of the best brews found in nearby Newcastle.
Amy and her sister Rachel Owen grew up with the rest of their family across Gateshead, Hebburn and Bill Quay. As a fourth-generation, family-owned business, the sisters are proud of the shop’s legacy which has taken on numerous different forms since coming into the family’s hands in the 1930s.
It started off as a grocery store before being converted into a hairdresser run by the sisters’ mother, Brenda Aiken. For several years, the family rented the building out to other businesses before Amy took over and reinvented the space as a cafe.
“I love thinking about how my family, including my great-grandmother, grandmother and mother have all stood where I’m standing and served people,” Rachel said.
The building’s heritage as a family-run, community-focused business has seeped into Amy’s approach to running the company. After bringing her sister and North Terrace chef Craig Turnbull on board, Amy looked to the Pelaw community to fill the remaining roles.
“I advertised in the Pelaw community because I felt it was really important to have people who are from Pelaw,” Amy said. “It not only provides employment opportunities but they’re also going to know everyone in the area and recognise familiar faces.”
Amy’s son also assists when he’s not managing the bar at North Terrace. Having her family by her side along with people who care about their community is central to the success of both North Terrace and Pelaw Coffee. And as an entrepreneur, it’s the people around her – both customers and staff – that keep her moving forward.
“I’ve been really lucky that all my staff are so lovely and so amazing; they work so hard and really care about the business,” she went on. “If they can put the effort in and really care about it then I can keep going.
“The hardest part of the business is undoubtedly finding the right staff. If you’ve got good staff you can definitely do it. They’re brilliant and that’s what keeps me going aside from loving the job.
“You have got to love hospitality to be in it,” she added. “I love chatting with customers, especially older people coming in who tell tales of Pelaw and what they remember of the shop. It’s these lovely customers that keep me going as well because you have people that rely on it; people who come in every day. It’s a bit like a family.”
Despite only opening its doors three months ago, Pelaw Coffee has already become a hub for the local community, with the likes of running clubs, dog walking parties and pensioner groups setting up shop for social gatherings on a regular basis.
Community is at the centre of what Amy and her team do at Pelaw Coffee. She wants everyone to feel welcome in her shop and will “bend over backwards” to meet her customers’ needs. One of her first priorities was making the cafe accessible. For years, the shop was inaccessible for many disabled people, parents of small children and the elderly.
She started by knocking down the original front doors to make room for a wide glass entrance that opens directly onto the pavement, making the cafe accessible to all. Extensive facilities for babies and children have also made the cafe a popular haunt for young families.
“We really pride ourselves in excellent customer service; you’ve got to start there,” Amy continued. “Before we renovated, the cafe wasn’t fit for purpose, especially in this day and age, but it is now.
“It’s a real community place where everyone is welcome,” Amy said. “We have a lot of people in wheelchairs who will come in and say, ‘gosh, I couldn’t get in here before because I’ve never been able to get into the shop’.”
The hospitality industry was one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Amy was forced to shut North Terrace for the best part of a year and the fallout of lockdown is still impacting her business today.
While she relished in the extra time she had to spend with her children while the pub was closed, inflation and the strain it’s having on consumers’ wallets isn’t going unnoticed by Amy and her team.
“People are saying we’re not in it anymore, we’re not in lockdown anymore, things are open again, but it’s not that simple,” Amy said. “People saved a lot of money in lockdown by not going out for food every day. And now they’ve got less available money to spend, it’s changed the way people operate; it’s changed their habits.”
Despite the challenges, she is optimistic about the future and is confident that Pelaw Coffee’s dedication to quality and customer service will pay dividends as the world slowly emerges from the shadow of Covid.
While expansion is certainly on the cards for her businesses, right now Amy’s priority is seeing both businesses continue to flourish while having time to spend with her young family.
At the heart of her strategy is continuing to provide great coffee in an area where a perfect flat white is hard to come by. The staff are trained by Tynemouth Coffee Company, one of the North East’s leading small-batch artisan coffee roasters.
The food, meanwhile, is hearty and traditional and comes with a modern twist thanks to its creative and passionate kitchen team. Not just your normal cafe scran, head chef Craig Turnbull is dedicated to using top-quality ingredients on the cafe’s menu and word is clearly spreading fast. Since its opening, Pelaw Coffee is increasingly finding that customers are willing to travel to sample its coffee and food offering.
“I just want both of these businesses to thrive. I would love another coffee shop and that’s something to think about in the future but it’s important to us that we do this right.”
Pelaw Coffee can be found at 15 Shields Road, Gateshead and is open from 7am-4pm on weekdays, 8am-4pm on Saturdays and 10am-4pm on Sundays.
The cafe offers a range of high-quality specialty coffees and serves up an extensive menu of breakfast classics such as full English, breakfast sandwiches and American-style pancakes. The lunch menu includes tasty crowd-pleasers like toasties, lasagna, loaded baked potatoes and burgers.
Head to Pelaw Coffee’s Facebook page for more information.
