BUSINESS
Toy shop is latest indie shop venture
The latest in a new string of independent shops is opening this weekend, giving a boost to the main Grangetown shopping district.
The Honeycomb is a toy and children’s book shop in Clare Road.
Owner Maia Banks, who has a background in education, wants to go beyond just opening a business and, perhaps with a cue from the nearby Wild Thing cafe, wants to forge strong links with the neighbourhood she’s become a part of.
"My desire to start this toy shop has grown out of a want to engage with the local Grangetown community,” she told Grangetown News.
There was a very busy grand opening on Saturday 5th October, with upcycled necklace making, face-painting and cake at the shop at 110 Clare Road.
Lovely shoutout from @grangecardiff!
— The Honeycomb (@HoneycombToys) October 1, 2019
Opening hours for this Saturday are 9-5! Craft event with @ArtGrangetown at noon. Candy floss 1-3. Glitter face paint 1:30-3:30. Make your own necklace session with @Twin_Made from 3-5! Oh and cake from @thedanishbakery in the morning! https://t.co/e4oAbOdPq5
"It’s about creating a fun space to be play and be creative, as well as to support as many local artists and makers as I can."
Maia and her new shop are featured in the latest Grangetown News.
The Honeycomb, is at 110 Clare Road, Tuesday-Saturday, 9am to 5pm. Independent toy and children's book shop, also offering activities, story time, craft events and parent and baby sessions.
Meanwhile, a tanning salon, desserts/sweet shop - open now - and modest clothing boutique are the tenants in newly refurbished shop units in Penarth Road, next to Yang's Chinese.
A coffee house/cafe will be opening in Penarth Road on the ground floor of a new flats developent opposite, while further along, the old Black and White Cafe on the corner of North Clive Street is set to re-open after being closed for nearly three years.
Grangetown goes Wild about new cafe
Lauren Saunders has opened her vegan cafe Wild Thing at 104 Clare Road - so it's time to take a look at the new business, which has already proved popular since it opened last week.
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m 26 and from Bridgend. I moved to Cardiff after feeling a strong sense of the word ‘Hiraeth’ whilst studying in London for university. Since moving back to Wales I have become extremely patriotic, wanting to stay in Wales forever and join the amazing people who are making incredible things happen here. I’m a passionate vegan who wants to show how tasty eating vegetables can be. I’m a lover of supporting independent businesses especially those who have a social aim! zassionate vegan who wants to show how tasty eating vegetables can be. I’m a lover of supporting independent businesses
especially those who have a social aim!
Q How long have you been trying to get Wild Thing off the ground?
I started planning in January 2018. It started with an Instagram account - sharing pictures of food that I made in my tiny kitchen at home, it developed into business planning, recipe testing, property searching and now here I am!
Q Why have you picked Grangetown?
Grangetown was the first area I lived in Cardiff when I moved here three years ago, so it’s always felt like my Cardiff home. The area has such a strong sense of community – I could tell that when signing the lease at the agency, the staff were so excited about the cafe
opening – I knew that I had chosen the right spot. The area has such an amazing mix of independent businesses
and I’m excited for Wild Thing to be the first 100% vegan cafe here. Grangetown is vibrant and multicultural with
a strong sense of identity – everything you want from a city neighbourhood!
Q What sort of menu are you offering? The menu focuses on breakfast and lunch. Serving natural unprocessed food. It showcases local seasonal fruit and vegetables. For breakfast think all the classics but made in unconventional ways. Fluffy waffles, pancake stacks, porridge with all the wonderful toppings. My favourite savoury breakfast dish is the smashed black beans, topped with cashew cream cheese and pickled red onion. The cafe also serves lunch options of big hearty salad bowls and warming soups with Riverside Sourdough. There will be lots of gorgeous cake and Cardiff roasted coffee (Hard Lines) on offer too.
Q What is “plant-based food” – explain to those of us who don’t know?
Plant based food consists of fruit,vegetables, grains, nuts and legumes. No animal products so no meat, dairy, eggs, honey. I use the word “plant-based” to describe the cafe as vegan foods can also be ‘ultra processed.’ Wild Thing cafe only sells natural unprocessed plant based
food. This is the type of vegan food that I like to eat and I feel there was a gap for this in Cardiff.
Q Say you’re not a vegan but still interested in trying it out, what would you recommend?
I would say go for the pancake stack! In case you are wondering they are served with pure maple syrup, homemade peanut butter, grilled bananas and juicy fruit compote. I think they can win over even the biggest vegan sceptic.
Wonderful to have a bloody tasty, healthy vegan breakfast made by lovely people and bump into mates on a Sunday - only 5mins from my door too! Croeso i Grangetown @wildthingcdf pic.twitter.com/kERhi1WGfh
— Claire Vaughan (@pixieglas) February 10, 2019
Q You have said you want to be more than a cafe but have a commitment to the community and
projects – tell us more of what you’d like to offer/be involved in?
Before planning Wild Thing I worked for The Big Issue – so my goals have been focused on societal change as opposed to just profit! Having worked in the third sector – collaboration was always encouraged. I’m excited to collaborate in so many ways in order to to contribute to
the community in Grangetown.
I’ve set the cafe three goals – to get more people eating veg; to reduce environmental impact and to tackle food poverty. The first two goals fe are through the menu, which is filled with local seasonal produce based on a diet that has the lowest environmental impact. The third goal to tackle food poverty is something I am really passionate about. Eating good food should not be a privilege! This is one of the areas which can allow a lot community engagement. I’m so keen to work with the Community Gateway project, for example, to deliver these projects to educate around healthy eating on a budget, run cooking classes and a community kitchen. I also I have a vision of a Grangetown Community Fridge in the future. I have lots of plans and strongly think that business should be used to create social change.
Q What would you say are the misconceptions about veganism?
I think the rapid rise in veganism has formed a strong opposition of critics and sceptics. I’d say that these are some of the misconceptions.
-People often think that vegan diets are really complex. You hear people say “oh you’re vegan, what do you eat?” As if vegan food is really specialist. However, it’s just simple- eating vegetables, fruit and grains, and no animal products. People eat these food items every day! It doesn’t need to require lots of fancy ingredients, just simple veg.
You often hear that veganism is a ‘trend/fad.’ However, for me I went vegetarian at 11 and then developed to vegan whilst studying at university, so I have lived a meat free and then vegan lifestyle for the majority of my life. I think veganism and individuals reducing meat and dairy intake is vital for the protection of the planet and for our healths - and not just a fad. People often think that veganism is expensive.This is not the case. As I previously mentioned I turned vegan whilst at university and was on a serious budget! I used to eat a lot of couscous, rice, reduced vegetables,oats (which I used to make with water) and tins of chickpeas! My food shopping would cost a few pounds- I was very thrifty. Being on a budget probably helped me to stay vegan those first few months because I couldn’t afford things like cheese, quorn, eggs - which are more expensive than grains and veggies.
Q Is Cardiff generally getting better for offering vegan options?
Yes the vegan food scene in Cardiff is growing so quickly. I love how many new vegan businesses have opened up in the past few years and I have been inspired by them to do the same myself! Obviously you have places like Vegetarian Food Studio that have been around for years
and is still one of my favourite places to eat in the city. I think there is still room for lots more 100% vegan
businesses and I think that there should be vegan options in every food place in Cardiff!
Q Would the cafe ever consider opening in the evenings in future, is there scope?
I would love the cafe to be open in the evenings along the line. I want to start with some one off evening events then hopefully in the future I can extend the opening hours to offer daily evening meals too!
Wild Thing, 104 Clare Road (on the corner of Stafford Road), Grangetown, Cardiff CF11 6RT is open from 8am-5pm (Tuesday to Saturday) and 9am-4pm (Sundays), closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Follow Instagram @wildthingcardiff; Twitter @wildthingcdf; Facebook @wildthingcardiff This is adapted from the article which we published in the winter edition of Grangetown News.
Wake up and smell the coffee - Grangetown is changing
A new coffee house in the old Nat West bank in Clare Road opened in June. The Bank/Lufkins follows on from a new vegan cafe's successful launch and as The Grange pub marks two years since re-opening as an award-winning independent craft beer and food venue. Is Grangetown becoming the place to be?
Lufkin Coffee, which has an independent coffee shop in Pontcanna, opened The Bank in Grangetown and also has plans to transform an old park-keeper's hut in Thompson's Park, Canton into another shop. But the Grangetown base is more besides - including a ceramics store and hot-desking workspace. A crowd-funding campaign successfully reached its £18,000 goal - with those pledging able to get benefits in return. We asked Frances Lukins, co-founder of the business with husband Dan, what it was all about.
Q: Tell us why you've picked Grangetown and this site in particular?
We think Grangetown has a lot of vibrant activity and people living there will welcome a speciality coffee bar. It's quite diverse and busy and we think our working roasters will fit right in.
The old bank closed three years ago and planning permission was granted for it to be used as a restaurant, coffee shop, cafe or take-away - but not a pub or bar. The building includes an old bank vault in the cellar!
Q What can people expect to see in the old bank?
We like this space because we can fit our 10kg coffee roasting machine in there, along with the many 70kg sacks of coffee that arrive to be roasted. There's a few rooms that we hope to use as workshop space, for cupping the roasted coffee, bagging and labelling, batch brewing and delivery. We'll be excited to get our office space somewhere other than our bedroom, and have a space that all the elements of the coffee process can work alongside one another. We want to make this part of the process that we take care of, visible to the customer. There'll be an open plan coffee bar with communal tables, and booth style seating. We're going with a rough-nd-ready approach with room for bicycles and a setting that welcomes people wanting to work, or people coming for a catch up with friends.
Q You mention the aim to cut single use coffee cup waste. This is a big issue with littering in Grangetown, does this mean all your coffee will be served in re-usable cups?
We serve our in house coffee in ceramic cups made by local potter Micki Schloessingk, and in an attempt to cut down on paper cups we're promoting our reusable camp-style thermo cups that we've partnered with social enterprising company MiiR to bring to our Kickstarter. We're offering 35p off every coffee for customers who purchase and use this cup. We will still have some compostable cups in use, but we will definitely push to not have to use many of them.
Q Explain how the work-space will work? Is this a similar principle to Tramshed Tech or can people just roll up with a laptop for an hour or two? Our coffee cupping space will double up as a bookable office space during the day that seats approximately eight people around a table, for when people want to hold meetings. This will be bookable by the hour with complimentary batch brew coffee on tap. Besides this they'll be room in the cafe for people on laptops wanting to work - and we're in the process of deciding how best to make this work well for people.
Frances and Dan Lukins, founders of Lufkin in 2015 - it originates from the word 'love'
Q Tell us about the coffee - for those who don't know what you do in Pontcanna?
We roast speciality grade Arabica coffee beans, sourced from around the world via our partners Falcon Speciality. It is all grown at high altitudes and we select coffee from single origins, meaning single farms and estates. The green coffee arrives to us in sacks and is roasted each week here in Pontcanna before being designated to espresso, filter or 250g bags for home. We love coffee! We think it's amazing in itself, as it's tropical agriculture really. We roast with precision each batch to ensure we're capturing all of the inherent flavours of each variety of coffee, that comes from an exotic fruit, the coffee cherry. We also think coffee is best paired with life. That's our motto I guess. We find it connects us to people, and passions, and moments that are worth celebrating. It's a ritual for us to have coffee together, and we find it grounds us, helps us to be present in the moment, which I guess we could all use more of these days!
Q Will you also serve any food/snacks too?
Our thing is "coffee + pie", which is a nod to our American roots. We met in San Francisco where Dan grew up, and in America they're pretty good at doing one thing well. I think here in the UK we can cater to everyone, and suddenly the menu gets huge and things get a bit complicated. We've stuck with coffee and pie, as it's simple, and super tasty, and you can put anything in a pie.. maybe? We do apple pie, and cherry pie, and you can add ice cream to that, 'a la mode', but we'll also do some brunchy pies, and branch out a bit into lazy weekend style catering, with a crust.
Lufkin Coffee The Bank is open from 9.30pm-3.30pm, Mon-Sat and 9am-5pm on Sunday. It takes card payment only.
Seasonal street markets start
Grangetown is holding seasonal street markets aimed at showcasing craft, design and food businesses.
The latest Grangetown World Market - with more stalls - took place in St Patrick's school car park off Havelock Place and Bishop Street last December.
Another event - a Thursday evening market - is being proposed for May.
Photos: NG Photography - of one of the markets in December 2017.
Self-taught jewellery maker Dr Amy Yau, of Ameow Designs, also a lecturer in marketing at Cardiff Business School, said: "The market supports local entrepreneurs and businesses who would like to test-trial products and spread awareness of their products and services, so it's perfect for small local businesses." "It's very important in the world of fast fashion, faster deliveryand cheap, mass-produced goods to actually slow down, be more mindful and purchase gifts with more meaning and that are more sustainable in terms of design and not just focus on being 'on trend.'
"Apart from supporting local businesses it is also knowing that the maker has put their creativity, skill and hard work into making that piece which is unique, handmade and a one-off is something special."
Rosie Cripps of Community Gateway said: "Local and independent businesses employ more people per square metre than large chain stores and they stick around when the going gets tough - by supporting local producers we're supporting the wider community.
"We're really pleased to have launched new entrepreneurs at our first market and we're delighted that 75% of visitors said they would shop locally as a result of Grangetown World Market.
"Grangetown Community Action and Cardiff University have shown that the more we can do to support the local economy together, the better."
Steve Duffy, of Grangetown Community Action, said: "We had a fantastic response to our first markets - it's looking to offer something boutique and distinctive for Grangetown.
"In the long term we hope this will boost the local business district. This is all about encouraging people to shop locally - and to see there are some really creative independents right on their doorstep." See the full project website on www.lovegrangetown.biz to find out more.
Indie shopping project gets under way A community project is getting under way which aims to improve the shopping experience in Grangetown.
The hope is to promote the best of the area's independent stores and also organise a "shop local" campaign.
As a first step, four post-graduate marketing students from Cardiff Business School surveyed shoppers and business owners to get some opinions.
They worked with Grangetown Community Action to work on some ideas and plans.
The project is being organised through Cardiff University's Community Gateway programme. The MSc students worked full-time through the summer of 2016 on it - and it followed involvement of 200 undergraduate students in coming up with initial ideas.
What is the aim? To help boost the shopping experience in Grangetown.
How? By looking at developing a "shop local campaign" and working with businesses to help promote shopping in Grangetown among local residents. One idea was to develop a local business forum and also look at ideas like branding and a loyalty card. We're also looking at featuring local businesses a lot more for free on the Grangetown community website, on social media and in the Grangetown community newspaper.
What is happening now? To start, shoppers and shops/businesses were asked for their views and what they'd like to see and what some of the issues they're facing. There was a face-to-face questionnaire, which was also available online. (1) Out of this, the first programme for the business forum was developed, with the support of Tramshed Tech and business mentor Robert Firth. This included free training opportunities for start-ups and existing local businesses - and there was interest from a wide variety. (2) A seasonal market involving crafts and street food, with an emphasis on local entreprises, was launched in Summer 2017; a second successful market was held in December 2017, with the involvement of local volunteers, Riverside market social enterprise and St Patrick's school. (3) The forum also came up with the idea of an independent Grangetown business map, based on the idea of the Get Lost In Cardiff map produced by city centre arcade businesses. The project successfully applied for funding from Cardiff City Region. More than 21 local businesses contributed towards the map, which is being designed by the Get Lost In Cardiff and will be launched early in 2018. The map features Grangetown shop local branding, which has already been used with the market.
There are a number of diverse independent shops in Grangetown that have been in the area for years. Being so close to the city centre, and with more and more chain stores being established, there is greater risk that some of these shops will not stand the test of time. But also some residents living here - or new to the area - may not know what's on their doorstep, especially some of the specialist shops and also new businesses which have opened.
In light of the council's recent regeneration of a key Clare Road/Penarth Road shopping junction in Grangetown, in which businesses are having their shop-fronts renovated, Grangetown Community Action is looking at helping to develop an online and 'in person' Business Forum to encourage businesses to collaborate, cross-promote and showcase the best of Grangetown.
Anyone interested in more information, please email grangetowncardiff@yahoo.co.uk
The full project website on www.lovegrangetown.biz has more details, is developing an online directory, features about local businesses - and will be home for an online version of the business map.
BUSINESS IN FOCUS - Polish deli rises to the occasion
Ameow Designs. Photo courtesy: Keith Hursthouse.
The first market was held in July 2017. Photo: Keith Hursthouse.
Post-graduate students Annie, April, FeiFei and Joanna helped with research for the project