Cuppas replace pints at new Oranges and Lemons cafe

A new trend has shown cafe owners taking over pubs to run their businesses.

Cafe manager Idoia Garcia moved her small business from Manningtree High Street to the old Kings Head pub in East Bergholt.

She now runs the Oranges and Lemons craft shop and cafe from inside the old pub which closed as it was not bringing in enough business.

She said: “Now people are more into the cafe culture, they are not into pubs.

“The English culture is getting more continental, open and friendly.”

Idoia said her small craft shop in Manningtree was growing and she needed more space.

She said it was an easy process to change the use of the pub to a cafe and shop, and where the bar and kitchen once stood is now her successful cafe.

She is also grateful to have a sought-after car park.

Idoia said: “We are happy with the finished product, we just wanted something with more space which was ready for trading and had the facilities.”

Being from Spain, the family- orientated culture is something she is familiar with and she has had a successful first few weeks in the new premises.

The pub-turned-cafe is becoming a trend following in the footsteps of another pub which transformed into craft centre and coffee shop in Great Horkesley.

Alison Willard launched Blue Owl in West Bergholt in 2011.

She and her family have just re- opened the Blue Owl Pottery Cafe in the Grade II listed former Rose and Crown pub. The Rose and Crown, an award-winning gastro pub, ceased trading in September 2015.

About 150 pubs have closed in the Colchester area since the early 1900s, including the Bell in Old Heath Road and the Stockwell Arms in West Stockwell Street in 2009.

Campaigners had wanted the Kings Head in East Bergholt to remain a pub although owner Kevin Brennan had said it had never been a community pub.

Permission was granted for the cafe and craft shop as it meant more jobs for the village.

To find out about pub closures in the area visit closedpubs.co.uk.