Popular cycling cafe reopens in Warren Row with a wine bar 'in the pipeline'

A longstanding café in Warren Row, popular with cyclists and dog walkers, has reopened under new ownership.

Caroline Jamieson and her son, Alex Futcher, are behind the new Sip and Spoke Café at the former Velolife premises.

Based in the Old House, the family-run community eatery serves up all-day coffee, cakes and savoury treats.

Caroline, 57, said the feedback since opening on August 2 has been ‘really positive’ with many customers saying it’s ‘lovely to see [them] back’.

“A lot of people didn't realise it had changed hands, or they thought it was closed permanently,” she added.

“It’s mostly been very positive, and people like the new menu.

“It’s going well at the moment, can’t grumble at all.”

Caroline was a former manager at Velolife before leaving to set up a food truck business with Alex, 33, and returned when the premises became available.

“This is the first brick-and-mortar [venue] that we’ve opened. The first of many, I hope,” said Caroline.

“It’s a name we came up with a couple of years ago because we always knew we’d get a café at some point.

“It’s something that we always wanted to do – a little B&B at some point, a little hotel maybe or a restaurant, so we’re starting here and then we’ll see where it takes us.”

After Velolife closed in late July, Alex and Caroline got the keys and shut down the site for three days to undergo a transformation.

After a few coats of paint, some window cleaning and a new menu, the ‘warm welcoming’ atmosphere at the community café remains, but several more changes are imminent.

“We can’t do it all in the first five minutes,” said Caroline, explaining that the next steps involve getting a premises licence and offering a wine bar.

“My son is a sommelier, so he knows a lot about wines. We’re going to put that in eventually so people can come, have a pizza and a glass of wine,” said Caroline.

“Then we might have quiz nights, pizza and Prosecco evenings and wine tasting. There are lots of things in the pipeline.”

The new menu has expanded its savoury offering with patatas bravas, sourdough pizzas, sausage and bacon baps, pasta salads, sharing boards and a range of gluten-free and vegan options.

“No one likes change, particularly, but I would just say it’s a bit fresher and the menu is a bit more exciting,” said Caroline.

“Everyone knows what it is, everyone knows the staff, everyone knows me, so in that sense, consistency is quite nice. It’s obviously good, so why change a good thing?”

The café is now open every day of the week, which has ‘gone down very well’ with their usual patrons such as cyclists, dog walkers and ramblers.

Being located on a popular cycle route, the café is known for its large car park and cycle racks, but this now extends to bicycle pumps and repairs as well as dog ice cream.

Sip and Spoke Café is open from Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm and on weekends from 9am to 4pm.