…for a week!

Yes, this is the long-awaited week when all our long-hatched plans for improvements and upgrades to Dock Cafe will be put into action – as well as a much-needed spruce-up and deep clean (we have, after all, had somewhere in the region of 50,000 customers through the doors since we opened).  And so we’ll be closed to the public for a few days (but definitely open to anyone offering to help wield a paintbrush, mop or screwdriver – just get in touch!)

Not to reveal too much at this stage, but the various improvements include something to do with a forest, a garden, making a fortune, drawing, designing and travelling on two wheels.  Intrigued…?  Then make sure you book Tuesday 26th Feb at 2pm in your diary for the grand re-opening – or, if you prefer, the opening day of Dock Cafe Version 2.0!

Which means that when we closed the door on Saturday, we closed one chapter of Dock life – our last day of Dock Cafe 1.0.

And, as is always the way with these things, it was just a perfect day to finish.

A lovely crowd of customers, a joyous bustle of life and chat and laughter; different nationalities, different personalities.  Tourists, students, residents, visitors, the whole TQ mix.  A real sense that the cafe is  becoming the ‘local’ for a new community.

The knitters knitted and nattered (knattered…?) – as you can see on the left.

Everyone enjoyed the comfy sofas – as you can see on the right.

And as we turned out the lights at the end of the day, and the streetlights outside our gorgeous big picture windows poured their glow over the sofas and tables and chairs and cosy corners that have seen so many thousands of conversations and good times over this past year – it was a wee bit of a moment!

What an incredible, emotional, blessed year it has been in this wonderful space.  Dock Cafe 1.0 – we’ve loved every day.   And the great thing is – the best is yet to come…