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‘Utterly bereft’ owner to close cafe in park
A cafe owner who has run her business from a converted Ford Transit van since 2021 says she is “utterly bereft” after deciding not to reapply for her pitch in Eastville Park.
In an Instagram post, Kind Regards founder Kate Hassell said that she was asked by Bristol City Council in November to reapply but said that it was “a painfully convoluted application and bidding process”.
Hassell wrote: “After months of very stressful deliberating, I have made the decision not to reapply. We will cease trading at Eastville Park on March 31st.
is needed now More than ever
“I am utterly bereft. I can’t begin to explain how grateful I am to the community for embracing Kind Regards like you have, and I am honestly just so, SO gutted I won’t get to see you all each week.
“As much as I truly love what I do (and know that feeding the public coffee and cake is what I will do until my dying day), running a business like this solo is an enormous challenge and has become unsustainable for me.”
Hassell said that she has worked more than 60-hour weeks and every weekend for three years, describing her house as “mostly a prep-kitchen, and that kitchen is about to have a huge amount of emergency work done as I have discovered I have major subsidence issues”.
She wrote that there are “countless other impracticalities that I won’t bore you with but I will say that BCC’s inflexibility and lack of support are a big contributing factor to me coming to this decision”.
Just some of the cakes available at Kind Regards, which is particularly popular with Parkrun runners on Saturday mornings – photo: Martin Booth
Kind Regards is popular with Eastville locals for its coffee, sourdough toasties and sweet treats.
Hassell will continue to open from Friday to Sunday until the end of March, “so if you’ve always meant to visit and not got round to it or it’s been a while, we’d really appreciate your support in this final phase”.
“It’s definitely not the end for Kind Regards Coffee Co and believe you me there’s a lot more to me than toasties!
“My dream of a real kitchen in a real building with real tables and chairs WILL come to fruition and I’m not selling the truck anytime soon so here’s to whatever the future holds and more exciting adventures ahead! (After a massive sleep and a holiday)”
Kind Regards has become a popular stop-off in Eastville Park – photo: Martin Booth
Labour councillor for Eastville, Marley Bennett, tweeted: “There’s a difficult balance between getting much needed funding for parks and supporting small traders, who we should not be driving away.
“I’m speaking to Kate directly about this to see what support I can offer.”
Main photo: Kind Regards
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