The owner of a popular Keswick café is about to embark on an exciting new challenge.
Ellie Irlam opened the Little Chamonix Café at 7 Lake Road in 2014, and now employs seven staff.
Renowned for its coffee, homemade soup, and huge slices of cake, the venue includes Bake Off host Prue Leith and TV presenter Julia Bradbury among its celebrity customers.
Ellie is now planning to open a café in Cockermouth, and is looking for new owners to take over the premises in Keswick and the cafe is for sale for £65,000.
“I am selling the cafe as an ongoing concern, so that I can focus on this exciting new venture,” she told The Keswick Reminder.
“My new premises will be on the site of the former Wild Zucchini Bistro on Station Street, and I hope that it will be as successful as my venture in Keswick.”
Originally from Great Corby, near Carlisle, Ellie first learned her cooking skills as a ski chalet host in the French Alps, before working in the kitchens at the Lakeland Pedlar Cafe and the Keswick YHA.
She decided to set up her own business after completing a degree in food and nutrition at Bath Spa University.
In her spare time, Ellie is a keen rock climber – following in the footsteps of her dad, Pete Botterill, a well-known local climber who has set many routes in the Lakes.
“My favourite rock climbing route is Little Chamonix on Shepherd’s Crag in Borrowdale, and that’s where I go the inspiration for the name of the cafe,” she said.
“It’ll be a wrench to leave, but for anyone looking to take over the location of the café means the footfall is always busy, and it’s very popular with regulars and holidaymakers alike.”
Estate agents Walton Goodland describe it as a “renowned cafe” in a “prime Lake District honeypot location.
It has been a cafe for more than 20 years and has won rave reviews on TripAdvisor, achieving a Travellers’ Choice award this year, due 90 per cent of its reviews being rated as “excellent or very good.”
