Two new businesses have thrown open their doors to customers enhancing the food and drink offer in a “hidden” corner of Keswick’s main shopping thoroughfare.
A new family business selling desserts and snacks has opened in Keswick’s Packhorse Court over the Christmas holidays.
Waffleicious is being run by the Koc family, from Cockermouth, which is made up of Ayfer and Gazi and their sons Emir and Serkan.
The new eatery, which has opened in a former kitchen showroom, opened nine days ago and according to Emir business has been brisk over Christmas and the new year.
“It has been busy through the holidays, but now the schools are open we don’t know what it’s going to be like,” said Emir.
The take away restaurant specialises in selling waffles, crepes, milk shakes and coffees and also sells snacks such as tacos and sandwiches. It also has seating for around 30 people at 10 tables.
The family previously ran a deli on the Lillyhall Industrial Estate, in Workington, for 10 years but that closed during the Covid pandemic.
“My mum planned on moving to Keswick. She has had it in her head for a long time,” said Emir. “We live in Cockermouth and when she saw that an empty shop was available in Keswick, things happened very quickly.”
Emir said that the shop would likely be employing some more staff depending on how busy the business gets.
Meanwhile, Lake District Wine opened an outlet in Packhorse Court ahead of Christmas and owner Jenni Hutchinson said she welcomed the support of locals and visitors.
“The Christmas week has been good with lots of people coming in buying presents, which has been great,’’ said Jenni, who is helped in the shop by her husband, James. ‘’We were open Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve which worked in our favour. It is quietening off now but that allows us to step back a bit and get everything organised. We will work on the trends and see how it goes.’’
Jenni says that she has a lot of informal wine tastings booked in and would soon be starting organising wine evenings, focusing on a particular country, and possibly a comedy evening as one of her members of staff is a comedian.
She said that Packhorse Court can be a bit of a hidden corner bus said a number of new businesses had moved in there now and in the summer she believes that there could be a continental vibe, providing that the weather is good.
