Owners blame ‘sectarian campaign’ for café closure

The owners of a Belfast café, who moved their family to Dublin for “safety & a fresh start,” have said it is closing due to a “campaign of sectarian hatred” and the impact of the pandemic.

Husband and wife team Barbara and John Paul Whearty opened Café Cuan on Cromac  Street in 2018 and .later operated Arden’s cafe in Whitehead but left there after windows were broken and paint was thrown at the property in August last year.

The PSNI described that attack by masked men as a hate crime

The entrepreneurial couple later revealed they had moved to Dublin to set up a new venture under the Cafe Cuan name early this year.

Writing about the closure of the Cromac Street café, Barbara said: “It’s with a heady, difficult to quantify mix of emotions that we share that we will not be re-opening Cuan Belfast. Having moved our family to Dublin for safety & a fresh start, we have had a heartbreaking realisation that we must do the same for our business.

“To see who people truly are behind their personas has been galling but, ultimately, it’s made us both grateful for our unwillingness to be anyone other than ourselves.

“Myself & JP own our mistakes, we have made many but always acted in good faith & did the best we could with the situation in front of us. As we wind things down, we are very proud that we tried & of what we have achieved since September 2018.”

“Thank you all for your friendship, kindness & support over the years. We are sorry that don’t have the energy to continue the fight up North but enough is enough. We live for the day you cross our door in Dublin for a fee, please don’t be strangers.”

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