City centre café shuts shop after 29 years in business

A Belfast city centre café forced to close after 29 years in business has thanked customers for their support.

Lunches to Go, which has been operating on Church Lane for the past 14 years, made the decision to pull down the shutters after a difficult few years due to the coronavirus pandemic and a lack of office workers returning.

Café’s owner Elaine said: “We’ve grown up with a lot of people that have come in over the years. People coming in as apprentices, or starting new jobs, and they’ll come in and maybe their parents came in before them.

“My sister has worked with me for 25 years and another girl has been working here 22 years. We’ve always been a close-knit team, it’s like a family business even though we’re not all related. It’s rare to find these days.

“It’s just got harder now from Covid. We’ve lost a lot of office trade so the footfall hasn’t been as good, and it’s just been a stressful few years. It was a hard decision but it’s just one of those things.

“The town does seem to be picking up again, but I just want time for a bit of a change now, and no stresses of running a business, I just want to work somewhere.

“It’s emotional because we’ve all worked together for so long, and we’ve all gone through different things in our lives and families.”