Double blow sees cafe move premises

Cafe owner Chris Nash has submitted a planning bid to Scottish Borders Council to move his business, Nashy’s Coffee House in the Old Station building at Cardrona, to the current Inner Beauty premises at 55A High Street in Innerleithen.

Chris has been trading for the last six years and the outlet has proved a hit with locals, cyclists and walkers.

But the last couple years have proved difficult for the business, due not only to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, but also because of the fallout from a nearby housing development – with dust from it and parking restrictions driving customers away.

Now he’s hoping a relocation will give the business, which would be takeaway-only and trade from the early morning to mid-afternoon, a fresh start.

Commenting on the move, Chris said: “The plan is to close up shop here and move there.

"We’ve been here six years but we’ve had the building site and then Covid and I’ve had enough.

"At Innerleithen we would open early and close early and I think it will be a lot better for me.

“Basically it will be the same business, just a takeaway version.

"Now and again I’ve bumped into bikers in Innerleithen and they have said ‘where can we get something to eat?’ between half seven and half nine on a Saturday or Sunday and there are few options for them.

"I think I can pop in there and take advantage of that.”

Chris will be taking his three current staff to the new premises and may even need to take on another worker.

He added: “The beauty shop is still operating but will move out if we get planning approval for a change of use.

"Hopefully it will happen.

“I have got another food outlet lined up to move into Nashy’s if we get the go-ahead,” he added.

In his correspondence with council planners, Chris explained what he was proposing to eliminate cooking smells at the Innerleithen premises.

He wrote: “I would like to fit a high spec and powerful air filtration cooker hood unit above the small table top fryers … as there will only be a small amount of smell generated by the fryers and next to nothing from the oven.”