New café opens at Carlisle South Medical Hub

Serving a wide-ranging selection of home-made sandwiches and sweet treats, NJ’s Café is run by Nadia Beattie and her Mum, Jo-Anne with Nadia's finance Jonathan also helping.

Jonanthan, Nadia and Joanne have all come from food backgrounds and have worked in kitchens across Cumbria for years.

“We’ve wanted to run a café for a number of years now and it has been Nadia’s Mum’s dream to open a café for around 10 years,” said Jonathan.

“Recently we decided to look around and see what’s possible and everything that was available in the city centre wasn’t quite what we wanted.”

After a chance meeting during a meal out, Jonathan and Nadia took over the lease of the premises on the Durranhill Industrial Estate and opened the café just over a month ago.

“Everything we do is homemade” said Jonathan, “at the moment we’re doing soups, sandwiches, coffees, paninis, jacket potatoes, baguettes and every week we have a special with local produce which is in season.

“We’ve had a really good start and we’re looking to spread the word about what we’re offering which is nice, homemade food.”

The team behind NJ’s Café also want to use the café as a community hub and have already started by exhibiting the work of a local 87-year-old artist.

Many businesses are feeling the pressure due to the sharp rise in the cost-of-living seen over the past year but Jonathan said despite the challenges he was excited about the future of the café.

“Don’t get me wrong it’s a scary time to get into business but we just couldn’t turn this great opportunity down.

“We’ve had a really positive first month. Being near to the medical centre it’s perfect for people coming into the see the doctors to also come into to see use for a coffee.

“Lots of the NHS staff have been coming in too and have been really welcoming.”

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NJ’s Café can be found at Carlisle South Healthcare Hub on the Durranhill Industrial Estate.