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24
Mar
New owners for coffee shop near Harrogate
A coffee shop popular with travellers on the A59 between Harrogate and Skipton has a new name and owners.
The Outside Inn was based alongside the main road at Menwith Hill on the site previously occupied by the Millstones.
Owners Mark and Teresa Trickett have now handed over the shop to their daughter Francesca Chadwick and her husband Craig.
They have renamed the business Toad Hall. It will open from 10am to 3pm Tuesday to Saturday.
In a post on Instagram, the new owners said Toad Hall was a great pace to enjoy “great coffee, light bites and sweet treats – plus a licensed bar”.
Mr Trickett added his wife will open what he described as a “quirky interiors shop” called Toad Hall Emporium in the old function room of the coffee shop site this week.
He said:
The changes for us are for a few reasons, partly as we are looking to slow down a little, partly to give our eldest an opportunity and partly to diversify a little to help keep interest in this site as a destination.
Millstones was here for many years and we’d hoped the Outside Inn as a concept would have helped continue that legacy. It did OK but it just needed something more as our location does struggle for local appeal. With the new format and a few ideas I have for the motorhome side we are trying to address that and garner more footfall.
Mark Trickett pictured at the Outside Inn last year.
Mr Trickett said Whittams Motorhomes, which he operates next to the coffee shop, no longer offered motorhome hire.
But he said it continued to provide a brokerage service for people looking to sell motorhomes, as well as give advice on buying and helping with service, repairs and maintenance.
Last year Mr Trickett spoke out about the problems caused to businesses by the long-term closure of the A59 at Kex Gill due to a landslip and called on North Yorkshire Council to provide support for those firms affected.
Mackenzies Farm Shop and Café, which is just four miles away at Blubberhouses, closed yesterday, as reported here by the Stray Ferret.
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