It has been a pretty stressful few weeks but we are there! Let me share a little with you. Nikki and I decided to open a Wizard themed tea room about 9 months ago, and began looking for places. It needed to be Sheffield for 2 reasons - 1) we live here, 2) it is the greatest place on earth (hence why we live here). We sat down and thrashed out our criteria for the place, not too expensive, big enough to have all the stuff we want (wizard school / tech zone / retail areas), nearby parking and access to public transport, and ideally somewhere to do sleep overs!
We looked at about 10 properties.... too small... dodgy area... too expensive.... no parking.... weird landlord.... ridiculous business rates etc etc. The search helped us refine our plan but was frustrating. Finally we noticed that 3 Spooner Road, Broomhill had come up to let and made an enquiry. Nothing happened! The current owner was going to sell it and therefore everything was on hold. Eventually the property was sold but the new landlord was initially not interested in talking to us, if you've never heard of Harry Potter then none of this makes sense! We then spoke to a friend and by random chance he knew the landlord (we were dealing with the agent), picked up his phone and very politely advised him to let us have the property! Two days later we were sitting opposite the new owner and negotiating a lease.
A fairly annoying couple of weeks passed by as we discussed terms, rent and all the exciting things that must be done...… and then..... on the 12th March 2020 - we signed the lease and work began!
3 Spooner Road hits all our criteria, we can do all the experiences, it will have a proper commercial kitchen, an apartment, everything we hoped and prayed for! The only problem is that the old tenant fell out with the old landlord and trashed the place on exit! We need to do a huge amount of work to the property and have therefore launched a crowd funder with some amazing pre opening deals.
The old blues bar. What an ugly building - it will look amazing when we have finished.
Work began yesterday, 3 volunteers alongside me and Nikki and great progress was made. Men love demolition = fact! A huge thanks to Chris, John and Duncan!
Duncan in wizardy work clothes (please note the practical work boots)
Not only will we need your crowd fund support but any practical help would be great. If you would like to help create the most magical thing that has ever happened in Sheffield then please get in touch, we want the Steel Cauldron to be a real blessing to the local community and would love you to get involved. Drop us a message on facebook, call me on 07951 744140 or look out for our community help days (first one is Saturday 21st March from 10am at 3 Spooner Road, Broomhill). Much wizardy love to you all, let's do this! Rob and Nikki