A North Lakes man who has become the new owner of a popular Lake District café and gift shop is also planning to sell books from the premises.
Al Verey is due to complete the purchase of Treetops at Pooley Bridge at the end of this month. The thriving licensed café, food to go and gift shop in Pooley Bridge had been on the market through Hackney and Leigh estate agents at offers over £995,000.
Mr Verey, 42, who lives just outside Mungrisdale with his wife Lori and two sons, is delighted to have bought Treetops and has exciting plans for its future.
“I inquired out of the blue about Treetops in February because I have wanted to set up a book shop for a while and I always thought Treetops would make a really good location,” said Mr Verey. “It was not available at that point but a few months later it came on the market and I was lucky enough to have my offer accepted.”
Mr Verey plans to keep the café offering cakes and coffee and to continue selling ice cream but the gift shop will be largely transformed into a new bookshop.
“The focus will be on local interest books, local authors, children’s books and general fiction.
“If I can squeeze a bit of Wordsworth in there too, I will,” said Mr Verey, who spent two years as a guide at Dove Cottage, the Lakeland poet’s home in Grasmere. “I am hoping we can organise some signing events and readings involving local authors and set up book groups.”
Mr Verey said he was considering changing the trading name to The Pooley Bridge Book Shop and Café.
Mr Verey, who writes poetry influenced by nature and the rugged Cumbria landscape, said: “I am hoping the venue will become a focus point for all things literary – a community space for words and art and food.”
Previous owner Richard Burton successfully traded at Treetops for around 18 years. Richard, who was born in Keswick, educated at Keswick School and studied hotel management and hospitality at Kendal College, had the tenancy for the Aira Force café for more than 10 years, before buying Treetops in 2003. He,and his wife Susan, plan to spend time travelling and potentially pursuing other business interests.
