A new deli and café will open in a York suburb within days, combining Italian and Yorkshire food and drink.
Julie O’Sullivan and Stephen Dudley are opening The Prickly Pear in the old Campbell & Penty office, on the corner of Holgate Road and Mount Ephraim.
The duo own The Hairy Fig in Fossgate and Henshelwood’s Deli in Newgate respectively, and Julie said the new business would be a hybrid of the two.
She said: “It will be a mixture of those styles and will really appeal to the community.
“There will be three separate rooms. One will be like an Italian coffee bar with seats round the edge when we can, and pastries and cakes etc, like we are known for at The Hairy Fig.
“The middle room will be the cheese and charcuterie deli, with Italian meats and cheeses and also Yorkshire products and vibe.
“The back room won’t be open yet, but when it is it will be used for pairing events and can be hired for up to ten people.”
A community place
Julie said: “We felt Holgate was missing something.
“In the city centre there are a few delis and cafes, and Bishopthorpe Road has a lot, but from a business point of view we felt Holgate had a similar mix and vibe, and felt the business could do well there.”
The opening was slightly delayed because the second lockdown was announced soon after Julie and Stephen had taken the lease, but Julie said: “We’ve had some lovely messages already on social media, from people saying they can’t wait for us to open.
“We’ll be a community place that we want people to use, so there are products people want us to sell, we’ll try to stock them.”
As reported in YorkMix last year, Campbell & Penty grain and seed merchants vacated the building in 2019 after a takeover by Saxon Agriculture, having been in Holgate for many years.
Julie said some of the old contents had been left behind, including a large cabinet, grain sacks, certificates and a sign, and said some of those would be on display in The Prickly Pear.
Campbell & Penty was taken over by Saxon Agriculture in 2018.