Edinburgh's Cafe Braw owner announces retirement after 11 years in business

Cafe Braw changes hands after owner’s 11 happy years

The owner of a popular cafe near Dean Village has thanked her loyal customers after she decided to retire and focus on issues important to her.

Meg (who asked to be known by only her first name) took on Cafe Braw on Belford Road in 2011, opening to the public the following year. The trained dietician will now pass the business to Rob, who plans to re-open Cafe Braw in the spring.

Speaking to the Evening News, Meg paid tribute to her loyal customers who visited her shop from across the globe.

Meg took on Cafe Braw in 2011, opening to the public the following year.

She said: "I had such a lovely crowd of customers. Because it was in such an obscure place I only really got interesting people. I had customers from all over the world. I never advertised but I had a regular and loyal base of customers. I only ever used really good ingredients, and only ever unprocessed sugar. White sugar is just calories, it doesn’t give you any nourishment. I was a bit snotty with my food but people enjoyed it.

"My customers were so interesting and fun. Really nice people. It was such a pleasure working there. I really enjoyed it and I feel lucky to have met so many marvellous people at the cafe.”

She added that she would be working on her passions after retirement, including campaigning for better eating habits in Scotland.

"I’m retiring to do things I am passionate about. I have a huge list of things I have to do, concerning educational and environmental issues,” she said. “So, I will be termed ‘retired’ but I’ll be really busy. For example, I‘m a huge advocate of Vegware so I will be promoting that, as I always did at the cafe. And I’ll campaign on good food, as our eating habits in Scotland are terrible.”

Meg is now looking forward to campaigning on issues important to her in her retirement.

Meg spent her last day trading on New Year’s Day, opening, as she did every year, for just three hours to give taxi drivers somewhere to go on the first day of the year.

"I always open on the first day of the year for the taxi drivers, so they can get a tea and a pee,” she said. "I had a lot of people round for the last day and they wanted to give me a whisky but I don’t drink. It was very busy, with regulars and tourists as well as the taxi drivers. It was very busy and cheerful. It was a super day. I had one or two of my old employees come along, which was nice.”

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Looking back on her time at Cafe Braw, Meg recalled why she started the business over a decade ago.

She said: "It’s a bit weepy really. I came back to Edinburgh as my friend had leukaemia so I needed to go to all of her appointments with her. I couldn’t get a job as a dietitian so I had to find work to have an income. And I had to find a job that would allow me to support my friend when needed. I thought, ‘well, I can boil an egg!’”

Meg is delighted to be handing Cafe Braw to Rob, after a long search to find someone who can carry on Cafe Braw’s role in the local community.

She said: "I’m really happy. It’s been a long time getting the right person to take over. I refused to leave until I found the right person to take over. There was no community when I got there, it had to be built-up. Nobody knew their neighbour, so it really did need something to create a community. So whoever took it over had to keep that going. I’m really happy to have found that person. Rob will spend a couple of months getting things ready and hopefully open in the spring.”