Our New 'Baby'

It's all out in the open now, so I feel like I can finally speak about our plans for the future. The more I think about it the more it feels like 'the shop', as we refer to it,  is our new baby.
Now, before anyone shouts at me and questions how I could possibly equate this to the amazing wonder that is having a child, I can, easily. Yes I have been blessed with three beautiful, amazing, wonderful children, but there was a time when I thought that wouldn't happen. No, nothing can ever replace or equal the joy that comes from having a child, but there are similarities to this life changing event.

The idea for the shop actually came about over two years ago. It started off with considering to buy the local Post Office with a coffee shop as a side business. The more I looked into it, the more I realised that I didn't want the Post Office side, just the coffee shop. The search for premises was started and we found a suitable site but it needed an awful lot of work. The landlord wasn't a particularly reasonable man and to cut a long story short, after months of trying to agree a lease I had to walk away. I'd also missed out on an alternative premises while on a weeks holiday, despite registering my interest. It was all very frustrating and disappointing but I felt it just wasn't meant to be.
The job of food education presenter came up at about the same time that I decided to put the plans for the coffee shop on hold, so I went with it, believing that everything happens for a reason.

It's hard when something you want very much seems out of reach, whether that's a baby or a new venture, you just have to 'get on' with life and hope that one day your dreams will be realised. For the most part I enjoyed my new job and I threw myself into it 110% but the idea of the shop never went away. It was always there in the back of my mind and I'd daydream about it a lot, especially when leaving home at 630am to get to a school by 8am and getting stuck in traffic!

Then I lost my job and had an awful car accident on the same day, just before Christmas. Things like that make you think and make you realise that you only get one shot so best make the most of it.

So I started looking for premises, there was nothing on our High Street and that was my chosen location. I started to look a little further afield, but there was nothing that grabbed my attention until an old converted pub came up. I fell instantly in love with the beautiful old red brick building, with its original windows and glazed tiling around impressive solid wood doors. So I booked to go and have a look around at the three units that had been created on the ground floor.
Somewhere deep inside, as much as I loved the building, I wasn't convinced on the location so decided to keep looking, as you should and on the off chance called an agent about a premises on our High Street. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be suitable, but made the call just to rule it out. The agent confirmed that indeed it would not be suitable for our intended purpose but suggested I look at another shop that had come onto the market. How had I missed this? A great shop and I hadn't noticed it was up for let! (turns out the board had only been put up a few days before, so I won't beat myself up about it) I arranged to view this shop on the same day as viewing the Pub conversion, the 29th of Feb. I hoped that somehow this unusual date would bring me luck!

I went to view the Pub conversion first and I really wanted to fall in love with it, but if I'm honest my heart was already in the shop on our High St. But I put my business head on and went to the viewing with an open mind. I have to say the conversion into three retail units had been done to a very high standard and the agent for them was a genuinely lovely man. Unfortunately none of the units were right for our needs. One was simply too small, one was over two floors and meant seating  would have to have been on the first floor and trays of hot drinks would have had to been carried up a very steep narrow flight of stairs and the last unit was large but so dark and had no less that three large pillars in really awkward spots making a workable layout virtually impossible.
So I went to my next appointment on the High Street. All my hopes now rested with this shop, so again I put my business head on and told myself not to get too carried away. This is where I'd love to gush and say it was perfect, I fell in love with it, it was made for us.........but I won't do that. What I did see when I walked in was a shop with potential. There are walls where we wouldn't want them to be and floors at different levels, doors that are narrow and a lack of facilities, but it had potential. I took lots of photographs and started thinking about how we could make it work for us.
We made an appointment for Mr P to have a look and see what he thought about it. I thought we could make it work, but could see that there was some quite serious work involved. I'd prepared myself for the worst but I'm glad to say I need not have worried. He agreed that with some work we could make this a great shop and that was all I needed to hear.

The shop was formerly an accident claims office, so I already knew that we would need planning consent to change it to A3 usage. Luckily the owner agreed to wait for us to see if we could get consent as she could see that we were serious about the premises and would, if granted A3, be a long term tenant.

Planning is a nightmare! Forms and information coming out of our ears, we muddled through without professional help, submitted our plans and then all we could do was wait.

All this excitement was going on and I felt like I couldn't talk about it. Just like when you're 'trying' for a baby you don't want to jinx things by telling people, but at times it gets to be too much so you ended up telling a few people for fear that you might just burst if you don't share what's going on!
So we waited and waited and on Friday I got a call from the planning office asking for a few minor details and telling me that we would have an answer on Monday, all I had to do was call.

Monday came and I felt sick with nerves. I called and was told the news we'd been waiting to hear, for what felt like so long. A3 usage has been approved. I wanted to cry and then, just like the first time I found out I was pregnant those mixed emotions came flooding into my head. Half of me was "Wow!! We did it, it's really happening" and the other half was laughing hysterically thinking "what have I let myself in for and can I do this?" but all with a smile on my face.

And this is where the fun begins, all the hard work and sleepless nights, teething troubles and tantrums. Life will never be the same again! It's life changing but it will be rewarding, we'll get out of it what we put into it. We will need support from family and friends and at times I'm sure we'll wonder if we're cut out for it, or if we're doing it right and just like when you have a child we'll have to trust ourselves to do the right things for the right reasons and make it turn out right.

For the first time in a long time I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, just like I did when I found out I was expecting a baby and luckily for me, my babies (aged 12, 10 & 8) are happy for us. They too are excited at this new venture, they want to be part of it and to be involved. They seem to understand that at times this 'baby' might take up a lot of my time an attention, but they also know that they, my amazingly wonderful children will always come first.

So, buckle up and come along for the ride! I'm sure at times it will be like a roller coaster with highs and lows but always thrilling and I look forward to sharing the experience with you all!