The Well-Kitchen Café, Hazelwood is closing on Saturday 7^th March: our 4^th birthday!

The Well-Kitchen Café has been part of the community in Hazelwood for four fabulous years, but the time has come for us to say goodbye.

After four incredible years in Hazelwood, meeting wonderful new people, making friends and serving beautiful, fairtrade coffees and teas, homemade cakes and freshly prepared, locally sourced food, it is time for us to close our doors. It’s been an adventure beyond anything I had imagined, but this café was never meant to last forever in its current form, and there are many reasons why this is an impossible project to grow.

My dream of creating a social space was born many years ago, while I was still a teacher in secondary schools. And it has been wonderful to fulfil this dream – to enable and facilitate community; to empower people; to champion social justice and ethical and local business; to work in collaboration with the Parish Council; to provide a place of purpose and safety for many volunteers. The Well-Kitchen has become a modern day “well” – a gathering place for people from so many different walks of life and is certainly a community space in a village which has nowhere else at the moment. The journey has been full of ups and downs: running a business with no experience, negotiating the fairest suppliers and prices, finding the best team of volunteers, working round the challenges of location and premises, talking to people to invite them to run groups and to be privileged to facilitate community growth, figuring out who our customer base is and what menus work best…. The list goes on and on. It has been an amazing adventure!

This is not the end for The Well-Kitchen CIC.

Although the café in Hazelwood is closing, we hope to continue to run the business in a different form. Do remember to keep an eye on our website and social media for pop up events, for catering services, for our signature sourdough cinnamon buns. Amita is not hanging up her apron for good by any means and looks forward to our lovely customers and friends to follow along on the next part of the journey.



Our final day of trading is Saturday 7^th March – our last Sourdough Cinnamon Bun Saturday! We have TWO weeks (Wednesday and Thursday openings) to say our goodbyes, and of course, Saturday 7^th March. Looking forward to celebrating community together!