A bustling community café that has become a popular attraction on the Grand Union Canal in Cassiobury Park in the past year has two reasons to celebrate on Monday.
July 26 marks the first anniversary of trading for Molly’s Floating Café and it is also owner Emily Hardy’s birthday.
Emily bought the boat in June 2020 after seeing it for sale on Facebook. She said: “I decided to buy the boat because it was something a bit different – I thought it had potential.”
Having seen very few cafés on canal boats in the UK, she thought it would be a great opportunity to try something new and challenge herself.
The floating café serves everything from coffees, cold drinks, toasties, and homemade cakes, to popcorn, snacks, candyfloss, and ice cream.
Customers at the floating cafe
After buying the boat, work was still needed before Emily could get it up and running as a café.
It needed repainting to a bright and cheerful white, and Emily decorated it with flowers, which she changes from season to season.
“I have also learnt a lot about day-to-day boat life, which I have really enjoyed,” Emily said. “My ambition is to learn to steer the boat one day.”
Until then, her skippers Charlie Waterman and Danny Croft come every two weeks to help her move the boat from mooring to mooring.
Skippers Charlie Waterman and Danny Croft moving the boat
Waterway regulations mean the boat has to move at least every 14 days, although this was suspended for most of lockdown, so Emily now has different café bases in Cassiobury Park, Berkhamsted and Tring.
The café business is a family venture – Emily’s parents owned and ran a café in Hatch End, which Emily worked in, bought it from them and ran herself for several years.
Since Emily decided to take on the floating café, her partner James Thrussell has been helping out too, as have Michelle Tripp and Sharon Ann O’Malley. The café is even named after Emily’s dog Molly, who joined the family during lockdown.
Although the past year has been tough for many small businesses, Emily says that Molly’s Floating Café “has survived as a business because of lockdown, and I have loved meeting so many different people".
The cafe decked out in flowers
Lockdown saw more people explore the areas where they live because of restrictions, meaning there were more visitors to Cassiobury Park coming across the café on the canal.
“It’s such a relaxing environment down by the water,” says Emily, “and many people have gone for a walk in the woods or the park, and have then stopped for a coffee by the water on their way back.”
Emily is looking for a young person on the Government’s Kickstart Scheme to help out at Molly’s Floating Café over the summer months, when they will be open most days (depending on the weather).
The scheme provides funding to create new six-month jobs for 16 to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit at risk of long-term unemployment.
Anyone interested in working at the café should get in touch with their local Jobcentre.
The interest in Molly’s Floating Café has meant that over the past year it has been able to hold a number of events for all the family, including a Fairy Door Prize Event, Halloween Trail, Dinosaur Trail and Santa’s Grotto.
Santa's Grotto on the boat
This last event was “the best event we’ve ever done”, according to Emily, as the café was particularly busy over Christmas. “I also like to get involved and raise money for charity whenever I can – Molly’s Floating Café has raised money by selling poppies for Remembrance Sunday, hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning, and by selling wristbands for #KeepGoingForGrace.”
The most challenging aspect of operating a floating café, says Emily, “is getting the stock to and from the boat,” as she has to carry all the food and water to the boat in the morning, and then take away all the rubbish and any leftover food and water at the end of the day. It can also be difficult finding good locations for mooring.
“You have to be prepared as well,” she said, “because you need to have enough coffee, water, and petrol for the whole day, and you can’t easily pop out to get some more.”
Despite these challenges, Emily has really enjoyed talking on Molly’s Floating Café. “The best part is that I love what I am doing.”
You can find out more about Molly’s Floating Café on Instagram or Facebook @mollysfloatingcafe.
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