A trip back to England in 2019, pre-Covid. A walking tour around the historic Royal City of Bath. A traditional Afternoon Tea. Scones and cakes. Ice-cream. Luxury. But all too soon our sojourn was over, and my daughter Sara and myself returned to our home in Bangkok. It was only a short time later, over a Christmas dinner, that we found ourselves thinking about our time back in the UK. We decided we didn’t want to have to wait until our next trip (who knows when that might be possible) to enjoy once again the unique ambiance of an English café atmosphere.
We wanted to have that experience in Bangkok, and we set about making that vision become a reality. Sara found a great location in the popular Ari district, we signed contracts in January, and excitedly began the process of creating our café, from scratch, from a blank canvas. And then the coronavirus hit. Our original opening date was April 1st, but that proved to be a no no, due to the lockdown. Hotels, restaurants, pubs, and cafe’s, all had to shut their doors to customers. The delay, however, did grant us more time to get the place ready, which we definitely needed. A lot of the equipment we had ordered to fit out the cafe was sourced from China, the epicentre of the outbreak, and nothing was being shipped out to customers around the world.
China, though, being the first to experience the outbreak, and the first to shutdown, was also the first to start opening up, and we received our orders in late April. It was all go again, and we used the extra time we had been given to refine the decor, inside and out. The Thai government notified the hospitality industry that hotels and restaurants, etc, could reopen on June June Ist.
On the big day we nervously opened the doors of MARTIN’S English Café, and waited for our first customers. We were lucky. The first two to come through the door in the morning were popular bloggers, and by the afternoon people were arriving who might have seen their posts.
The following days saw a steady flow of customers arriving to take photos of themselves, the food and the cafe, as well as journos from magazines and more bloggers.
The customers appear to like the venue, and the cakes and drinks. The USP (unique selling point) of the place is threefold; great decor and location; homemade typically English cakes and pastries, including cool drinks and premium ice-cream; a mix-tape of retro English music to listen to, combined with the current UK Top 40 toonz. And once there you can sit and chat with your friends in the cool aircon seating inside, or relax at the handmade tables and matching armchairs outside.
The buzz seems to be reaching the right people, are you gonna join the crowd?
