Popular Oughtibridge café Joni is set to open its second site in the historic setting of Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet.
The team behind Joni also oversaw the successful launch of Island Café and The Millowner’s Arms in Kelham Island Museum and are now set to take over the running of the Beauchief museum’s visitors centre café from August.
The café spearheads the museum’s plans to increase its offering with longer opening hours and Joni will be open to both residents and museum visitors while ever the site is open.
The vibe will be very similar to their neighbourhood café in Oughtibridge: slinging speciality coffee from Foundation Roasters, baking croissants fresh on site each day, and serving up classic breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes like eggs benedict, alongside delicious croque monsieur, cakes and bakes.
Liam, who co-owns Joni with business partner Nathan, told Exposed: “After the successful reinvention of Joni in Oughtibridge, we saw the importance of these district centres. Sheffield is a conglomerate of villages, and with more people working from home, people want somewhere to come and get a good coffee or some good food in their own neighbourhood. We want Joni 2 to be another community anchor point.
“We’re very excited about it, as I think that that part of town is just lovely – what a backdrop. Just to sit there and have a coffee under that tree is beautiful and we want to give people even more reason to visit this beautiful piece of our city’s industrial history.”
Nathan added: “It’s great to be a part of the museums plans to open additional days by helping to keep it free to visit through the revenue we generate. It also has the same character as Joni 1, with the stone buildings, and that’s something that is important to us. This is hopefully going to be the second of many Joni locations.”
The chance to open a second Joni site on the museum grounds was brought to them by the museums trust themselves, who, after the successful merge of Museums Sheffield and Sheffield Industrial Museums, the latter of which incorporates Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, recognised the opportunity to create a space for the local community to enjoy the beautiful surroundings by increasing its offer.
Following the successful collaboration at Kelham Island Museum, the museum needed to look no further than the team behind Joni. Kim Streets, Chief Executive at Sheffield Museums, told Exposed: ‘We’re very much looking forward to welcoming Joni to Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet. Joni has earned a loyal following over in Oughtibridge and we’ve no doubt they’ll do the same here.
“A daytime café with such a fantastic offer will really place Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet at the heart of the community, providing the perfect place for both local residents and visitors to the Hamlet to enjoy great coffee and great food.”
Joni, which takes its name from Liam’s grandmother who recently celebrated her 90th birthday in the Oughtibridge café, have been in discussions with local residents about what they would want from the space and that has helped define some of what the new Joni will be about.
Following the opening in August, there are big plans to use the space for more events, and more details around bookings and the opening date will be available on their socials in the coming weeks.
