Nether Edge’s eclectic café Lotte On The Edge is inspired by owner Charlotte Carey’s trips to Isla Mujeres in Mexico, bringing back with her an array of colourful décor, unpretentious food and a vibrant atmosphere in a cosy little spot in the friendly Sheffield suburb.
Reopening and rebranding as Lotte on the Edge in 2017, the popular café fell into the hands of owner Charlotte Carey by chance three years ago. By fate, Lotte On The Edge was born after a split with a former business partner, after which she began to thrust her bubbly personality onto the venue.
“I transformed the interior of the café when I bought it,” Charlotte tells us. “I wanted to give it a beach bar vibe so that’s what I keep calling it! An urban beach café. Inside there’s a lot of wood, I painted the ceiling black, I have these Mexican pom poms dotted around from my holidays there, cacti, hanging plants, it’s all very organic. It’s somewhere where I’d like to hang out.”
‘It’s somewhere where I’d like to hang out.” – Lotte On The Edge owner Charlotte Carey
It’s fair to say that Charlotte’s colourful character is etched into the décor of the place, and it’s perhaps that approachability and affability which has seen this café become quite a popular spot among the Nether Edger community and beyond.
“When I bought this, a lot of people said there’d be no footfall and it’d be a bad move,” Charlotte adds. “I could see the advantage of having such a lovely outside space – we’re south facing so we have the sun in the morning right through to 8pm. We have a lot of regulars too. We can seat about 16 inside and people would say to me that they’d drive past and see the windows steamed up every time and wonder what was inside!”
Her trips to Mexico, more specifically Isla Mujeres near Cancun, are clearly inspirational. “I just love the people, they are so friendly. The colours are amazing; it’s such a bright, happy place,” she says. The café’s approach to non-pretentious food and serving up coffee roasted in Sheffield by Frazers Coffee Roasters, Lotte On The Edge is an inspired choice, too. Who’d have thought it? An urban beach café in Sheffield, South Yorkshire!
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