A long-established Paignton café renowned for selling 'good old-fashioned food' from a knickerbocker glory to liver and bacon with gravy has announced its closure. Cupcake Café and Takeaway, situated in a prime location on Torbay Road, recently shared the news by putting a sign on its door. It said the closure came with 'great sadness and a heavy heart' and thanked customers over the last 14 years.
For now, it remains business as usual but in November it will close for good. It opened after best friends Sheena Robinson and Lesley Evans devised a plan to start a business together over a glass of wine. Since then it has become a favourite place for many locals and holidaymakers to visit.
Sheena said: "We've had such lovely feedback since we put our closure notice up. We are both now 62 and want to retire. "It has been emotional telling people as we feel guilty that we're letting people down.
It was a very big decision for us to make but we both know we've done the right thing for us." Sheena spends most of her time front-of-house while Lesley is known as 'the baker'. The name of the café was inspired by how popular cupcakes were at the time.
However, it isn't a reflection of what you can eat there because it serves traditional, old-fashioned hearty meals along with a delicious selection of homemade cakes. But what you won't ever be served there is chips. Sheena, who previously had an ironing business and also worked as a waitress, said: "People still come in thinking we'r.