Tag: Brunch

  • Waffly stylish Histon Station House Café opens its doors

    As our brand new busway brunch stop welcomes its first customers this week, Amanda Borrill has been checking out what we can all expect to find inside.

    In the space of less than a fortnight, two new independent brunch venues have opened their doors here in Histon & Impington. The latest of these arrivals, Histon Station House Café, is the venture of local man David Harrison and its opening on Wednesday this week has brought with it an added buzz of activity to the area around the Guided Busway. The lure of a refreshment stop here for cyclists and walkers alike is likely to be strong and dog walkers will be delighted to hear that well behaved dogs are welcome at the café – with water bowls readily available.

    READ ALSO: Station-house-on-track-for-new-lease-of-life-this-summer

    Behind the facade

    So, what exactly can we expect to find behind this attractive new facade? Owner, David Harrison, reveals: “Lots on offer! We will be serving brunch all day from 8:30am until 3:30pm with the doors closing at 4:30pm. There will be healthy brunch dishes on Fitzbillies’ sourdough & English muffins, sweet treats including waffles and cakes, Hot Numbers coffee, milkshakes and smoothies. It will be table service throughout with a take-away option also available.

    The new menus. Available to view on Instagram and Facebook. Photo Jemima Borrill.

    “Our menus can be found on Instagram or Facebook and a website is currently under construction – just awaiting a few photos before launching. 

    “For now, I have taken the decision to open six days, with us being closed on a Tuesday. As a new business with a new team, I wanted to make sure I prioritised a good working balance and one of my team, quite rightly, pointed out that this includes me. We will review things after the first month; with an extension on the opening hours on the cards too when the time is right”.

    One person who has been finding it especially hard to contain her excitement about this week’s opening is David’s five-year-old daughter Mila who, David tells me, has spent the duration of the building works playing ‘spot the difference’ as things progressed and now has David’s entire staffing problems resolved with the recruitment of her year 1 classmates!

    Early experiences

    Station House Café’s arrival has been equally eagerly anticipated within the community and I tracked down a couple of visitors happy to share their early experiences.

    Setting a record at four visits in this opening week, is Impington resident Nick Wood. Nick went along for David’s pre-opening trial run on Monday and now seems to be single-handedly striving to ensure these doors stay open. I asked Nick how he feels about having this inviting new coffee stop just a few minutes walk from home:

    Tea for one. Photo Nick Wood.

    “At the pre-opening trial day I ordered the ‘modern breakfast’ as opposed to the traditional one – salmon, poached eggs, avocado and some other stuff. Well presented, tasty and well priced. My brunching partner had a raspberry macaron, which she declared ‘delicious’. The coffee was also very good. The staff were very helpful and courteous and, considering it was their first day on the job, did brilliantly.

    “It’s a splendid setting and it’s been so good to sit outdoors watching the world go by. My wife has told me I need to spend less money in cafés but, with quality like this, I suspect I’ll be in even more trouble than usual. A great addition to the south of the village. Expect house prices in South Impington to rise exponentially. I’ll be back!’”

    Also there for the pre-opening was Impington resident John Gooch:

    Tomato, chickpea and egg stew, as enjoyed by John Gooch this week. Photo John’s own.

    “I went along with three friends to the soft opening on Monday. The service, the coffee and the brunches were really tasty and not your ordinary food – great work by David and his team! We tried their bruschetta, overnight oats (to die for and so simple) and a tomato, chick pea and egg stew – which had a hint of spice and was delicious. We all loved it – now if only he could get Fitzbillies Chelsea buns there…”

    Across the community

    Amid the excitement of recent new arrivals, this weekend sees long time resident, The Geographer, closing its doors after eight years here in our village with their business taking a change in direction and heading online. COVID and its restrictions has certainly challenged the hospitality industry right across the UK and here in Histon & Impington we have seen our village venues, including Vision Park’s d:licious and Histon Smokehouse, forced to continually evolve and adapt to survive over the last sixteen months.

    Newcomer Stir CB24 is continuing to attract new regulars and has now submitted its application for the creation of an external drinking/dining area behind its School Hill unit. You can view the application and submit your thoughts, here.

  • Station House on track for new lease of life this summer

    Station House on track for new lease of life this summer

    The recently renovated Station House on Histon Busway will soon be reopening its doors in the form of a funky new brunch venue. Amanda Borrill has been chatting to founder, David Harrison, to find out more.

    Histon Station House Cafe logo. Graphic courtesy of David Harrison.

    The community of Histon & Impington has a deep affection for its station and the renovation of the area around what is now the Guided Busway, including a stylish revamp of the derelict Station House building, has been watched by many with great interest. This summer, local entrepreneur David Harrison is set to breathe new life into the neighbourhood with Histon Station House – a brand new independent brunch stop. I asked David what led him down this road and how he sees his new venture fitting in amid our existing abundant cafe scene.

    How it all began

    “I grew up in Girton but now live here in Histon. I was a student at IVC too so my connection to the area goes back all the way. In fact I used to cross the fields back to Girton using the train line long before the guided busway was built. Having also opened The Boot for White Brasserie and been part of the street coordinator scheme this last year, I feel a very strong connection to the village! 

    Mila’s vision. Photo David Harrison.

    “I was out walking with my five year old daughter, Mila, while homeschooling in January and she asked me what the building site was going to be by the busway. I replied it would be a cafe, to which her immediate response was ‘can it be our cafe?’ Later that day she decided her art work for the day would be designing a cafe for me. That night it was mounted on the wall by her bed where it still sits today”.


    From childhood imaginings to reality

    “On a whim, I emailed the agent, Bidwells, to find out who was going to be running the cafe. A few days later I was having a meeting with the landlord. The former owner of the site, Ken Hart, had passed away and the family wanted the building to continue as a cafe, as he had intended. I had happened to email at precisely the right moment thanks to my daughter’s imagination! She is insisting that she has a job at weekends washing dishes as it is most certainly “our” cafe to her and she wants to be fully involved”.

    What’s in store

    Open seven days a week, the cafe will be a table service brunch cafe. There will be a variety of healthy brunch dishes, sweet treats in the form of waffles, Hot Numbers coffee and homemade cakes. There will also be smoothies and milkshakes, a kids menu and plenty of vegan options. From Monday to Saturday they will be open from 8:30am – 4:30pm with food finishing at 3:30. Laid back Sundays will see them open a little bit later at 9:30am – with the same 4:30pm closing time.

    David’s new venue will bring the total number of cafes within the community of Histon and Impington to six – all of which are independently owned. I asked him whether he thinks there is sufficient demand for another coffee stop and, from his response, it is clear he has no intention to throw neighbouring business owners under any busway buses:

    “I think this end of the village will easily support a wider offering. I will be steering clear of the retail side of things as well as the sandwich trade to limit crossover with the The Geographer and d:licious. The guided busway provides passing trade from a wide range of people including cyclists, walkers, business commuters and students. Added to that we have around 100 new flats being built around the Station House. I believe Station House Cafe will be a positive addition to this end of the village and bring a little vibrancy”.

    David hopes to open in mid-July. Keep an eye out here on HI HUB and on local social media for up-to-date news. You can also read more about his venture on the Station House Cafe Facebook page, here.