Crowdfund saves Croydon Cafe
Matthew’s Yard was struggling to pay its rent
People have contributed more than £12,000 to save a well-known Croydon cafe , weeks away from closing permanently.
Midway through December, Matthew's Yard disclosed that it had trouble paying its rent and that its landlord had threatened to call the bailiffs.
After going public with the dispute, property owners, The Arch Company, agreed to a flexible schedule for paying debts owed.
In under three weeks, more than £8,000 was pledged through an online crowdfunder to help save the cafe’s West Croydon home.
An update from Matthew’s Yard read: “We have been absolutely blown away by all your support over the holiday period. We’ve hit our initial crowdfunding target and are well on the way to wiping the slate clean with our landlord, to secure a better and brighter future in West Croydon.
“Your help, combined with the time to pay agreements with our creditors and the general upturn in trade mean we can also now make some desperately needed improvements to the space.”
Now, the cafe is halfway to a further ‘stretch target’ of £25,000 which would see the business able to revamp its other site off Surrey Street. Any cash over the original will go towards this site, which was used as a workspace but was hit hard when the pandemic struck and everyone started working from home.
The business hopes to move a soft play area and kids cafe into this site which will be able to host birthday parties and youth clubs for older kids.
The update added: “With the love and support of the people in Croydon we hope to hit the ground running in 2023 and by the Spring we would like to offer two fantastic community-oriented premises so that people of any age can eat, drink, work and relax with Matthews Yard.”
In December, a spokesperson for The Arch Company said: “We don’t want to lose good customers like Matthews Yard, which is why we have been working with them over the last few months to deal with their outstanding debt to enable them to stay. We look forward to them continuing to trade and making a contribution to the local community in Croydon.”