Based in Bamber Bridge, Preston, Tiny Teacups is a cafe with a twist; designed around children, we offer three play areas full of toys, where children can come and play whilst adults can meet for coffee and cake. Even though we are a play cafe, we are always delighted to welcome customers of all ages, and our focus has always been to maximise the happiness of anyone who walks through our doors.
The play café caters for children aged up to five-years-old. There are three play areas, one for up to 12 months, one for 12 months to three years and the third is for three to five years. Parents, grandparents or carers can take young children to play safely while they enjoy a hot drink and cake and we have an environment that welcomes social interaction with both child and parent, and parent and parent, a feeling of community. We open our doors to community groups including FAB, a breastfeeding group, and Mums in Business who use us for their meetings.
However, in response to the current Covid-19 situation, our cafe has unfortunately had to close indefinitely and, like many other small independent businesses, a difficult and uncertain few months lie ahead. Everyone who works here is devastated by the impact of the coronavirus, as it means we can't currently continue to work in the environment that means so much to us and provide joy to all our lovely customers.
We firmly believe in the purpose of the cafe - which is to offer a safe and relaxing environment for parents, children and anyone who chooses to come here. Giving children a space where they can be creative and have fun, as well as offering a variety of foods to suit all dietary needs, is of the highest importance to the cafe, which is why the current closure comes as such a disappointment to us all.
Everyone at Tiny Teacups is beyond saddened at the effect that the pandemic is having on so many small businesses, which rely on the people of the community to support and sustain them. For us, the immediate impact has been emotionally, and financially crippling, as upcoming events and parties have had to be cancelled due to the worry of families and new Government guidelines.
Yes we do we have insurance but when we asked our Broker he told us that we could not claim as we are not able to “demonstrate and prove the closure of the Premises has been ordered by the authority/government as a result of COVID-19 occurring at the Premises.” We asked about one of the Government’s business loans only to be told we have the “wrong type of bank account”. Every door has been firmly closed in our face!
Our survival is literally in your hands. We don’t know what help, if any, we might get from the Government and even if a portion of wages are covered, we are still left with little funds to replace toys and the food that sadly had to be disposed of. All donations will go into funding the survival of the cafe, to ensure that we can be up and running again as soon as possible.
We appreciate your help at this worrying time - more than you will ever know - and with your aid the cafe will re-open. Stay safe, and we hope to see you in the near future.