Cafe 1901, first opened in 2010 and located in a church hall on Jesmond’s St George’s Terrace, has changed hands.

Cafe 1901 is now owned by Many Walia, whose family has been in the catering business for more than 30 years. “I love coffee itself,” Walia told JesmondLocal. “My family is supporting me all the time. I think anybody could do anything if they have the passion and hard work for it.”

The cafe was first opened five years ago in Jesmond, and Walia was one of their initial customers. “I came here as a customer five years ago when it first opened. And now eventually  come to own it.” said Walia.

In order to give customers a change, Walia has changed the interior decoration of Cafe 1901 after she took over the shop. “We don’t want to copy anybody and we have got our own style,” said Walia. “Everything in here tells its own story. Cinema seats come from old cinemas. Even every piece of furniture has its own story. Everything is vintage.”

Apart from the new decoration style, Cafe 1901 still keeps its quality coffee and same price for customers. The shop offers all popular coffee and 15 kinds of tea. “The most important part for us is that we don’t compromise a lot of quality. Our main focus is that we do specialty coffee,” said Walia. “The price has actually stayed the same for about two years. Normal places increase their prices every year. But we actually stay the same. We always try to do the right thing by customers.”

Walia has also extended the cafe’s opening hours. “We are now going to be open seven days a week from March 15th,” said Walia. “It is quite something. Because I know that sometimes people come to the premises on Sunday and Monday and found it to be shut. We just want to make it convenient for people.

“I think the previous owner did the fantastic job with the place. We just want to continue forward and make it even better as time goes on.”