Arlo and new pop-up bakery Kennedy & Rhind capitalise with Tier 3 looming

Dec 01, 2020 by Megan Evans in Community

As the north east heads into tier 3 of coronavirus restrictions on December 2nd, Jesmond cafe Arlo, along with new pop-up bakery Kennedy & Rhind, are looking to make the most of challenging circumstances.

Kennedy & Rhind opened on Holly Avenue West just a few weeks ago. Despite the challenges, owners David Kennedy and Murray Rhind believe now is a fruitful time for business.

Photo credit: Kennedy & Rhind. The pair have eight decades of experience between them. Murray (left), ex-Cafe Royale, set up the bakery from scratch

Kennedy told JesmondLocal that the recent lockdown “gave us a whole month before any cafe could get a chance to open. Phase two will be a cafe environment. Phase three, probably next year, a Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening offering” using the venue’s wood-fired oven.

This new bakery will serve bread, pies and fully prepared dinners to pop in the oven.

Photo credit: Kennedy & Rhind. A handful of the sweet and savoury treats

Kennedy works closely with Local Heroes North East and Food and Drink North East and he has a stall at the Jesmond Food Market on Armstrong Bridge, which will shortly re-open.

Although Kennedy had the idea for two years, the nationwide lockdown accelerated proceedings. “The inspiration came admist a stressful time,” said Kennedy. “4:45pm the day before lockdown, the Department of Health cancelled the following day’s [Jesmond Food] market. Thirteen long hours of work in the kitchen would go to waste.”

Fortunately, he was able to make use of a kitchen unit he has at the Beacon on Newcastle’s Westgate Road the next day, so his efforts wouldn’t go to waste.

Family friends and social media helped spread the word, but Kennedy was not expecting a queue outside the front door at 10am the next day.

“That was the spark. That’s when I realised there was a need for this,” he said. Rhind immediately agreed to the project and they found the premises in July.

Lucas Morrison, owner of Arlo, also isn’t deterred by the tier 3 restrictions; it just requires being able to adapt. “We’ll look to do a new takeaway menu,” said Morrison.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to bring some more staff back. But we just don’t know yet, so we’re just holding on. However they throw it at us. We’ll throw it back and see if we can make it work.”

Photo credit: Arlo. Arlo also boast an outdoor seating area which was a hit in the summer months

On a usual Saturday they’ll provide for 500 people, but during the coronavirus, the numbers have been cut right back to allow a safe opening.

Morrison told JesmondLocal: “We used to be open every day, with just a Sunday and Monday evening closed. At the moment we’re open Thursday, Friday and Saturday.”

Morrison says he hopes the other businesses on Brentwood Avenue survive the pandemic.

“There are Italians, another bistro, flower shops on the street,” he said. “I absolutely love it and it’s a fantastic street. We hope everyone gets through this, we don’t want any empty shops.”