By Amy Pollock
AN OUTPOURING of support has seen over 5,000 people sign a petition to save a popular coffee hut in Ballywalter after it was given 60 days to close.
The Lane, located on Kircubbin Road, has announced it faces forced closure due to a planning dispute following a neighbour complaint in 2022.
Opened by Jess and Marcus Green on their land four years ago, the peninsula business has been described as a ‘thriving community hub’ noted for its service. The news of the closure order has sparked shock and outrage among rural and regional customers alike.
An online petition to stop the closure, set up by a customer, has received over 5,600 signatures in the last week.
The Northern Ireland Food to Go Association has also come out in support of The Lane, which hopes to help the owners work with the council to fight to keep the business alive.
Chief executive Michael Henderson said he would ‘like to believe the council has the same approach as the association and the 5,000 people who want to save this business’.
“We believe it shouldn’t be the duty of the council to close businesses – they should be encouraging small businesses to open,” he said.
Explaining the ‘devastating’ dispute, owner Jess Green said she and her husband were made aware of complaints against the business by the council three years ago.
“I wrote to the council and asked if I could see the complaints, because how do you work with something when you don’t know what the problems are?
“They said that they couldn’t release the information because of GDPR,” she said.
The couple then reached out to neighbours in the area in an attempt to resolve the issue.
“We approached our neighbours and asked if any of them had a problem with us to which they said they didn’t… there’s never been cross words between Marcus and I and our neighbours,” Jess said.
The wooden coffee hut, which was initially built as a temporary structure without planning permission, was something that Jess and Marcus were working towards making a permanent fixture at Kircubbin Road, a process she said was ‘dragged out for a very long time’.
The couple sought advice from planning consultants, hoping someone would take on their case to work with the council to make The Lane an authorised coffee shop.
“We held on as long as we possibly could, living in hope that someone would help us keep our coffee hut alive,” she said.
“It’s been a whirlwind – we have a five-star rating from the council for our food and hygiene, been nominated for awards and to date, I have raised £6,500 for charity – but in the back of your mind, you always have that thought ‘this could be taken away from us’.
“The countless tears and times [my husband] has had to bring me out of a rut because I’ve said ‘I can’t turn my back on this business’, ‘why are we waiting so long on letters?’, ‘why does nobody want to help us?’.”
After struggling for years to secure support from planning consultants, the couple were referred to a planning permission expert outside of the Ards and North Down Council area, who helped them contest an enforcement notice given in June 2024.
At a Planning Appeals Commission hearing in May, the couple heard the details of the complaints against them and ultimately lost the appeal.
At the hearing, some of the issues raised were that the coffee hut does not integrate into the countryside and that it harms rural character, causes unacceptable noise and nuisance for residents, could impact road safety and cause flooding, and impedes residential privacy due to parking at the premises.
Jess said while the experience has been ‘extremely difficult’ and she feels remorse over the situation, her goal is to keep fighting.
“[The hearing] was a kick in the teeth, it’s been a very difficult three years. This is my livelihood, this place puts food on the table for my children and a roof over their head… I also worry about the loss it would cause in the community if we were to close.
“But I am sorry that we’ve caused upset to people, because that takes away everything that this place is. This is a community hub where my customers come because it’s a safe place,” she said.
“One thing that I have taken a lot of comfort in is knowing that the community is behind us.”
Jess said the support they have received has been ‘overwhelming’, with the video she posted on Facebook and TikTok to announce the news accumulating half a million views and thousands of comments.
“I’d like to thank everybody for their support. I will do everything I can to keep this place going, but I don’t make the final decision and I just want people to know that I will do all I can,” she said.
At the time of publication, an official closing date for The Lane has not yet been confirmed.
Read more from the community and council in this week’s Newtownards Chronicle.
To sign the petition, visit: www.change.org/p/save-the-lane-coffee-hut-help-us-stop-the-forced-closure-and-keep-our-community-together
