Floating vegan cafe Evergreen returns to Lymm

The unique Evergreen Cafe went viral a year ago when a 55ft by 10ft narrowboat called Grace was transformed into a plant-based eatery on the Bridgewater Canal.

But behind the scenes it has been a huge struggle for the family business because a couple of days after opening, Kate Walsh was devastated when her husband Ric was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. They had been together for 22 years.

Despite his fading health, Ric continued to work on the canal boat for as long as he could as he was desperate to leave something behind for Kate’s future.

A pandemic and money drying up could not stop him and he had almost finished when he died on October 29 this year.

Now Kate and her daughter Olivia Sweeney have relaunched Evergreen Cafe after a successful crowdfunding campaign to make the finishing touches to the boat in his memory.

Olivia, Ric’s stepdaughter, said: “Obviously, it’s not been the first year on the boat that we wanted.

“But coming back to the business has kept us going because Ric absolutely loved it.

“Even in his last few weeks all he ever wanted to talk about was the boat.

“He’d be like: ‘Don’t be sat here with me – get back on the boat and get it open’.

“That is what is now inspiring us to get it finished. It’s taking our minds off other things and it’s nice that we’re doing it together.”

Kate and Olivia hit their £2,000 target within about two days to complete the electrics, add heating onboard, build a hatch to serve outside, buy a professional coffee machine, fit a boiler, add seating and covering outside and buy batteries.

“We were overwhelmed by the response,” added Olivia, 29.

“My mum and Ric opened at the end of November and I joined them in February.

“Obviously in March we shut down due to the lockdown.

“We opened up again at the end of May and then shut down in July due to Ric’s illness because he had to get special treatment.

“So to get that kind of response when we’ve only been trading a few months was just amazing.”

Evergreen Cafe’s reopening on Monday coincided with the business’s one-year anniversary.

But it is also around a year since Ric’s diagnosis which has brought up a lot of emotions.

Kate and Ric when they launched the business

Olivia said: “I think it will be difficult for the both of us at first because it will be quite sad to be back on the boat working without Ric there.

“But it will also be a chance to thank all our customers for their support.

“We’re just trying to keep ourselves busy and do as much as we can because that is definitely what Ric would have wanted.

“He’s done everything on this boat. It’s been completely renovated. He put his heart and soul into it.

“Ric has done an amazing job and he worked as a team with my mum who came up with all the food and the menus and ran all the business side of it.”

The cafe will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and will be just takeout for the time-being while Kate finds her feet.

Olivia added: “Ric would be so happy that we’ve reopened. We managed to get the new logo put on the boat while he was still around.

“It was a few days before he died and when we showed him the photos he absolutely loved it. I remember he put two thumbs up.

“He wanted it to be big and bold because a lot of people would walk past and not really see the old logo and know we were a café.”

Kate and Ric prompted national headlines when they originally launched the floating plant-based cafe – which can be found moored up near Lymm Youth and Community Centre – in late 2019.

Olivia said: “I think it was just the fact they were doing something different.

“Veganism is definitely getting bigger and my mum is all about the healthy aspect of it as well.

“But it was also the fact we were on a boat as well was quite unusual and quirky.

“That’s what people are looking for now. When they’re going out to eat they want somewhere which is a bit more fun and a bit different.

“But we weren’t expecting it to be as popular as it was. It was nice to get all that kind of support.

“We posted about it on the vegan groups and boating groups on Facebook and they all really got behind us.

“My mum was so nervous as she’d never done anything like this before.

“But it just worked. She fit so well into the role. She’s very good at what she does and everyone has loved her food.

“The customers we have got have been so lovely as well. It was definitely daunting at first and reopening will be daunting too but we’ve been amazed how kind everyone has been.”

DAVID MORGAN