Couple ‘overwhelmed’ by support after opening new café in Great Sankey

Chloe Shankland, who is originally from the Lake District, moved to Great Sankey with her partner Jon Strange 10 years ago.

It was while on a walk through the village last year that the couple spotted a shop for sale on Huntley Street.

“We saw it before I ended up giving birth to our son, Edison,” said Chloe.

“I’ve always wanted to open a coffee shop, and I think Jon’s always humoured me and said, ‘one day we’ll move out to the countryside’.

“I looked at it and said, ‘oh my god Jon I think that we can do it here.”

After their son was born, the pair found that the property was still for sale and they decided to take the leap and buy it.

Chloe and Jon spent months renovating the property (Image: Supplied)

Chloe, 33, and Jon, 35, bought the shop and spent months renovating the ground floor into their own coffee shop, called Number 9.

Speaking to the Warrington Guardian during renovations, Chloe spoke of her passion to own and run her café.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, I’m really passionate about creating a nice space and serving lots of lovely food and nice coffee,” she said.

“I just love being around people, and especially since I’ve had Edison, I just want to be local and create space that people can come to.

“I feel like I’m hopefully going to have the best of all worlds in a job that I love, talking to people all day and be a part of our local community and bring people together.”

Now, renovations have finally completed, and the couple opened the café for the first time last Wednesday.

A before and after of the renovations (Image: Supplied)

“To be honest, we were kind of scared before opening,” she said.

“It was kind of so close to the line that I was only definitely sure we would open at 10 o’clock the night before.

“I didn’t want to post it everywhere or go overboard [with the opening] in case something went wrong.”

Despite Chloe’s last-minute worries, the couple have been rushed off their feet with new customers.

“It’s been great, it’s been really busy – much busier than I expected,” said Chloe.

“We’ve had loads of really lovely reviews and messages of support. It couldn’t have really gone any better to be honest.

“We opened on the Wednesday and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday was just absolutely bonkers. It was just so busy every day.

“On the weekend we were turning people away because we were full, it was just crazy.”

It seems that Chloe’s dream becoming a reality might take a little while to sink in, as she admits that the first week has felt ‘surreal’.

Number 9 has proved so popular that people had to be turned away over the weekend (Image: Supplied)

“When I go down and go in there, I don’t really feel like it’s ours, it’s all just surreal,” she said.

“It’s been so busy there hasn’t really been a minute to think about it or let it all settle in so maybe it will just feel surreal forever.”

So far, the most popular menu on the item has been the Number 9 breakfast, which includes meat from a butchery in Penketh, homemade hash browns and tomato jam.

“That has just gone down an absolute treat really,” said Chloe.

“People have commented on the homemade element and the local produce that we’re using, so I think that’s probably been our most popular dish so far.”

Chloe can’t thank the customers they’ve had so far enough, as many have helped spread the word.

“It really is overwhelmed that so many local people have come in, taken the time to give feedback, leave a message or review,” she said.

“It’s so helpful as we start out in terms of letting other people know that we’re there and what we offer, it really has been overwhelming the amount of time people have taken to support us.”