The owner of a Lichfield cafe says she is “devastated” after deciding to close the business.
Boomers, on Breadmarket Street, opened in 2020, offering a vintage 1940s and 1960s experience.
But owner Sue Pettitt had previously spoken of the impact scaffolding erected on the neighbouring Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum had been having on trade.
She told Lichfield Live the decision had now been taken to shut the business.
“The loss of trade was just too much and I couldn’t in all consciousness ask staff to work another month as the possibilities are I won’t take enough to pay them.
“I am absolutely devasted. This was my dream and my life. It has been destroyed with zero consideration.
Sue Pettitt, Boomers
Sue said a meeting was scheduled to take place with Lichfield City Council on 16th September in a bid to ensure lessons were learned from the impact of the work on the museum.
Lichfield City Council said the repair work on the museum had taken longer than initially anticipated due to previously unidentified structural issues.
They added that discussions had taken place with Boomers which had resulted in additional signage.
“Progress updates are being provided at regular intervals, and contractors have made every reasonable effort to minimise inconvenience and reduce the impact of the works on neighbouring businesses.
“This does, however, have to be balanced against any potential delays that would result in the scaffolding being present for longer than is absolutely necessary.
“The council has every sympathy with nearby businesses and is working with specialist advisers and contractors to ensure the required work to protect this building, its visitors and passing pedestrians, is completed as soon as possible.”
Lichfield City Council spokesperson
That’s a shame, after reading all the posts here about how nice it was I was going to pop in this weekend! It’s very sad that businesses like these are needing to close, but there is so much competition in that particular sector in Lichfield.
Sue the incompetent council.
Trouble is the food festival was great last weekend and very well attended but it killed the permanent cafes and food outlets (apart from Greggs but I guess a certain demographic will always go there). Looking inside various establishments the tables were empty. Got to love the public sector their idea of urgency is the 16th of September! What a shame for this business.
Using the car park behind B and M worked well. Imagine what could be achieved if this car park was turned into a permanent landscaped civic square for events. With an open route from the market square to the Minster Pool.
Her mistake was to theme it from the 1940s to 1960s. Lichfield council has never cared about anything that has happened since the 18th century.
While I sympathise with the owner of Boomers it’s a little far-fetched to blame the scaffolding next door for its failure; the market for cafes in Lichfield is absolutely saturated and many cafes have failed in the city over the years. I have walked past the museum on many occasions since the scaffolding went up and you can hardly fail to notice the large and prominent sign informing people that Boomers is open and directing people to its entrance – and, as you can see from the photo, the scaffolding doesn’t obstruct the entrance to the cafe. As for the scaffolding, it’s not the most attractive thing in the world but I’m sure everyone can appreciate the importance of ensuring that essential structural repairs are made to an important grade 1 listed building (can you imagine the moaning about the council on here if chunks of the building started falling on passersby?)
I too think the Lichfield Food Festival is a bad thing for local business. I’d love to see some data on the turnover for local businesses during the food festival. I’d love to be able to believe they takings increased but, I doubt it somehow.
The council should be nurturing local businesses, not injecting yet more competition from temporary events, which serve to clog up the city centre.
While I sympathise with the owner it is disingenuous to blame the failure of her business solely on the scaffolding. As someone who has eaten there along with my partner and toddler (in a pushchair) I can state that it isn’t that customer friendly. There is little room for families with prams and the toilets are upstairs, not very user friendly for the demographic that may be interested in the 1940s! It was ok but I wouldn’t be returning as a customer even if there were no scaffolding.
Is it more likely that Lichfield has finally reached saturation point for cafes? When I walked past it was very obviously still open, and the council had allowed them to put advertising on the fencing, I’d say making it more noticeable than before.
I didn’t ever go in when it was open because the name was awful, the decor looked bland, and there are plenty of other great cafes in town.
Maybe now the premises will be used for something other than yet another cafe aimed at Lichfield’s older residents. A good second hand bookshop? A craft shop?
So sorry to see Boomers is closing. Yes, there are too many coffee units in town but it was different. We loved their food and you did feel welcome there – not all units treat you that way.
Good luck if you try elsewhere
Sorry to hear this Business is closing.
It is not the first and will not be the last.
We are drowning in Coffee Shops and Eateries in Lichfield,
During the present economic crisis I personally think People are economizing on just how they spend there money. Eating out is off my list. … I do however think the refurb of Dr Johnson House has affected this business…I wish the owner Good Luck for the future. The whole of the surrounding area is a total Mess.
Dave, when you say “many cafes have failed”, how many can you name? I can only think of one – and not all closures are due to failure.
I’d only had lunch their once but found it good value for money compared to some of the other competitors in the area – only thing that put me off going back was the constant themes loud music which would eliminate much of the younger demographic from going in at a stroke. I’m sure the business could have continued with some minor changes.
Whilst I sympathise with the owner of Boomers, I, along with 5 friends, visited the Coffee Shop next door last Thursday morning.
It was very busy.
As part of a business both slightly away from the main drag and with many stalls in direct competition, we saw only the slightest drop in takings over the food festival weekend but an actual increase in customer numbers. Add in Monday and we were actually well above our normal takings for a Sat-Sun-Mon period, which we feel was directly due to the increased trade brought in by the food festival.
I’ve heard good things about the food, but on a personal level nothing about the place enticed me to visit, and it never looked particularly busy. I don’t doubt that the building works have had a negative effect for the cafe but it seems like it was a very light straw breaking the camels back, and would have happened sooner or later anyway with the current economic climate. It’s unfortunate, but as many of the food festival stalls showed by seeming like someone’s lockdown hobby taken too far, you have to have a really engaging and original product to maintain a customer base nowadays.
What a shame, I was going for lunch there next week with friends. I loved the cafe, great food, atmosphere, and friendly staff. It must be devastating for the owner, who had put so much effort into her business in order to make it successful. I hope you can move ” Boomers” and start again, somewhere you will be appreciated.
is that why they weren’t open on Monday when there were thousands of people in town for the food festival?
vee is evidence that cafes can do well in things like food festival that bring thousands more people than usual. if your business doesn’t use that its your fault
the scaffolding is recent so it can’t be the reason this business has failed especially when the cafe next door was booming like bea saw
people love to blame the council for everything but this is not their fault. own your failure and learn from it
Unfortunately for this food outlet, there is an evident trend in people reducing their use of eateries, with Covid being one of the catalysts.
We haven’t helped to mitigate this trend, by not having patronised pubs or restaurants since February 2020. We tended to do other things, and the pattern has just continued.
Anyone who reads the newspapers or watches TV news will know that food and drink outlets around the whole country are starting to close because of the government’s refusal to say it will tackle the huge rises in energy costs due to hit us – and already hitting businesses, especially small businesses. They have no protection from a price cap at all. I’m sorry to be a doom monger but this is just the first signs of a disaster that will be felt everywhere in the UK – except, of course, among the well-heeled.
I do not feel you can blame the ongoing works there are to many cafes in lichfield as it is and people are not spending the money like they used to have everyone has to budget more to pay there bills
I loved boomers and am sad its closed.
The thing is, I couldnt afford to go to boomers for a quick bite. I always saw it as a restaurant treat. The food does taste great. I love the theme (I’m a big fan of anything 1940s).
The toilets are at the very top floor, and are only accessible via a winding staircase. Lichfield itself is too saturated with cafes and restaurants.
I am looking forward to attending this meeting where both owners ask questions of the City Council. The two questions I will personally be asking (and I do hope the powers that be from LCC are there)
1. How much notice was given to businesses before scaffolding was put up?
2. Why is there insufficient mesh up on the Market St side – I felt like it was snowing on me last week?
Oh and question 3 Why did you hide behind your desks and personally speak to the businesses before all of these shenanigans started – Not very professional
Get your thinking caps on LCC for suitable responses!
Am I able to ask questions about the market at this meeting too please?
I feel very sorry for Boomers. I myself have been there and was quite impressed with the food, it felt like walking back into 1960 with the vinyl records and the decor especially upstairs. Downstairs seems a little cosier which is more to my taste. I cannot understand why LDC decided to do this work at the start of the summer when we get a lot of tourists and in our festival season. As usual you don’t see hardly any workman just big ugly scaffolding.
A great shame and one that I’m sure could have been avoided. I have eaten at Boomers a few times and the food was fantastic. A great loss to Lichfield.
None of us have access to the books and so are probably not in a position to comment on whether or not the scaffolding works affected the business. Only the owner knows if this is the case. However, it is a changing economic climate and with people tightening their belts and no end of choice in Lichfield for eating out, I would make the assumption that there are actually other factors involved in the business closing. However, if it is merely the scaffolding causing the closure, and the owner believes they have a unique business idea/niche, then there is no reason she couldn’t set up elsewhere. The faithful will still visit and she may find cheaper rent in another part of the city.
Could the Tempest Ford land be developed into a temporary park area with seating where visitors to Lichfield could be greeted by a pleasant area instead of hoardings?
@Anne, A number of residents have made this sugestion, until the country comes to some stabilty, because at the moment all our Council can think about using the land for is MORE housing, my opinion is that it is not the right place for housing but, consider it the right central place for a Liesure Centre and at one time the Council even said that the Council Offices were too big for what they are used for and preposed incoporating the land into the Birmingham Road development (Friarsgate ), again its all gone very quite on what the Council are preposing
If this was a America the owner would be suing the council and would win!