Vacant Coffee Shop, West Church Street, Buckie, Moray

This attractive and well-presented ground-floor trading unit occupies a prominent town-centre position in the popular coastal town of Buckie. An extensive glazed frontage provides excellent visibility, natural light and strong signage opportunities.

Established as Le Café Coull in 2011, the premises are fitted out to a modern standard, with attractive décor and a spacious customer area providing seating for approximately 54 covers. A well-equipped service and preparation area supports a varied food offering and is ideally configured for an efficient café operation.

The business is currently closed due to the owner’s personal circumstances; however, the premises and equipment remain in place, allowing trading to recommence with minimal delay.

Offered as a turnkey opportunity, the café is ideally suited to hands-on owner-operators or purchasers looking to introduce and develop their own brand and concept. Its prominent location, established café layout and generous trading space also provide scope for alternative commercial uses, subject to any necessary consents.

TRADE
Le Café Coull was an established and highly regarded café business which successfully traded from this prominent Buckie location from 2011 until its recent closure.

During its years of operation, the café built up an excellent local reputation and a loyal customer base, attracting both residents and visitors to the area.

The business traded year-round and, prior to closure, operated seven days a week, offering a popular selection of breakfasts, lunches, daily specials, freshly baked goods and takeaway options. Historically, the café enjoyed strong and consistent levels of trade and generated an attractive turnover and profitable return.

The café has now ceased trading due to the owner’s personal circumstances; however, there remains a strong appetite locally to see the premises reopen as a café.

With the equipment, kitchen and customer facilities already in place, an incoming owner or tenant has the opportunity to recommence trading without the significant fit-out costs normally associated with establishing a new hospitality business.

The premises offer excellent scope for a new operator to introduce their own brand and menu while benefiting from the location’s established history as a successful café.

Further potential could be realised through extended opening hours, evening dining, takeaway and delivery services, providing an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic hands-on operator.

REASON FOR SALE
The business is being offered to the market due to the current owner’s retirement.

LOCATION
The traditional fishing town of Buckie dates back to the 1400s and sits on the edge of a historical harbour. Featuring attractive sandy beaches and rock pools, the village offers an ideal base to explore the North East of Scotland either by car or on foot along the coastal walk or nearby Speyside Way.

Ideally situated close to the A98, both Inverness and Aberdeen can be accessed in about an hour and a half’s drive, there is ample rail and bus links. Other towns and centres located close by include Banff, Fochabers, Elgin as well as also being a short drive from world-class fishing on the River Spey, superb golf courses and the Whisky Trail with several well-known brands and world class whisky distilleries located close by. Buckie has grown in recent years with significant house building on the outskirts.

Both primary and secondary schooling is available as well as a busy High Street offering a variety of shops, pubs and restaurants. Ornithologists and naturalists are not short of interests here including bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth, the scenic north east coast has always been a popular tourist destination whether as a convenient base to explore numerous distilleries or to visit archaeological sites and historic castles.

THE PROPERTY
The property is traditionally constructed in stone under a pitched slate roof and comprises an attractive ground-floor trading unit in a prominent High Street location.

To the rear is an area of shared ground, with convenient access to the premises via a delivery door. An external shed provides useful additional storage and was previously used for overspill dry goods.

On-street parking is available directly outside the property, with ample public car parking located just a couple of minutes’ walk away.

PUBLIC AREAS
The café benefits from an attractive fully glazed frontage, providing excellent visibility and signage opportunities, with customer access directly from the High Street through a glazed entrance door. Internally, the bright and welcoming customer area is attractively presented and arranged with a combination of freestanding wooden tables and chairs together with comfortable bench seating, providing approximately 54 covers.

To the rear of the main seating area is a well-appointed service counter incorporating a glazed servery, together with a range of refrigerated display and service cabinets.

The counter area is equipped with a bean-to-cup coffee machine, hot water boiler and EPOS till system.

Customer facilities include well-presented ladies’, gents’ and accessible washrooms, together with baby-changing facilities and Dyson hand dryers.

The public areas are finished to a high standard throughout, creating a modern and inviting trading environment. With the principal fixtures, fittings and equipment already in place, the premises provide an excellent opportunity for a new operator to recommence trading with minimal initial capital expenditure.

SERVICE AREAS
The commercial kitchen is conveniently positioned to the rear of the service counter, providing an efficient layout for food preparation and service. The kitchen is well appointed and fitted with stainless-steel work surfaces, together with a comprehensive range of commercial catering equipment.

Equipment includes a commercial gas cooker, double fryer, double panini grill, two soup kettles, refrigerated preparation workstation with under-counter storage, two commercial microwaves, two large refrigerators and two large freezers. A dedicated pot-wash area with commercial dishwasher provides additional operational convenience.

There is ample storage throughout the kitchen and service areas, supplemented by a large store cupboard located adjacent to the washrooms. Overall, the service areas are well configured and equipped to support a busy café operation.


SERVICES
The business benefits from mains gas, electricity, water and drainage. The café has gas central heating. The property was renovated in 2011 when it was fully rewired, with upgrades including a new boiler in 2017. The property is fire safety and EHO compliant.