The Pear Tree Cafe still going strong on the edge of the town centre

With a former cafe premises left empty on Corporation Street back in 2016, Marie Leahey decided to change tracks from her career in the care sector and take a leap of faith to launch the Pear Tree Cafe.

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Inside the community friendly cafe (Image: Marie Leahey)

While other businesses that opened at a similar time have fallen by the wayside, the Pear Tree is still going strong it is a cafe committed to putting customers first and has raised its prices just once over the past seven years.

Even this was a difficult decision for mum-of-three Marie, but it is a commitment that has kept a loyal customer base while also enticing new customers to come in and return.

Marie and her husband Pete with Jamie and Amanda Holden at last year's Britain's Got Talent finals (Image: Marie Leahey)

Marie, who is the mum of Britain's Got Talent star Jamie Leahey, said: "We have raised our prices just once over the seven years, during Covid, and I didn't really want to do that, to be honest. 

"But it was a needs must and people understand as everyone's in the same boat, and we still get a lot of regulars that keep us going.

"It's quite nice because it really does feel like a community cafe here, because we also get people coming in on their own for a homemade meal or to chat with us or the other customers.

"We've been here for seven years now and we're still getting new customers who didn't know we've been here, so it's really nice when you see these new customers coming back in."

The Pear Tree is well known for its homemade food and low prices (Image: Marie Leahey)

While customers return for the Pear Tree's warm atmosphere, hearty breakfasts, and affordable soups and sandwiches, Marie and the team have noticed changing patterns since the pandemic and cost of living crisis.

Unfortunately, the pandemic resulted in some of the cafe's older customers passing away or coming in a lot less frequently, while the cost of living crisis has seen an increase in quiet and uncertain patterns throughout the month. 

The cafe has become a real community hub over the past 7 years (Image: Marie Leahey)

And although it remains to be seen if the ongoing cost of living crisis will force the cafe to raise its prices once more, Marie is adamant that their customers, homemade meals, and low prices will continue to be at the heart of the Pear Tree Cafe.