As soon as the Botley Road was closed for railway repairs, Joe Devlin who runs Pickle & Lime greengrocers READ ABOUT IT HERE noticed an immediate difference, footfall just disappearing.
Having been running a business on Botley Road for the past 40 years, taking it over from his mother before him, he says times have never been harder than they are right now.
Having to take drastic action, he closed the greengrocers for good yesterday to enable a rapid transformation to turn it into a cafe and deli to revise their fortunes.
Until the road closure Pickle & Lime had been doing a roaring trade, but the the little takeaway at the back of the shop has kept them afloat, so it makes sense to concentrate instead on that side of the business.
Joe is pragmatic about the decision, although very saddened by the current situation. “It’s a vicious circle ,” he tells us, “because the ongoing work on the railway bridge doesn’t have a finishing date and we can’t hang on any more.
‘We were doing so well as a greengrocers with regular customers coming from Oxford, Jericho and Summertown but it’s too far for them to come now and we understand that’
“We were doing so well as a greengrocers before that, with regular customers coming from Oxford, Jericho and Summertown to buy our produce because you couldn’t get it anywhere else, but it’s too far for them to come now so they go elsewhere, which I can understand but it has decimated our business,” he says sadly.
“I was still getting up early to go to Covent Garden to get the produce, but we had to throw so much of it away and it just wasn’t sustainable. We hung on and hung on, thinking it would be OK, but it’s not.”
But instead of folding, he and his partner Teresa have decided to reinvent Pickle & Lime as a cafe and deli, opening on Monday September 23: “The deli has kept us afloat over the past few months thanks to everyone who works on Osney Mead,” he says, a regular stream of customers coming in and heading for the sandwich and coffee counter at the back while we speak.
“They are all people who live or work here and they are now our bread and butter so we are keen to focus on that instead.
“We had to let all the staff go and work six days a week on our own and it’s just too much”
“So yes it’s been difficult, but we got through Covid, and even Waitrose and Aldi opening up on Botley Road, but this has been something else. We had to let all the staff go and work six days a week on our own and it’s just too much,” he adds.
Not one to feel sorry for himself, Joe and Teresa have shut up shop and will reopen in a weeks time as a cafe and deli. “It’s time to do something else here so we will install seats and a window bench and tables outside and turn Pickle & Lime into a cafe, deli and takeaway instead,” he says.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever get Pickle & Lime back to its heyday, but we want people to know we are here and to come in for a coffee or a panini.
‘I don’t know if we’ll ever get Pickle & Lime back to its heyday, but we want people to know we are here and to come in for a coffee or a panini’
“So yes I’m angry, but we could see it coming pretty much as soon as the road closed. Besides we have been through hard times before and come out the other side, and we are confident that the cafe and deli concept will work. We haven’t given up yet,” he smiles.
“So come and see our new venture when we are open. It’s just an extension of what’s already here and we hope Pickle & Lime can still have a happy ending.”
Pickle & Lime is at 67 Botley Rd, Oxford OX2 0BS.
