The Hawtree brothers, who run Riverside Garage on the A30 in West Stour, near Gillingham, have plans to become Dorset’s answer to petrol heads’ eateries the Ace Café, and Caffeine & Machine.
In a third phase of development, Paul, Seb and Tom are scoping out a cafe to introduce at the Murco/Spar forecourt, from where they hope to host car event and biker regular meets.
They are all motoring enthusiasts themselves with an impressive classic car collection between them and their father Graham, who originally set up the business with his wife and their mother Mary.
“We hope to have a slightly toned down version of the Ace Café on the North Circular Road in London, and Caffeine & Machine in Stratford-upon-Avon, where they have cars and car memorabilia on display,” says Seb. “We love our cars and love to learn and chat about them.
“Two of us have an older Porsche 911 each,” says Seb. “And we would love to host car events and biker meet-ups.”
The family is hopeful of opening the café in the next couple of years. It has already given an indication of its passion for cars with its recently added jet wash bay having a Formula 1 theme, featuring racing flag artwork and The Paddock name on its header board.
The jet wash bays were part of phase two of a development of the site which became the biggest independent Spar in the South West when it re-opened with a 4,000sq ft store in 2022 after a £1.5 million investment in the site.
At that time a small 50-cover cafe was demolished as part of the redevelopment. Hawtree says that while the cafe planning is still at “very early stages” it will be a new puprose-built facility, and will follow a full feasability study.
