Sherwood’s new café, In-between, has been open for just under two weeks and the response has been “overwhelmingly positive”.
Co-owners Haya Fakoush and Zeina Haoula opened the Syrian Lebanese, 12-seater café along Mansfield road on Sunday November 16.
Although sandwiched between The Crafty Teller and the Robin Hood pub, the name in-between stems from the owners’ connections to their heritage whilst living in England.
Co-owner Haya said: “Me and my friend opened this café together. I’m Syrian, she’s Lebanese but we left home and we’ve lived in this country for so long. So we’ve always felt like we are in between. We want to keep our culture, but we also embrace this culture and we love being here.
“We are very similar in culture and food and everything. We will have things from both cuisines.”
Since being open, Haya said: “We love the people and everyone was very supportive since we came. It’s beautiful.”
Sherwood is a small part of Nottingham rich with different cultures including French, Polish, Indian, Italian and now a blend of Syrian and Lebanese.
“On our first week people would just open the door to say welcome to the neighbourhood.”
HayA Fakoush
She added: “People are very supportive and welcoming. On our first week people would just open the door to say welcome to the neighbourhood. They tried everything that is new. They didn’t always go with the traditional thing that they knew which was nice. Our Syrian coffee, orathai, which is herbal tea from Damascus is very very popular.”
When walking into the newly opened business, the tables were already full of people, Phil Rostron, Vivienne Scarff, and their dog Stanley being some of them.
Vivienne said: “I saw it on social media and this is our first time visiting.”
It’s really nice, it’s a welcome addition to Sherwood. There’s no brand names which is nice.”
Sherwood is known for having a lot of independent shops and the locals seem to value supporting small businesses over corporations.
In-between offers a range of coffees, teas, pastries and cakes all inspired by the co-owners’ heritage from their home countries.
Haya added: “We’re very happy to be here in Sherwood and I think we’re very very lucky to start our own place in here. We couldn’t have asked for a better location. I think the best decision since we opened is being here in Sherwood.”
