Couple take pride in new Alnwick cafe.

ANEW cafe with gallery and gift shop has just opened on a prime site in Alnwick. Black Olive Cafe on Bailiffgate offers simple homemade food with the tagline "food that's a little bit different".

It's run by David and Tina Hogg who started the company four years ago from home, delivering sandwiches and deli food to local businesses.

After six months they'd grown so much they needed to find premises and moved to Lee Moor Business Park.

A six-week trial in a small, unused cafe proved a big success and before long they were providing buffets for private parties, funerals and promotional events for up to 150 people.

This led to a contract for the Brinkburn Music Festival, for which they've been catering over the last two years. Since then they've taken on one member of staff and a couple of casual workers.

"We've gone from a dark room with no windows in the back of a business park to a Grade II-listed building on a tree-lined avenue in a prime position in Alnwick," says David, who used to run a similar enterprise in Newcastle, while Tina is a former school administrator.

David adds: "It's a great location two doors down from the museum and 100m walk from the Alnwick Castle gates. Upstairs it has exposed sandstone walls and downstairs there's an open fire which will be great in winter.

"Many customers have followed us here. We've been really busy since we opened with lots of tourists and local people."

Visitors can enjoy a wide selection of homemade snacks, cakes and drinks including soups, quiches, sandwiches, paninis, savoury croissants and mezzaluna - a kind of half-moon grilled flatbread.

The cafe can also boast its very own Bailiffgate Banger with black olive, pork and Italian seasoning made specially by a local butcher. Another speciality is the deep-filled breakfast pie with bacon, sausage, eggs, mushrooms, black pudding and tomato.

Vegetarians are catered for too with dishes like red Leicester and potato pie, falafels and vegetarian pakoras with chilli sauce, red onions and tomatoes.

Although it isn't licensed for alcoholic drinks, there's a good selection of tea, coffees, lattes, hot chocolate and soft drinks.

Upstairs the gallery and gift shop sells a range of pictures and watercolours by local artists and photographers, as well as items like South African candles, ceramics, wrought iron candlesticks, pop art and a small display of wood carvings from Bali.

Black Olive Cafe is at 22 Bailiffgate, Alnwick, Northumberland, tel 01665 603673.

It's open Monday to Saturday 9.30am-4.30pm (4pm on Fridays) and Sunday 10am-4pm.

CAPTION(S):

TASTY The Black Olive Cafe is proving to be very popular for owners David and Tina Hogg

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Title Annotation:	Features
Publication:	The Journal (Newcastle, England)
Date:	Jun 3, 2011
Words:	446
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Topics:	Restaurants