New cafe set to open in Falkirk town centre as business expands

Laura and Martin Pickersgill, who already run Aran, a cafe in Linlithgow, are set to branch out and open a second cafe in Wooer Street in the coming weeks.

They will be opening their latest venture in the former premises of The Wooer in the town’s Wooer Street.

No date has been set for the opening yet, but the couple announced their plans to expand their business on social media this week.

Plans for the second outlet come less than 18 months since they opened Aran, which was a career change for the couple.

Laura explained: “We opened in Linlithgow in March 2021.

“Before that we both worked for RBS.

"I was made redundant just before the pandemic and my husband was made redundant shortly after.

"Running our own cafe was something we’d always wanted to do, so we thought we’d go for it.

"What better thing to do than open a cafe during a pandemic.

"It’s been really good and things have just grown from there.”

Laura said they feel the timing is right for their expansion into Falkirk town centre.

“We’re really enjoying what we’re doing and we were looking to branch out a bit further and spread our food far and wide.

"I’m from Falkirk and I used to go to the cafe, The Tolbooth Cafe, when I was a wee girl with my mum and gran.”

The couple have grand plans for their new premises, which will include a small play area for children similar to the one they have in their current cafe.

Laura said: “The cafe will be over two floors.

"The ground floor will be a normal cafe style setting and upstairs we’ll have a small area for kids with a toy kitchen and other things to keep them entertained to let mum and dad have a coffee in peace.

"Unfortunately we don’t have an opening date yet, but we’re aiming for the four week mark.

"It’s dependent on different things. We're waiting on planning for signage, we’re recruiting a head chef and we need to decorate.

"We’re really looking forward to it.

"We’re excited and other people seem to be excited too from the response we’ve had on Facebook to our announcement.

"We’ll be doing more of what we’re doing now.

"Everything is homemade as far as possible on the premises.

"It’s about using local products and suppliers and putting our own stamp on the food.”

Further down the line, the Aran team are also looking to expand further outwith their cafe premises.

"We are hoping at some point to branch into outside catering.

"We already do a little, we provide Redding and Westquarter Cricket Club with their cricket teas and we do cakes on request.

"But we’d like to do a little bit more in future.”

Aran’s new Falkirk premises were formerly home to The Wooer, a plant-based cafe bistro run by Gabriele and Michela Panozzo, which closed its doors last November.