If you’re thinking of starting up a business, you could do no worse than open a pushchair shop in Bishopston. Sitting in Lashings on the Gloucester Road with my friend Marc on Friday afternoon, not a minute went by without a pushchair being wheeled past. And if they weren’t being wheeled past the cafe, they were being wheeled in.
Fortunately, Lashings – which celebrated its first birthday this weekend – is spacious enough to fit in plenty of mothers, fathers, babies and pushchairs. It is much bigger inside than its older brother on Broad Quay in the centre, and just as popular.
In particularly cold weather, the front windows sometime steam up so you can’t actually see in. When you can see through the windows, it’s a perfect place to see and be seen. My friend Richard ran past on Friday, and on a previous visit I was spotted and joined by Marc’s wife Anna, just beginning to show a baby bump and soon to be joining Bishopston’s pushchaired masses.
Simple things please me about Lashings. There’s an umbrella and coat stand by the door, and a ‘tuck jar’ on the counter, fiendishly positioned to tempt you with the chocolatey delights contained within. Alongside the coffee, Tea Pigs teas and smoothies, there are also chocolate bar shakes. Try the Ferrerro Rocher or Mint Matchmaker.
You don’t have to own a baby or a pushchair to visit Lashings, but it helps.
Lashings, 260 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol. 0117 329 4252.
