01/05/2025
📣 UPDATE TO OUR EARLIER POST 📣
We want to take a moment to say a heartfelt thank you for all the kind comments and messages of support we’ve received following our recent post regarding the seating at St Peter’s churchyard. Your words have meant the world to us. If you know us personally you know we are very private people we don’t like to “air our dirty laundry on social media” however we have no choice but to actively and publicly show that we are trying to advise our customers not to use the seating in the churchyard to prevent further confrontation and conflict.
Rather than reply to every comment individually, we’re posting this update to help answer some of your questions and offer a little more clarity on the situation.
We are a small, independent business run by two sisters. This business is not just our passion—it’s our livelihood. We know that life is hard for everyone right now. Running a small business in today’s climate is extremely challenging too, and situations like this make it even harder.
For clarity, the church has told us they do not want to share the space with us because they have their own café. In our opinion our customer bases are very different and we don’t feel that sharing the space would impact either of our trade negatively, but actually compliment it and also encourage more people to venture into St Peters and support the various attractions and projects that are on offer in there. As well as supporting and promoting sandwich as a place for tourists to visit and show our sense of community spirit in town. In response, to their objection to sharing the space we offered to purchase additional seating at our own cost so that everyone—including customers of their café, ours, and others in town—could enjoy the gardens together as they always have. We also offered to contribute towards the upkeep of the gardens through a regular financial donation to contribute to the upkeep of the church and gardens and even volunteered to help keep the area clean and tidy. We explained that using crockery instead of takeaway cups would be better for the environment and would help to keep the area cleaner and free from litter too. These offers were sadly ignored.
Unfortunately, there have been two separate incidents where our staff have been confronted over our customers using the seating in the churchyard. These interactions have caused distress to our staff and have made our team feel unsafe in their workplace. Despite our requests that any concerns be addressed directly with us as business owners, and our contact details shared this has not happened and our staff continue to be confronted.
The main complaint from the church appears to be that we are not making it clear to customers that takeaway food and drinks from our café are not permitted on the church’s seating. We have taken steps to address this, including verbally informing customers at the point of sale, posting clear notices in both of our shops, and now sharing this message here on our social media.
We are doing everything we can to avoid further conflict and to protect our staff, who have always treated everyone with respect and kindness. As employers, we have a duty to ensure our team feels safe and supported at work—and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.
Thank you again for your continued support, compassion, and understanding.
With gratitude,
The Teams at The Independent Pig (Goats That Dance) & The Sandwich Bakery Company
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📣 An Important Message to Our Customers regarding the churchyard and seating at St Peter’s 🪑☕️
We’re deeply saddened to share that, despite our best efforts, to work collaboratively our relationship with St Peter’s has become increasingly difficult. We have genuinely tried to work collaboratively, even offering to purchase additional seating for the churchyard (at our full expense) so that customers from both St Peter’s café and our businesses and any other businesses in town could enjoy the space and beautiful gardens together as they always have done.
Unfortunately, St Peter’s church has made it clear they do not wish to work with us. As a result, there have been multiple upsetting incidents where our staff have been subject to heated rants and quite frankly not very nice verbal exchanges over the use of seating in the churchyard.
We want to make it clear: to avoid this conflict, we are actively advising you our customers please not to use the church’s seating. However, we understand that once our customers leave our premises, we cannot control where you choose to sit with your takeaway coffee. When you do use the churchyard seating, it often leads to confrontations and verbal aggression directed at our staff — which is completely unacceptable.
Our team, like everyone else, deserves to work in an environment free from hostility and harassment. We’re here to serve you food, drinks, and good experiences. Please help us do that by respecting the situation and being mindful of where you sit with your takeaway.
We are so grateful for your continued support and understanding.
With thanks,
The Teams at The Independent Pig (Goats That Dance) & The Sandwich Bakery Company 🩷 ☕️ 🐷 🐐 🍞 🍰
