Copyright walesonline
A cafe owner who lost her livelihood after a devastating fire tore through her business in March has described the difficult challenges the last seven months has brought, and how she and her partner are poised to kickstart the new year in more positive fashion. Lucy Sharp was awoken at 2.10am on Sunday, March 23, to be alerted to a fire which had taken hold at her café, Lucy's Best Bites. It was first spotted by a police officer who was passing the High Street, Gorseinon, Swansea , premises at 1.45am and saw smoke emerging from inside. He contacted the fire service who attended the scene before notifying the owner. Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here . Flames tore through the business , completely destroying everything inside. Nothing was salvageable, including charity memorabilia and collection buckets which were destroyed. Ms Sharp, who ran the business with her partner Mark Williams, said: "It's been a really up and down seven months - it's been difficult for us. "It has taken a while for things to be in a position for the landlord to begin to repair the building, with refurbishment beginning last week. "It has been challenging for me and my partner in the meantime finding ways to keep income coming in, as both of our incomes went overnight." Ms Sharp explained how whilst they have both taken on other work since, in the background they have been busy creating a commercial kitchen at home, where they plan to relaunch as a delivery service, aiming for January. They will sell the same sandwiches, sausage rolls and other items people knew and loved, and will also be bringing back its buffet service. Ms Sharp said: "We took the decision to rebuild at home and put a commercial kitchen into an extension at home. We are going to relaunch, hopefully, by January, and do what we did before, but as a delivery service only. "Since the fire happened, I have worked at Loughor Boating Club with chefs and learnt more things that I didn't know which I can take back to my business, so that has been a positive side of things. "We're looking forward to January, getting stuck in and getting things up and running again. We're hoping to start 2026 with a bang, really. "Everyone who we've told is really excited. We've been keeping it on the down low, but telling people that we have been working really hard behind the scenes to get things back up and running, and that we'll explain more when we can. "Who knows what the future might bring again, you don't know what opportunities might come up in the future once we've built ourselves up. "This is how we originally started - from home. I think going back to basics and going back where we started is the right decision to take it back to basics and rebuild."
