AN INDEPENDENT Kendal café and eatery has diversified so successfully that it has experienced 'unprecedented' levels of custom during the coronavirus pandemic.

Joey's Café, at Castle Mills, remained open when most other places shut down, ramping up its hygiene and social distancing measures.

Joe Beaumont, owner of the café, whose menu includes smoothies, coffee, salads and pizza, said: "It was a very scary time. Everyone was shutting.

"I had this view - we are a takeaway anyway. We only had nine or 10 seats anyway.

"The government ruling was to allow takeaways to keep going.

"We removed all the seats, all the tables from the café (and) put a bar in front of the counter - blocked it off."

The decision to adapt and stay open while other places closed seems to have paid off, with Mr Beaumont, 42, describing levels of business since lockdown as 'unprecedented' - to the extent that he has extended the café's opening hours to seven days a week and doubled the size of his workforce.

Mr Beaumont stressed it was not simply a case of benefitting from being one of the few places to stay open during the pandemic, however, saying he had actively adapted elements of the business to meet the challenges of the pandemic.

Naturally, there has been a greater focus on takeaway food, with the café now offering pizza during the daytime as well as during the evenings.

There has also been more emphasis placed on pies and pasties - something which Mr Beaumont jokingly calls the 'Greggories' option in the temporary absence of popular bakery chain Greggs, which has two branches in Kendal.

A 'pay forward' scheme has been introduced, which Mr Beaumont hopes to continue after the pandemic. Customers are able to 'donate' money to the café which is then used to provide meals for people such as NHS workers. People who have kindly contributed to the scheme at the café include one man who donated the £300 he had saved on fuel during the pandemic.

A delivery van sporting the Joey's Café logo was also taking meals to people's homes for a time, although this has now been phased out as lockdown eases.

"We haven't stopped," said Mr Beaumont. "All we did was adapt to it.

"It's the best thing I could have done. I'm really pleased with my direction, pleased with my staff.

"I'm really happy that the customers we get are just appreciative of what we do and why we do it."