New coffee shop set to open along Weymouth Harbour

By The Quay is a new ‘Dorset focused’ café which has taken over the premises of a former Mexican restaurant on Trinity Street and is set to open on Friday, March 1.

Owner Jon Parr, 54, is hoping to create at least four jobs within the next year and has already employed Mercy Whiteside, 22, as the barista manager and she has been working very closely with him to get the coffee shop up and running.

The pair formed a business partnership around six months ago and were trying to find the perfect location for the new venture, with Mercy adding ‘then this place just fell out of the sky.’

By The Quay store front plan (Image: By The Quay)

Portlander Mercy was originally working on the isle at the Drop In, which helps young people, and then this new opportunity ‘just fell into her lap.’

Jon said: “As soon as we saw it, we thought that the location was fantastic and that it was offering something that is not already on the south harbourside – there isn’t a coffee shop along here.”

He explained that everything is going to be Dorset focused and that the duo spent ‘quite a long time’ meeting up with Dorset coffee roasters before partnering up with one called Grounded Coffee, which is based in Poole.

The former colours of the premises (Image: By The Quay)The café will be offering coffee, which is freshly roasted every week, with locally sourced milk, artisan bakes from Bees Knees Bakes which is based on Portland and the pair have also met with a number of bakeries in the area with plans to sell bakery items.

The team is currently making the finishing touches to the venue before they prepare to welcome customers.

Mercy said: “We pulled in so many people from the local community to help with renovations including painters and sign writers.”

Jon added: “It’s also been us downstairs covered in paint and sawdust and a lot of people have been walking by and popping their heads in – there’s been a lot of interest with people excited.”

By The Quay store front currently (Image: By The Quay)

In terms of the current economic climate and cost of living crisis, Mercy said: “It’s something that’s definitely on our minds – we are prepped and planned for everything that we’re doing and when it comes to the locals, we are not somewhere that’s going to pop up and charge an extortionate amount for food and drink.”

A key part of the cafes ethos is to give back to the community.

Mercy said: “We want to be very community focused as well, we want to make sure that people have a place to be and that we are able to give back to the community with things like job opportunities.”

Jon is currently living in Yeovil and commutes to Weymouth from there, but he has plans to relocate closer to Weymouth alongside his wife, kids and dogs in the near future.

He explained that Weymouth was the perfect location because he has in-laws in the area and also ‘around 20 years ago they as a family started coming to the south side of the harbour, sitting on the side crabbing.’

He said: “We have known Weymouth for a long time and all the stars aligned.”

To see more, visit By the Quay's Facebook page.