Beeches of Walkey: Sheffield farm shop and deli future secured after new owners take over

Beeches of Walkley was under threat of closure, as previous owners Chris and Donna Beech looked to leave the venue they had been running on South Road, Walkley, to concentrate on their butchers shop in Ranmoor.

But today the Walkley business is up and running under new bosses Sirfraz Hassan and Dula Bibi, after the couple took over just a few days before the date it was feared that it could close.

The couple have kept all aspects of the business, and also added items to the deli section – including onion bhajis, which Dula is well known for and has been producing and supplying for other businesses for years.

It means the Post Office counter, the farm shop and the deli are all continuing to run.

Dula and Sirfraz had previously run the Cliffe Deli takeaway in Attercliffe, but were keen to move into a bigger premises, and already needed a bigger kitchen for their successful bhaji business, which has seen production increase from 700 to 3,000 per week.

Dula said: “We hadn’t realised that they were selling Beeches until we made a delivery here the week before they were going to close the doors. We are finding our feet here, and we're getting there with a lot of support from our customers. We’ve worked in shops before, but it’s different running it.”

Chris and Donna worked with them for the first couple of weeks to help show them the ropes.

There are no immediate plans to make changes to the businesses, and the name Beeches of Walkley is to remain for the time being, although it may change at some point in the future. No alternative had yet been proposed. There also may be more seating brought in at the deli section at some point in the future.

Previous owner Chris Beech had said Sheffield City Council’s controversial ‘active travel zone’ in Crookes and Walkley, which involves roads being blocked off, had played a huge part in his decision to leave, as well as health issues and rising overheads.