Cafe at the End of the Universe to open new Warrington gastropub

Café at the End of the Universe, based at Warrington Market since 2020, having started up in 2015, prides itself on using top-quality ingredients.

Now – thanks to its success and brilliant reputation in the town and beyond - it is to open a new American themed gastropub in the town.

Owner Andy Kinsella is crowdfunding to launch the venture, which will be known as The Eagle and Spaceman.

He said: “If you are from Warrington, I imagine you are familiar with us. If not here's our story.

“It began with a passion for everything geeky and a love of food. One day we decided to combine the two and Cafe at the End of the Universe was born.

“Originally, we invested in a van and started doing events and comic cons. We ended up doing a comic con in Warrington in 2016, and that's when we were convinced that the new market development would be a great place to continue our adventure.

“We opened our sister dessert business two years later, and in 2020 we moved into The Cookhouse in the brand new Warrington market.

“Highlights from the past five years include twice being finalists in the British takeaway awards and winning Warrington’s best independent business, best customer service and best burger.

“We have been looking for our next project for a while. We had two concepts we loved and it was just a matter of finding the right opportunity.

“So, introducing our new American inspired gastropub The Eagle and Spaceman. Think American pub food and bar snacks, combined with American beer and spirits.”

Café at the End of the Universe has announced its expansion plans

The aim of the crowdfunder is if people donate, they will be rewarded with something of equal value down the line, so if you give £20, you can get a £20 voucher to spend when the gastropub opens, for example.

“The whole point is this helps us with cashflow and gets us some money up front, which will be returned in the form of goods or services once we are open,” Andy continued.

“We are looking to raise 20,000. We costed everything out at about 60,000, so if we can raise 20,000 through crowdfunding, then we can get a third in the form of loans and a third in our own money

“The risk for the business is the same as any hospitality business at the moment.

“We know from our current businesses that even when we are very busy, it is difficult to make any money due to the high cost of everything.

“However, this business does offer us an opportunity to run a business without some of the large costs of our other business, and drink sales will hopefully make the difference too.

“The great thing about crowdfunder is, unlike other platforms, it is not all or nothing, so anything we can raise will help us out.

“Obviously we would love to hit the 20,000, but if we don't, we just have to borrow a little more, and the plan still goes ahead.

Sample menu items include meat lover pizza spring rolls, Philly cheesesteak sandwich and chicken fried steak.

The gastropub would also stock a range of American beers and whiskeys such as Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada and Blue Moon, as well as lots of smaller US breweries.

If you would like to help, visit crowdfunder.co.uk/p/eagleandspaceman