Two lifelong friends spent two months turning their vision of a "proper Scouse café" into reality. Craig Morris and Ste Taylor, both 45 and from Crosby, are behind Calm Ya Baps on Rumford Street in Liverpool city centre. Their sole mission is to give people a "spot on" breakfast or lunch without ripping them off in the process.
From idea to opening in two months
The pair have been mates since they could walk; tied at the hip through school, college and adulthood. Craig oversees Loui's Bar (formerly the L9 Lounge) on Moss Lane in Orrel Park, while Ste has his hands full with own business, Ascot Design Consultancy.
Craig told the ECHO: "Ste works with a fellow who owns the building. He sent me a message and asked if I wanted to open a café, as in by myself. I asked the same question back and he replied 'Yeah, I'll open it with you. That was it."
A proper Scouse café with a classic menu
The brief business pitch was accepted by both parties and they went from concept to fruition in fewer than two months. When asked what experience he boasted to warrant opening a café, Craig laughed: "None, which is why I don't work here!"
"The premises was already a café, and my cousin who works here has run a café before, so we just thought we'd keep it the same. We thought we'd do it a bit more Scouse and it has taken off."
Craig, who is a joiner by trade, added: "We talked about it in December, worked all through January and opened in February. I was building everything - he couldn't put a picture up - but then we both got in and he was doing everything else from cleaning and painting. We just kept going from there."
Destination dining without the rip-off prices
Despite a city centre location, the building is eclipsed by Water Street and Chapel Street, meaning Calm Ya Baps is more of a destination than accidental discovery.
Craig said: "Even now, people don't know we're here. Those streets are chocker but for some reason it doesn't always work here. You've got to work harder to get noticed. You have to rely on the offices. We opened Saturdays for the match but then people didn't know that. It's slowly getting there."
Calm Ya Baps opted for classic greasy spoon environment that you'd see populated by tradesmen rather than focusing on Instagram backdrops and matcha smoothies. The menu includes fry-ups, breakfast staples and butties - a proper old school café menu, by Craig's admission.
He added: "You've got all your posh and pompous stuff in town where you're going to walk out with an £8 cup of tea or coffee. that's not what we do. We wanted this to be cheaper and different. You don't have to rip people off to make a wage."
Struggling to put his finger on just one example of what makes the café so special, Craig said: "It's just a proper Scouse café. I can't explain it. A lot of customers come and say 'I'm so glad I found here because I just wanted to sit in a normal cafe'."
"They eat here and think where has this place been because we use normal bread like tiger bread. It's spot on. It is."
