Sisters Suzanna Mawdsley and Katie Lingard have taken over Remedy cafe in Churchtown, Southport, a local staple that has been serving the village for years. The pair, who had worked for the previous owner for well over a decade, decided to buy the business when it went up for sale.
A natural step for lifelong hospitality workers
Suzanna told the ECHO: "We'd worked for the previous owner for well over 10 years, and then they decided to sell. I think because we'd both worked in hospitality all our lives and I had just turned 50, we both thought this was a good opportunity. We knew the business, we knew how it was up and running, so it felt like a good opportunity for us."
Although the sisters had no entrepreneurial experience, they treated it as a learning curve rather than a hurdle. Suzanna added: "We knew nothing, really. We sort of grew up around it. Our parents owned a shop and ran their own business, so we took the experience we had and asked for advice. It's been a learning curve."
Family involvement and community roots
The decision to take on Remedy fit neatly into their lives, with their children now grown up and helping out in the store. Suzanna's 19-year-old daughter even works shifts inside the restaurant, carrying the business through generations.
Remedy has always been a staple of Southport, reflected in the community the site has built over the years. Suzanna said: "We have a lot of regulars in the village. We're very community-based, and we know a lot of people by name. If someone doesn't come in for a few days, you notice it, which is really nice. A big part of what we do is chatting to the people who come in. It's very busy so we can't complain. The winter months after Christmas are said to be a bit quieter, but we're always busy."
Remedy previously expanded to a third site in Southport's Beales shopping centre on Lord Street in 2021 and a fourth in Bretherton, Lancashire, in 2022. After years of growth, the original owner Susannah stepped away, leading to the closure of those sites. In 2023, she said: "For me, it's about stepping back a little bit. I have been working non-stop on so many different projects." The Bretherton site has since reopened under new ownership by Susannah Porter.
