Tom and Caitlin take the plunge with their own business

One of Silsden's oldest shop premises has been given a makeover by a couple who aim to ride the crest of a new wave of drinking hang-outs. No .55 Kirkgate is now The Duck Pond, a bottle shop and coffee house, run by partners Tom Grummett and Caitlin Schofield, pictured above and below, who live in Steeton.

Tom's experience is in bar management and the hotel trade while Cailtin worked for an events company and in catering. They have pooled their knowledge and resources to add The Duck Pond to Silsden's retail and catering transformation. The downstairs area offers a "carefully curated selection of beers, wines and spirits." Upstairs is the coffee-house part of the business, which overlooks Stakes Beck where the ducks gather by the bridge. The premises have been a shop for well over 120 years, for much of the time a grocery, particularly being remembered as Holgates. More recently it was Bilaluci's café. Photographs over the years were featured in my posts of August 28th, 2013, and September 6th, 2016.