Dashi café in Taunton railway station to close ‘because of Covid’

The popular Dashi café, based at the railway station, is closing on Sunday, July 31 after over six years as the footfall of customers never returned to pre-Covid levels.

Dashi’s manager, Elaine Robertson, said the shop now going into voluntary liquidation is “another independent business going down the pan”.

Because of the pandemic’s outbreak, the shop closed for 13 months and “didn’t open until May last year”.

She also said: “It is because of Covid and the footfall of customers is not back to what it was pre-Covid. We haven’t got as many customers, the rent is high here.

“When we first re-opened after Covid we started from scratch again. We used to make everything in-house, all the sandwiches and everything.

“When we re-opened we had a different business model to try and stay open. The last few weeks have been good but not good enough.

“It’s another independent business going down the pan. If we were back to pre-Covid levels we probably would have been open but it was really slow.

“When we re-opened we had a lot of stock that was wasted. We thought it [the closure] was going to be a month but it was 13 months and we didn’t open until May last year.”

Many customers left positive reviews on TripAdvisor over the years and Dashi was described as a “hidden gem”.

Other customers praised Dashi’s “great, friendly customer service” and the quality of the drinks and food on offer.

Another review read: “What a treat to find Dashi cafe on the platform at Taunton station.

“I was immediately attracted to this welcoming cafe by the leather armchairs and original art deco including a great mirror and wall clock - what a refreshing change to the often bland and plastic cafes that some stations offer.
"The assistant was friendly, and the coffee and cake hit the spot. Well done, Dashi.”

Elaine added: “We are very sad because we are a little family here, we worked together a long time.

“Our regular customers are very sad as well as the train staff.”