A little family-run café loved by celebrities and sports stars alike has been named one of the best in England.
Park Café, based in Aigburth, has been in the same family for decades in one form or another. It's been a sweet shop, a sandwich shop, and now a café that's known and loved by customers.
Sisters Arooje, 35; Samiya, 41; and Mona Naeem, 42; run the café together, after taking over the site from their parents. It's a place not one of them can imagine leaving, with Arooje telling the ECHO she'll "retire there".
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Recently, the café was named as a finalist for the coveted title of Best Café in England by The Food Awards England 2022. The nomination is a testament to the sisters' determination to "cover all customer needs".
Speaking to the ECHO, Arooje, 35, said: "We've had it for over 22 years. My parents owned it for 23 years but before, it was a sweet shop, then it got made into a sandwich place and then it turned into a café.
"Over the years, there's been loads of changes and the fresh food is still there but now it's more of a sit in and eat in place. We do takeaways and deliveries, too. We made changes throughout the years according to customer needs and it's worked out really well."
One such change came about during the coronavirus pandemic, where the café started using social media to maintain a connection with customers and get orders out in a new way. Arooje, from Liverpool, said: "Since covid, we've grown on social media. [The café] is so old, social media didn't exist when we opened but then when we were limited when it was covid, that's when we started incorporating deliveries and doing a social media approach for a contactless delivery."
One thing that's always been consistent, according to the sisters, is the "love" their customers - made up of locals, people who travel specifically "from Chester, Southport and Birkenhead", and celebrities - have for Park Café.
Arooje continued: "It's really popular. The love our customers have for our food is amazing. Our sausages are famous, if I do say so myself - people always say, 'whatever you do, don't change those sausages.' They're locally made in West Derby.
"We get celebrities in here - we had Hollyoaks do a scene outside our café and because we're around Sefton Park which is a really popular area, we get loads of people from LFC and Everton. [Football coach and former Liverpool player] Sammy Lee is one of our regulars, and we've had John Barnes in as well."
Arooje puts the café’s popularity down to its vast menu of food which is "freshly prepared right there and then" and is "not pre-made". She said: "We have a lot of variety of things [customers] can explore. We've got homemade Scouse - made fresh by our chef - and we do full English breakfasts, sandwiches, soups, paninis, all sorts.
"I'm a foodie, I try to go and see what's out there. Since the vegan cafés started to kick in, we do vegan food too. We want to welcome all customers, and cover all customer needs."
On working with her sisters, Arooje said: "We do amazing, we're at that age where we all get on. We don't spend a day without seeing or speaking to each other, we're very tight knit."
She continued: "The customers are our family too - we have regulars that are here at 8.30am on the dot and they come every single day. Our staff know their orders by heart, so we have it on standby - our customers matter to us, we do everything according to their needs.
"The staff have been with us for decades. I think our newest staff member only started before covid; our staff is our family - we have dinner together, they come to our houses. The café has a real family feel.
"I love that by not even telling the staff, they already know what needs doing. They read our minds, they anticipate everything. This doesn't feel like work, we all just go with the flow."
Arooje added: "It's basically a very casual place and you feel like you're with your family all the time - but in a good way. I'll be here until I retire."
Park Café is open from 8am until 2pm on Monday to Friday, and from 9am until 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays. It's based at 11B Aigburth Vale, Liverpool, L17 0DE.
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