A Leeds café owner has opened up on the “terrifying, awful, horrible” manic five days he faces when England cricket fans arrive at Headingley Stadium for the Ashes.
The Ugly Mugs Café, located opposite the cricket and rugby stadium on St Michael’s Lane, has been besieged by “nothing but” cricket fans arriving for England’s test match against Australia in the 2023 Ashes series, today (July 6), according to owner Jason Cunningham.
Jason, who’s owned the café for three years, said while the fans were all generally happy, he still never relishes the task of having to entertain so many fans for the five day period every year.
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Jason said: “It’s massively busier than normal, it’s the busiest five days of the year by miles. It’s terrifying, awful, horrible.” We asked if Jason was being facetious, but the café owner doubled down: “I’m not, really.”
His team of six had been busy from 7am and then it “went mad”, serving about 150 sandwiches in the morning. Jason describes the nature of his café trade as irregular in general, explaining “There’s no such thing as a usual morning here at all. I’ve had days that I’ve sold no sandwiches.
“It’s not like other cafes. It’s not the same people each day who turn up at the same time, that doesn’t happen at all.
“It’s because I’m in the middle of nowhere but next to something that’s very very busy. If that [Headingley Stadium] is busy then I am, if it’s not then I’m not. If people aren’t going to there, they’re not coming here. I get a few customers, it’s a back water next to something very busy.”
Headingley Stadium has seen thousands of fans arrive with attendees lining the streets of Headingley and Burley. The clash between England and Australia is the third test match in the Ashes 2023 series, kicking off today and could run until Monday (July 10), weather permitting.
