“Coffee by day, cocktails by night” South Shields coffee shop reopens as evening venue

A South Shields venue has undergone a huge transformation to provide customers with a more enhanced experience.

Mio’s, located at The Nook in South Shields, had operated as Cafe Mio for ten years, where they served hot drinks and light bites.

However, the owners, mother and son Kathryn and Kieran Savage - decided that a rebrand was due, transforming the coffee shop into an evening venue.

Alongside dropping the word ‘cafe’ from their name, Mio’s also had a complete refurbishment which included new banquet seats, a draught bar, a larger kitchen and a back room which can be booked for private events.

Co-owner and manager Kieran said: “Coffee is still our main bread and butter, but we are now offering lots of different things to cater for different people.”

Kieran is in charge of running the evenings, while Kathryn handles the daytime, and their new slogan reflects what Mio’s is all about, which is “Coffee by day, cocktails by night”.

The decision to revamp the venue to cater to evening customers was made because Kathryn and Kieran wanted to provide a place in their local area that had all of the aspects of a city bar.

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Kieran said: “After COVID people were deciding to stay local, we wanted to provide a place in our local area for them to visit and enjoy.”

As Mio’s also celebrated 10 years of operating last year, they also found it was the perfect chance to build and expand the business into something more.

Kieran explained that due to the expanding of the venue, they have been able to employ ten more people, which doubled their workforce.

“It was a bit of a risk, with the current climate but it’s done really well and certainly paid off”, Kieran explained.

He also told us of how Mio’s now has brand-new regulars, while the old regulars from the daytime have also enjoyed coming to the venue on an evening. “Everyone knows each other. It’s a sense of community, and that’s what we like,” he said.

Alongside evening drinks, customers can also enjoy tapas and live music at Mio’s.