A MOTHER and daughter have banded together to create a new café offering an ‘artisan take on classic British food with a bit of a European injection’ just outside York city centre.

Wednesday, 13 August 2025 19:08

By Alice Kavanagh

Mae Café, which is set to open on Saturday (August 16) in Holgate Road, is a new café run by mother and daughter team Laura Mae, 25, and Joanne Bowes, 64, and named after Joanne’s own mother Mae.

Joanne said: “I’ve been in the catering and hospitality trade for 40 years - I’ve had my own businesses and I’ve also worked for big companies - and I thought it was just nice to work and maybe finish my career in a few years’ time together with my daughter. It’s really special.

“This is Laura's concept - she’s built this, she’s designed this, and I’ve been helping to create the menu with her.”

Laura added: "I have no experience in catering as an individual myself, beyond helping my parents out when I was younger, but it was the location - walking past every day, and seeing there was a massive desire for something like this in the area.

“We had to walk down to Bishy Road for an early morning coffee and there’s nothing in the area that hits in the same way the cafés there do. It was a bit of wanting to scratch my own itch, so to speak, and mum was looking to start a new thing, so it just made sense to do it together.”

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