What better way to arrive at Wickham Motorcycle Co than on the back of my mum’s scooter? If this place was too cool for school or only for serious bikers, then I wouldn’t have dared. But this one-stop motorcycle repair shop and cafe is immediately relaxing and welcoming.
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Owners Mick and Joanne Jarvie established the ‘‘cafe inside a bike shop’’ in August last year, modelling it on the hip Deus Ex Machina cafe set-up in Sydney, but tweaking it to suit the laid-back Newcastle lifestyle. In just seven months, the couple, along with their team, have created a loyal following for their food, coffee and, importantly, service. Mike says that was one of the cornerstones.
‘‘We really wanted to provide good old-fashioned customer service,’’ he says. ‘‘You can bring your bike here, talk to the mechanic and he can explain things to you and tell you what he thinks it’s going to cost. You’re not just dropping it off at a service counter somewhere and you never see it again until it comes out later with a list of stuff you now have to pay for. We wanted to be the opposite of that.’’
Their cafe ethos runs on the same fuel.
‘‘From a cafe point of view, we want to be known for really good quality coffee and food, but simple food. That was the vision,’’ Mike says.
And the vision has materialised. Walking into the huge converted warehouse in Throsby Street, Wickham, you encounter a seamless blend between motorcycles and diners. From the model on which Steve McQueen tried to jump the fence in The Great Escape, to scooters and sidecars, (even my mum’s first Honda, she tells me), the display bikes create a funky atmosphere for customers who come for coffee, business lunches, book club meetings, and parents who ‘‘don’t want to have to unpack everybody and go tramping miles up the road just to get a coffee’’.
On the weekday of our visit, many a contented diner is enjoying the fuss-free food (my roast tomato, basil and prosciutto pizza is delicious) and the locally roasted Wickham Blend coffee.
‘‘We wanted to have our own coffee. We didn’t want an existing brand and we wanted it to be local,’’ Mick says. ‘‘It was important that we had someone local who roasted the coffee, who comes and tastes the coffee and makes sure we’re doing the best possible job we can with it.’’
But tea drinkers aren’t left out; our brews arrive in little China tea cups, making the occasion quite special.
In fact, Wickham Motorcycle Co does tea so well that they’ve created a Saturday high tea event, and it’s going gangbusters.
‘‘I think there’s a couple of spots left in April and another couple in June,’’ Mike says.
‘‘Jo really loves high teas so she was thinking there’s no reason why we couldn’t do something here. Especially now we’ve got our [liquor] licence, people can have a couple of drinks as well. It’s not all high teas you can do that. Everybody walks out of here blown away. Jo goes to so much trouble with the tablecloths and fancy china, they really do a great job, it looks fantastic. It’s the little things and people actually notice and say ‘I can’t believe you went to so much trouble’, and it’s nice to do that.
‘‘We’ve had a couple of big groups who have booked out 30 seats, then I think those groups have told other people about it and it has snowballed quicker than we thought it would.’’
The Sunday long lunch is another innovation. Casual diners can pop in for a burger and beer and listen to the in-house DJ. And there are monthly bike rides, fashion parades and hair and style workshops evolving.
Mick and Jo want to provide a place where Novocastrians can chill out. And they’re finding many ways to make that happen.
