THE owner of a popular burger van has taken over a city centre cafe which 'continues to do what it does best'.

Jon Knight took on the Winchester Orangery, in The Square, earlier this year and is excited for what the future holds.

He has operated the burger van Original Fry Up Material for 11 years.

Jon said: “Stability and consistency are of paramount importance to me, especially in a highly challenging era for the high street. No changes whatsoever at ground level are in the pipeline.

“The cafe simply continues to do what it does best - outstanding coffee and lovely brunches served by a wonderful team of hardworking and dedicated staff.

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“I love the place so I couldn’t possibly pass up the chance when it came around.”

The Winchester Orangery has been collaborating with The Greyhound On The Test, in Stockbridge, for a series of 'pop-ups' featuring local produce.

Jon added: “Evening pop-ups and collaborations with local and independent businesses are something we really hope can grow into a thing and be an exciting and interesting addition to the Winchester food scene, all in our beautiful space on The Square.

“I’ve had the food truck for some 11 years now but only moved here just before Covid and for a while essentially became a village takeaway when all my summer festival bookings (Glastonbury/Goodwood/weddings etc) all got cancelled. 

“With great help from my local community centre in Weeke and other village halls around the area that let us use their space, we got creative to move the business down here and establish ourselves which was hard work but cool.

“As for the future - I personally really value longevity, consistency and good hospitality so that is certainly our focus for now. I was a restaurant general manager in London for some 10 years in my 20s before the food truck so it’s actually more of a back to my roots to be honest.

“It’s an unbelievably challenging economic environment for front-line high street at the moment. I really hope that Winchester understands we have to send a message to people to come in - we are open for business and need patronage. High streets in general need to move with the times and become more experiential rather than just shopping-led. So our plan is to do everything we can to give people a treat and make their visit special.”

For more about the Winchester Orangery, visit thewinchesterorangery.com.