DELI OF THE MONTH Barney’s Deli is less than three years old but this Brighton business has navigated the pandemic and even managed to open a second site, in Hove. The operation has been driven by Michaela Myers and her firm belief in food and drink from Sussex. Interview by Michael Lane
Success by the sea IF YOU WERE EXPECTING to visit Barney’s Deli and meet the eponymous individual behind this Brighton retailer, you might be in for a shock. You’ll certainly see him – there’s a large portrait photo above the till – but whether he’d be able to advise you on what cheese to buy is another matter. Barney is in fact a Cavapoo that belongs to the deli’s owner, Michaela Myers, who beams as she explains how she came to name the shop after her beloved pet. “When we were going to open, I was coming up with all these clever names like ‘Fromage à Trois’ and stuff like that,” she tells FFD. “A few of our friends said: ‘Why not just call it Barney’s?’ because they loved the idea of it being named after a dog.” Don’t be fooled into thinking that Myers isn’t taking retailing seriously, though. Yes, there are quirks (no serveover, a Sussex-first sourcing policy and a fully-fledged vegan cheese range) but this deli, in the city’s trendy North Laine area, wouldn’t have survived the pandemic without Myers’s shopkeeping nous.
VITAL STATISTICS
Location: 39 Kensington Gardens, Brighton BN1 4Al and 149 Portland Road, Hove BN3 5QJ Average basket: £15 (Brighton) Gross margin: 40% (Brighton), 50% (Hove) Staff: Two in each shop
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May 2021 | Vol.22 Issue 4
Despite its (pre-COVID) bustling location you would fear for a business on a pedestrianised street 10 minutes from the beach, but Barney’s has managed to keep trading at a decent level. And it’s done so without any kind of foodto-go offer – only to recently open a second foodservice-led outlet in nearby Hove. Barney’s has come a long way despite only opening its doors two-and-a-half years ago. It began when Myers was made redundant, turned 50 and suffered a health scare all in a short space of time. This prompted her to start pursuing a “life-long dream” of opening a food shop at the beginning of 2018, having already settled in Brighton from her native London a few years earlier. Unlike some who trade in their career for fine food, Myers was well aware of what she was getting into. “My first job as a Saturday girl was working in an old-fashioned provisions shop, where we cooked our own hams and did our own smoking, so I had all of that knowledge,” she says. Myers also had stints at both Paxton & Whitfield and
Jeroboams in the Capital, amassing some 12 years of deli experience before going to university in her mid-20s. “I did my degree, and worked in the corporate world but my passion was always to have this kind of thing.” The search for a property started in February 2018 with a few out-of-town locations but they didn’t fit the bill for Myers’ business plan. “With this kind of place you need footfall,” she says. “Out in the middle of nowhere, people weren’t going to come to me specifically.” By June, she had found the ideal unit on Kensington Gardens and set about refurbishing a rundown former bric-a-brac shop. Even on a street packed with independent retailers, Barney’s stands out with its dark green awning. Most of the cheese in stock is visible through the big front window and it draws in plenty of people from a steady trickle passing up and down the street. “The customer base is very varied,” says Myers. “We get students, pensioners and hipsters.”
