https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/coffee-chain-owner-ships-a-from-old-andytown-leisure-centre-sign-to-states/a1986040488.html#:~:text=Andytown%20Coffee%20Roasters%2C%20which%20takes,of%20one%20of%20his%20outlets.

A San Francisco coffee chain is serving its customers an authentic taste of Belfast for St Patrick’s Day, with an unusual part of the city’s past hanging above their heads.
Andytown Coffee Roasters, which takes its name from owner Michael McCrory’s former home, had the giant ‘A’ from the old Andersonstown Leisure Centre sign shipped 5,000 miles across the Atlantic to form the centrepiece of one of his outlets.

Customers were initially baffled, thinking the chain may have been named after a real person, until Michael put them straight.

He could not be prouder of the giant ‘A’ in the branch of his business in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset district.

After he read the Andersonstown Leisure Centre was being knocked down, he asked his mum Therese Magill to approach the demolition team and ask them if she could have the ‘A’. Luckily, they agreed.

Michael said: “It was sawn in half, put on pallets and flown halfway around the world.”

For St Patrick’s Day and the run-up to it, his team are baking soda farls like his granny and aunties used to make so their customers can enjoy a taste of Belfast in the US.

Former musician Michael, who moved to the US in 1997, and his American wife Lauren Crabbe set up Andytown Coffee Roasters in 2014 with the aid of a crowd-funding scheme. They also wanted to bring specialist roasts to San Francisco.

Former journalism student Lauren said: “When Michael and I started Andytown 10 years ago, we were eager to share Michael’s Irish roots.

“Our first stop was to his Aunt Una and Aunt Francis’s houses to write down how to make his granny’s soda bread.

“Through a lot of trial and error, we turned the ‘scoop of this, dash of that’ recipe into the soda farls and wheaten bread baked at our cafe daily.”

One of the chain’s blends is called the Short Strand, and also on the menu are colcannon scones.

by SteDav587

5 comments

  3. Pretty sweet. Always remember getting shouted at for trying to climb the facade of the building as a kid.

    WHY WAS IT MADE OUT OF 3D DESIGNS YOU COULD EASILY CLIMB!

  4. It is my understanding from knocking about Blackstaff Square as young hippie dude in the 90s drinking thunderbird that the A on the Andytown leisure centre also mentioned in this article actually means ‘Andytown Punks’..but i may be wrong.🤔

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