“Peterhead is amazing on a sunny day,” Paul Haggath beams as the muffled sound of coffee beans grinding fills the air of the Symposium cafe.
Paul has branches across the north-east but proudly says that his three in Peterhead “are the busiest,” which “goes to show the support that we have in the town”.
He adds: “We’ve been here for almost 20 years, and it’s working really well.”
It’s late morning, and the town centre venue is busy with customers rushing to get that much-needed caffeine injection before they go to work.
Yet another person walks in and greets Paul, who responds with the same kind grin he’s been welcoming customers with for decades.
He is a well-known face in the fishing town, and his polite, cheery demeanour has become something of a trademark for Symposium.
But underneath his upbeat persona, is a man who has gone through numerous personal struggles, including a stroke and the loss of his wife within just a matter of years.
And through it all, he’s done everything he can to keep his Peterhead cafe dream alive…
In a poignant interview with The Press and Journal, Paul reveals:
- His long and winding road to starting Symposium
- How a fire almost curtailed the whole business just months after it had opened
- The toll that having a stroke and losing his wife took on him
- And how Scottish Week can help Peterhead traders flourish
How Symposium started life in Peterhead
We find a quieter corner at the bustling cafe and Paul tells me how it all started.
Running a hospitality business hasn’t always been his thing – or even an ambition.
Having left Peterhead Academy at 16, the father of four admits he didn’t know what he wanted to do for a very long time.
His journey took him all across the world – traversing America, braving the North Sea as a fisherman and then becoming a delivery driver for a charity.
Until one day, when he spotted an empty unit on Peterhead’s Broad Street.
And in just a few months, he and his late wife Wendy transformed the downtrodden site into their first Symposium coffee shop in May 2005.
“I just thought I could make this a coffee shop,” the 48-year-old tells me.
“So I did. We started working away at it, and I really enjoyed it – I loved meeting new people and chatting.”
But then disaster struck…
Devastating blaze almost ruins business in its infancy
Just seven weeks later, a devastating fire broke through the cafe – leaving nothing but a pile of ashes behind.
“The whole shop was destroyed,” Paul sighs.
“We were back at square one and had to start all over again.
“A lot of people were saying maybe it was a sign that I should give it up.
“But I said ‘No, this is what I want’.”
‘I had a stroke and lost my wife – I didn’t want to go through that pressure again’
And his steely resolve paid off eventually.
Paul and Wendy not only resurrected the cafe in no time, but even began a mass expansion with more, and bigger, locations across the whole country.
By 2018, Symposium had become a household name in the north-east with venues in Ellon, Fraserburgh and Elgin.
It was when things were on the up that Paul suffered a stroke at his family home.
The year that followed was a blur.
Paul admits he felt “out of it” and considered taking a step back from his hectic coffee shop brand.
But they persevered, keeping the business alive despite his illness and a global pandemic that followed.
Through it all, the couple kept looking for new locations to add to their arsenal.
And then the family’s world was turned upside down.
Things came close to a breaking point when his partner in life and business Wendy died in June 2022.
With children to look after as they navigated the pain of this loss, Paul decided to put family first.
“When Wendy died we were up to 16 shops, and it was really difficult”, he tells me after a pause.
“By that point, we had also opened shops in Glasgow, Newmachar and Aberdeen, and were travelling up and down all the time.
“We had a new shop opening in Turriff that August too, and we were trying to push that through, but it was a struggle.
“I was dealing with the loss of my wife and supporting my girls who had lost their mum.”
‘I wanted to be there for my kids’
After the death of his wife, Paul decided to downsize to eight stores to spend more time with his four daughters.
He adds: “I had already been thinking ‘I need to pull it in a bit’ and relieve some of the stress on me and my family.
“I didn’t want to go back [to how it had been]… I had a stroke six years ago, I didn’t want to put myself through that pressure again.
“I wanted to be at home in the morning for the kids going to school and be home at night for them going to bed.
“That’s what I wanted to create for myself.”
‘I would never give up on my Peterhead coffee shops’
Despite the numerous hardships along the way, Paul never gave up on his Peterhead dream, making the three Blue Toon branches the focus of his business.
Other locations include Elgin, Ellon, Fraserburgh, Portsoy and Turriff.
And through all of his ups and downs, he always had the enormous support of his Peterhead community to rely on.
This is one of the town’s greatest assets, he says.
With more and more people choosing Aberdeenshire as a destination for a day out – instead of Aberdeen – Paul feels there is a lot Peterhead can benefit from.
Paul also believes there is huge potential in Peterhead – with Scottish Week bringing in a welcome boost to town centre businesses.
He adds: “Hopefully if more people come into the town, they will realise what is in Peterhead – and that can only be good.”
So what’s next for Symposium in Peterhead?
“So what’s next for Symposium?” I ask as I finish my coffee and head to leave.
Paul pauses for a second and smiles.
He tells me it’s time for a new chapter, and he plans to build on his quirky “mobile locations” – such as the former horsebox he turned into a state-of-the-art coffee van.
He also is looking to branch out his ‘Viewmount Roastery‘ which supplies Symposium’s signature blend to hotels and restaurants across the north-east.
But would he ever go back to running 16 cafes all across the country?
“I’ve been through all that,” he reflects.
“I’m 48 now…I’m just looking to have a nice, simple, easier life and a business that’s successful still.”
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