General News
24 August, 2023
Haydens breathe life into Rainbow
After returning to their hometown, a Rainbow couple have injected fresh life into the community by reviving both the local café and pub. In March, Peter and Sharon Hayden opened Hayden’s Cafe on Federal Street, replacing Bully’s Rainbow Cafe...
After returning to their hometown, a Rainbow couple have injected fresh life into the community by reviving both the local café and pub.
In March, Peter and Sharon Hayden opened Hayden’s Cafe on Federal Street, replacing Bully’s Rainbow Cafe which closed in November 2022.
The premises has been renovated extensively.
It now provides the community with a much-needed tidy, intimate space, and offers a wide selection of ready-to-go snacks, meals and drinks, as well as the usual fried food and milkshakes
“We wanted to move back to Rainbow, our hometown, and we thought we could get Rainbow rocking again,” Ms Hayden said.
The pair have also reopened, and become the only operating pub in town at, the Eureka Hotel.
“We’ve opened the pub ... we’re leasing it,” Ms Hayden said.
“I had a full bar on (the first) Friday and around 30 people on Sunday afternoon.
“Saturday was a bit quiet because footy was out of town, but I’m very happy with the community’s response to the pub.”
Ms Hayden managed Cafe Jas in Horsham for 13 years, while Mr Hayden worked as an engineer.
“I’ve always wanted to open something of my own rather than work,” Ms Hayden said.
“Sharon had been in hospitality for so long, and this came up for sale, so we took it as an opening,” Mr Hayden said.
The couple said they have received excellent responses from the community since opening the café.
“Things are going really well,” Ms Hayden said.
“There’s been an excellent response by the community - they’re absolutely loving it.”
Mr Hayden said their close friends were overjoyed when they heard about the café purchase.
“They were over the moon that we had taken it over, because now they have a café that is open from eight until eight every day,” he said.
The couple have also provided employment opportunities to locals, with four employees working at the café, plus three local students who work there every day after school.
The Haydens also plan to build a licenced restaurant behind the café, and hope to have it ready before Christmas so their customers can have another nice place to eat and drink if the pub is closed.