It’s the end of the rainbow as popular coffee house calls it a day

At 4pm, the Rustic Rainbow door will be closed for the final time as owner Claire Anderson brings that chapter of her life to an end.

At 23, Claire opened the coffee house in November 2005 and it quickly found its place in the heart of the community. Opening late, it gave local people and those further afield a friendly environment to meet friends but come Christmas Eve, Claire will shut up shop for the last time.

“It’s unfortunate the way it’s worked out,” she said.

“I never wanted it to close whenever I left because it’s a great public service. I rent the property and after I ended my lease, it wasn’t able to be renegotiated as he already has somebody else to come in and do their own thing so that meant we had to close. It’s just one of those things.

“It’s a positive for me. It’s time for me to do something different. I’ve done this for nine years and I’ll be 33 when we close so it’s time for me to spend time with family.”

Until 24 December, it’ll be business as usual and long days for the crew, opening until 10pm during the week. It has been those long opening hours that has made Rustic Rainbow such a unique place.

“When I was at university, we always had to go to Belfast to socialise,” Claire explains. “Then I didn’t know what I wanted to do after uni and my friends suggested that I provide somewhere locally.

“I talked it over with my family, looked into it with Invest NI and took a chance on it.

“It’s nice to give people somewhere to go and hang out that’s not serving alcohol.

“It’s great to give people an alternative, particularly people who are too young to go to the pub. Their parents know they are going somewhere safe. There’s nowhere else like that in Hillsborough.”

For their loyal customer base, there certainly has been nowhere quite like Rustic Rainbow and the coffee house has provided the backdrop for many a momentous occasion.

“We had a guy in to meet his future in-laws to ask if he could propose to their daughter and there was another guy taking a video outside a few months ago. I asked him what he was doing and he said he had his first date here and was making a video for his wedding,” recalls Claire.

“There is also a girl who was pregnant when we opened and now she comes in with her daughter, who has grown up with us.

“It has played a big part in people’s lives and we’ll never know even half of it.”

Tributes have piled onto the Rustic Rainbow Facebook page since Claire announced her decision.

“Aww sad. Gillian Williamson we had some convos here. We wrote my wedding invitations here over lots of tea and coffee. Sad,” said Grace Feakins.

Sarah Bradshaw achnowledged that “Hillsborough is losing a great wee place!”

Contrary to what has become a popular belief, the coffee shop was not opened by a local church.

“I don’t know why but a lot of people seem to think that,” said a confused Claire “People still ask about it but I don’t think it has done me any harm as plenty of churches come and support me.

“I’m a Christian and I’ve always stuck to my beliefs. People often ask why I wouldn’t open on a Sunday when Hillsborough is busy but it’s not for me.

“I’d like to thank Linsey, Ruth and Catherine and all of my other staff, who know who they are.

“I also want to thank my mum and dad and my sisters for all their help in setting up Rustic Rainbow and the local businesses in Hillsborough who have been a big help to me. Hillsborough is a lovely place. Everybody is so nice.

“The biggest thank-you though goes to all my customers. It doesn’t work without them coming in.

“As much as I tell myself I won’t, I’ll miss it. I’ll miss all of it.”

“You make the memories, we’ll make the coffee” says the back wall of the coffee house. Have you any stand-out Rustic Rainbow memories? Let us know via email at gareth.hanna@jpress.co.uk or on Twitter @LisburnStar.