A new cafe has launched in Swindon town centre.

The Tulip Authentic Turkish Café, situated on 41 Havelock Street next to the Nepalese restaurant Momo King, was spotted last month with an ‘opening soon’ banner across the front, but no set opening date was confirmed.

On July 22, owner Mustafa Dayan welcomed his family, friends and Mayor Imtiyaz Shaikh to celebrate the launch, with the café officially opening to customers from July 23.

Mr Dayan, a West Swindon parish councillor, said: “I feel very excited, nervous and tired. We’ve been working on it for three months and I’m quite happy to see friends and family join us. My wife and I always wanted something like this.”

“It’s a fruitful area and there’s nothing like this in Swindon. We need a café like this one because it’s good for the community.

“Things have settled, but it was a challenge getting it up to this condition. We were supposed to open at the end of June, but the building was empty and in a bad condition. It needed redecorating and a lot of work.”

The building was empty since late 2023 when JJS Hair Group relocated to Crombey Street.

Mr Dayan, who was raised in Turkey, has lived in the UK for the past 25 years and has spent that time working in various food businesses. 

He is already well-known for running the Diamond Kebab takeaway and being a parish councillor for West Swindon.

He added: “We prefer working in the daytime than the night time, so we will still have other staff running the kebab house and we can concentrate on this family-run business.

“I would recommend the Turkish breakfast, a lot of English tourists when they go to Turkey will have that and it’s a favourite. The pastries and cakes are a favourite as well.

“I would just say that we are all very excited and ask the community to support a local authentic business.”

The name Tulip Café is in keeping with the authenticity and celebration of culture, as it is named after the national flower of Turkey and Turkish tea is typically served in small glasses shaped like tulips as a sign of hospitality.

Other classic home-cooked dishes featured on the menu include soup, Turkish toast served with salad, Turkish stuffed meatballs and baklava, as well as Turkish tea and coffee.