New vegan board game cafe brings 'lost art' to Burnham

A former yoga and wellbeing studio in Burnham has been revamped into a new vegan café and community hub.

The Positivity Centre closed two years ago and has reopened as the Positivity Café and Lounge on Nashdom Lane.

Business partners Paul McDonald, 42, and Cecile Malaval, 36, have seen ‘great responses’ in the three weeks since opening on October 28.

Paul told the Advertiser: “It’s been a seven-year dream.

“Seven years ago, someone presented something to me which goes on in Portugal to do with mixing different facilities. I liked that.

“We’ve come away from the mind-body-spirit route but we still wanted to keep that community aspect.

“There were certain things we didn’t like before but now it’s at a place where this is what we want. This is how we like it.”

Cecile added: “We put all our savings into this place and renovated it ourselves.

“We love it. We love the place.”

The Positivity Café and Lounge comprises a food van where patrons can order 100 per cent plant-based and vegan food such as pizzas, gluten-free waffles, burgers, hot dogs and wraps.

“We are vegan, and going out to different places, it’s hard to find vegan milkshakes or pizzas – nice vegan ones that don’t cost you your arm,” said Cecile.

“We’ve tried to do it where it’s not overpriced and you’re getting value for your money.”

The main Positivity premises serve drinks such as milkshakes and non-alcoholic beer.

“There are a lot of aspects in the place which are about community and family,” said Paul.

“In the evenings, specifically, people have somewhere to go, chill out, laugh and still feel like they’re having a drink without the hangover.”

“The healthy way of socialising,” added Cecile.

“It’s a nice community social hub and independent coffee shop.”

Free board games will enable families to spend time with kids after school, and they will install a projector screen and headphones in the ‘cosier’ sofa area for visitors to watch documentaries.

“It’s all about spending time creatively, getting off the phone and doing stuff together,” said Paul.

“It’s a lost art. People don’t bother with board games anymore – so [this will] kick people off their phones and start interacting more.”

Cecile said it was ‘beautiful’ to see one family playing board games after school and drinking milkshakes.

“It’s getting out there by word of mouth and we’ve had some great responses,” she added.

The pair envisioned a community-based space with 'nostalgic values'.

They are unaware of vegan or board game cafes in the Burnham, Maidenhead and Bourne End areas – the closest believed to be in Windsor.

“What we’re doing now is what we originally wanted to do. Cecile is into art; I love my music and we get to play around with aesthetics, create a canvas and do stuff that we find cool and hopefully others will,” added Paul.

“And it’s needed. Kids need it.

“When people come, they love it and say they can’t wait to come back.”