Café attacked by rioters at leisure centre re-opens

The owner of a café which was closed due to violent disorder on Wednesday has said how thankful she is that it can now reopen.

Larne Leisure Centre, where the Prom Café is located, was set alight by masked youths after it was used to provide emergency accommodation for families who fled racist attacks in Ballymena

The disorder started on Monday after a peaceful protest over an alleged sexual assault in the County Antrim town.

Some of the café’s regulars have been telling BBC News NI how glad they are that it has reopened.

The leisure centre sustained most of the damage and remains closed, but the café did not go unscathed, owner Louise Magill told BBC News NI that its stock took as much of a toil as the buildings infrastructure.

“The fire exit was smashed, glass everywhere; no damage in the café, but we did lose a lot of food as the power was off.

Ms Magill praised the work of staff from Mid and East Antrim Council in helping her reopen on Friday.

She said she had been terrified she would have no business, adding that “it’s hard enough in the hospitality industry, but the community has been more than supportive, and I’ve been very happy”.

“I’m a bit emotional, tired, but so very thankful I’m up and running again today,” she said.

Austin McKay has been a regular of the café for more than a decade, when he saw video circulating around social media of the disorder in Larne he feared the worst.

“Whenever we saw the social media post the other night, it looked like the leisure centre was going to be gone and it is a hub for the town,” he told BBC News NI.

“However, life has resumed to normality, it’s wonderful.”

“It would’ve been sorely missed, a big chunk of our daily routine would be gone, we’ve been coming here 12 years since it opened.”

Jim Crooks lives close to the centre and, like Austin, he too feared the blaze had claimed the café.

“From where I live, we could see the smoke rising and I was convinced the building was gone.

“My initial thought was where am I going to go for coffee? Then you realize there is a bigger picture here.”

The routine of visiting the café is part of his life now.

“We are glad its back, because if it wasn’t here, it would be a bit of a problem,” he said.

“You get to an age when it’s important, for men in particular, because of mental health, to bounce things off one another.

“Larne gets a bad press normally, let’s just hope there is no more, we don’t need this sort of thing in the town.”