This’ll be a relief for locals.

Popular Kilbrittain café Rebecca’s Kitchen is closing for a year, but the area won’t be devoid of good coffee and fresh cake: a new business is swooping in to take up the mantle.

Flaxfort Coffee takes over from Rebecca’s Kitchen, where owner Rebecca Scott is taking a year off, starting this March.

“The time has come for a break.” the Ballymaloe Cookery School grad shared on social media.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all those who have supported me and my team over the last 11 years! Thank you especially for the last four weeks, our busiest ever. I have been incredibly lucky over the years to have had the absolute best staff, it would have been nothing without you all. And of course the enormous help and support of my family.”

A new start 

Natasha McSweeney is taking over the cosy premises for the coming 12 months under the new name Flaxfort Coffee, chosen in honour of the nearby Flaxfort Strand.

“I was born and raised in Kilbrittain.” Natasha told Yay Cork.

“I grew up baking alongside my mother and nana just 30 seconds down the road from Rebecca’s. We would always call that area Flaxfort, which is where the name came from. I started off as a pastry chef assistant in Fernhill House Hotel for five years and learnt loads from my colleagues there. I went away for a year to Vancouver in Canada in September 2024 and worked in a bakery there, which I loved.”

Having returned home in October, Natasha has put her travels on pause to settle into her café business for a year. Flaxfort Coffee will open this March.

“When the opportunity came up I couldn’t decline it and Rebecca has made the process really easy.” she explained.

“We are going to start small to make sure the everything is great quality for out customers. We’ll have a selection of homemade cakes, scones, brown bread and sausage rolls with more to come. When we get into the swing of things we can expand the menu.”

Flaxfort Coffee will be open Wednesday to Sunday from mid-March (updates here). They’re currently hiring a barista so pop your CV to flaxfortcoffee@gmail.com if you’re interested.