26 INTERVIEW


Saif Bonar & Matthews Yard


Tucked away in Croydon’s


Exchange Square is a café, work and event space that is the new IT place to be in Croydon Old Town. We meet owner Saif Bonar to find out just how he made it so.


HM: Hi Saif, so bit of a fun one to kick off, is Matthews Yard (MY) more Central Perk or Cheers?


Hi, uhm, I would say we are more Central Perk for now, but we are trying to move to a point where we change to Cheers at about 6.30pm each evening!


HM: Had you run a café or restaurant before opening MY? I opened an Internet cafe in Brixton in 2005, which I ran for a few months before selling. I also had a clothes shop in an indoor market in Peckham back in the 90s, that lasted about two weeks!


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