Reconstructing the Black Walnut Cafe [Video]

Residents and merchants are hopeful 2025 will bring good fortune to Wortley Village in the wake of two devastating fires.

Thankfully for them, a building lost will soon rise again.

In April 2023, the popular Black Walnut Café went up in flames. It is a moment forever etched in the mind of its co-owner, Mandy Etheridge.

“I’ll just never forget that phone call,” said Etheridge, reflecting on a phone call in the middle of the night from her brother. “’Mandy, Wortley is burning,’ he said. That will stick with me forever.”

The 1880s building was destroyed in the blaze, later determined to be arson.

Days later, Etheridge and her brother, the other co-owner, promised to rebuild.

But it has been a long process.

“It felt like a never-ending battle, really”, she told CTV News London.

But with construction activity at the site, excitement is growing amongst villagers.

Mandy Etheridge, co-owner of the Black Walnut Café, seen on …