Owner of Leeds Ugly Mugs Café ready to serve the crowds at the Rob Burrow Marathon

A Leeds cafe owner is gearing up for a sell-out day as the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon returns for another year.

Ugly Mugs Café is a well-known venue located opposite AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium in St Michael’s Lane, right next to the start and finish line of the marathon which is due to start at 9am on Sunday 12th May.

Cafe owner Jason Cunningham, 54, said last year’s event left him and his team “devastated”. They were so busy that they ran out of food and drink just four hours after opening.

Read more: Rob Burrow cancels plans to join Kevin Sinfield for last mile of marathon

This year, Jason was preparing to install a back-up fridge in the shop to meet demand so he could stock twice as many soft drinks – but the machine exploded as soon as he plugged it in.

Jason said: “We sold out last year, we ran out of food in about four hours. I had no idea how busy it would be.

“The soft drinks sold out first, it was very hot. I have a lot more this year. I was going to bring an extra cooler, but it exploded yesterday. I haven’t plugged it in for a year and I plugged it in last night and it started smoking out the back. So I guess I won’t use it, but I have a lot more drinks.

“There was a fridge from home that I was going to bring, we’ll just do our best. To be honest, last year it got to a point where people didn’t care what they bought, they would buy anything. All we had left at the end of the day was black tea. So we went home and were crushed.”

Jason, who is based in Crossgates, said he was excited about the marathon event. To ensure the cafe runs smoothly, he has doubled the number of staff working this year.

Last year, he only had two staff members, but this year, Jason will have four staff members manning the house and the stove. He was keen to add that his cafe serves home-cooked food at a reasonable price.

The Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon raised over £5 million for charity last year, with proceeds going to the MND Association and the Rob Burrow Center for Motor Neurone Disease Appeal, along with a number of other local and national charities. Rob Burrow will join friend Kevin Sinfield for the start and finish of the race.

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