A TRIO of brew-ti-ful Borders cafés were this week recognised as among the best in the business.

More than 200 of Scotland’s elite café professionals gathered at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow on Monday (June 27) to be rewarded for their efforts in the coffee industry.

On the night three Borders outlets emerged triumphant at the Scottish Café Awards 2022.

Della’s, an independent sandwich bar at 25 High Street in Peebles, won the national ‘Sandwich Shop of the Year’ award.

Another Peebles business, Ramblers Café, at 1-2 Old Town, was honoured with the south-east title of ‘Customer Café of the Year’.

Meanwhile, staff at Hawick’s community café, The Almond Tree, at 71 High Street, walked off with the ‘Café of the Year’ south title.

It was a particularly good night for Della Murray, who runs both Della’s and the Ramblers cafés.

In just three years, through turbulent times, the business has grown to become one of the biggest employers in Peebles with 28 staff.

Della said: “We were overwhelmed at being recognised.

“We opened Della’s in April 2019 and we were only open for seven months when we were shut down with COVID.

“However, we managed to reinvent what we did and we took pre-orders for people who were shielding at home.

“So we had my daughter as a delivery driver and she went round all the houses. Then we brought the staff back from furlough and then they went back on furlough and then in April 2021 we were offered the lease for the Ramblers Café and we took the gamble and it has really paid off.

“We’ll have our third anniversary in a couple of weeks and it’s just been an absolute roller-coaster.

“We are now one of the bigger employers in the town. We used to have three staff and now we have 28.”

Della passed on particular thanks for the support for staff members Robyn Hill, Carolanne Chapman and Susan Spiers, who have “stuck by me the whole three years”.