Strike a pose - Union Yoga comes to

Strike a pose

Amie with her mentor David Michel, lead teacher trainer at Union Yoga

Images courtesy of

Union Yoga

In the wake of the pandemic, our town centre is looking different and one of the biggest changes is the opening of a new yoga studio complete with café. Sean Farrell meets its founder, and asks if Union Yoga is the shape of things to come for Ramsgate

This year will see the transformation of one of Ramsgate’s longest established business premises in a move that could help energise the town centre.

Homebasics on Queen Street closed for the last time in 2020 when owners Ivan and Pam Todd retired after running the homewares store for 26 years. The Todds had wanted to sell the business as a going concern but the building was bought by a local landlord and rented to Union Yoga who are transferring from Margate to Ramsgate.

After moving to Thanet from her native Birmingham, Amie Evans opened Union at Margate’s Printworks building almost four years ago and has hosted thousands of yoga classes, training sessions for aspiring yoga teachers and creative events.

Amie and her partner Sean Riddington settled in Ramsgate for its harbour, architecture and mellow vibe. When her business outgrew the space in Margate she decided to move to her adopted hometown.

She has grand ambitions for Union Ramsgate and aims to open soon subject to Covid-19. As well as classes and teacher training, the building will house a wholefood café and a refillable food store. Amie also wants the building to be a focal point for events such as craft workshops, book and supper clubs and exhibitions.

“Margate has been an incredible experience but we got to the point where the space was too small for what we were doing and I thought I should be in Ramsgate, so it felt like the right move,” Amie explains. She has been on the lookout for the right space for a couple of years and when the Homebasics site came up she found what she was after.

“The aim was always to open a destination place,” she says. “The space is terrifyingly big but I wanted somewhere we could grow into over the long term.”

Converting the space according to plans drawn up by Sean, an architect, will cost at least £25,000. To finance the project Amie ran a Crowdfunder in late 2020 with a target of £10,000.

By the time the Crowdfunder closed she had raised almost £19,000 from 232 supporters, indicating plenty of demand.

Alex Middleton is joining Amie as the café’s kitchen manager, he was previously junior chef at Hantverk & Found in Margate, and brings an enthusiasm for organic, small-scale and local produce. Union have also teamed up with Curve Coffee who specialise in responsibly sourced beans, roasted locally in Margate. Ultimately Amie wants to convert the basement into therapy rooms with showers and a sauna as well as flexible workspace, though these plans will cost more.

Union Ramsgate will launch in tough times, with strict Covid-19 restrictions in place and the economy predicted to get worse before it

Architect image by Sean Riddington

recovers. But Amie is undeterred.

“I’m so confident,” she says. “I’ve been walking up and down the high street getting to know people for three years now and everyone has said, ‘I wish there was a... yoga studio in town.’ People said I was crazy to do the Crowdfunder because it’s such a difficult time, but I had faith in the project. At least 150 of the people who contributed I’ve never met before.”

Yoga and healthy eating fit the bill for Ramsgate’s growing band of new arrivals, but Amie stresses Union is for the whole community. Existing students are a mix of ages, including a strong contingent of nurses, doctors and others from Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital. “I’m not cool and I’m not from an upbringing where it was normal to eat vegetarian food and practise yoga,” she says. “The whole point of yoga is allowing people to come together and feel better.” Amie has always offered free and discounted classes to those without a disposable income, a core principle of the business. Union could be a shot in the arm for the town centre, drawing more people in to support other businesses. The future of Britain’s high streets was a subject for debate even before the Covid-19 crisis put extra pressure on Britain’s shops.

Experts say town centres of the future will have fewer shops and more social and leisure venues. There is even a name - the experience economy - for people spending less money on physical stuff and more on meeting up, eating and keeping well.

Rebekah Smith, chair of Ramsgate Town Team, says: “I’m delighted to see a space that was occupied by an independent business for almost 30 years be reoccupied so quickly, especially in these times. The high street has to adapt and that probably means it will become more experience-based and social.”

Union could be a trailblazer for this shift, bringing footfall to the town and adding vibrancy. There is certainly plenty of enthusiasm in the community.

“I still feel a bit speechless about how supportive people have been,” Amie says. “This town has something very special about it.”

For updates and to sign up for classes visit unionramsgate.com

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