photos/Chris Busby

The former Udder Place coffee shop on the corner of Brighton and Stevens avenues has the distinction of being the first property profiled on this page to have a Bollard sticker on its front door. Owner Sam Lambert was a proud supporter — the sticker’s been there since we went into print, five years ago. Ten months ago, Lambert taped a note to the door announcing the shop’s closure. He’d run the business since the late 1990s, and sold it after he and his wife had triplets.

The sun has nearly erased the ink on that page, and the neighbors certainly do have questions, the first and most urgent being, Where the hell am I gonna get coffee now?

There are several public schools in the Woodfords neighborhood, plus Catherine McAuley High School and the University of New England. Sleepy parents and students need good coffee like they need air, and neither the Dunkin’ on Deering Street nor the Cumby’s on Brighton qualify. The Quality Shop on Stevens does not have quality coffee (it’s that weak Green Mountain stuff), and I was told a year or so ago not to drop off Bollards anymore, so you can’t get this there, either.

The natives are getting restless, wondering why The Udder Place has been empty so long. The side windows are boarded-up and the purple paint is flaking. A peek in the window reveals that some work has been done. There are boards and other construction materials about, bottles and jugs of flavored syrup, and the old shop’s industrial fridge with the sticker boasting, “IM A SEXY BEAST.” But there’s been no discernible activity there since the snow last flew.

The property is owned by real estate broker and developer John Gendron. The website of his company, Gendron Commercial, lists 428 Brighton as “leased,” and notes that over 19,000 vehicles pass through its intersection daily. Gendron had no comment other than to refer me to the couple leasing it: Joe and Shay Mcgonigal, proprietors of The Crooked Mile coffee shop and lunch spot in the Old Port.

Hooray!, you say. But not so fast.  

Reached by phone, Joe Mcgonigal said he does indeed intend to open a coffee shop and lunch spot here, and it’ll be a lot like The Crooked Mile, which has great coffee. But the project’s on the back burner for now while the Mcgonigals finish up a couple other projects and negotiate purchase of the property from Gendron. Mcgonigal couldn’t say with any certainty when work might begin again, but indicated that it’s possible the place could be open in 2013.

Mcgonigal said he’s aware the neighbors are anxious for the new place to open, but added, “we want to do it right.”

I’m sure they will, whenever they do. In the meantime, keep the homebrew hot.

— Chris Busby